The purpose of this workshop is to introduce
faculty members to some of the foundation
issues associated with designing assignments
for writing intensive courses.
With participants’ assistance, we will try to
identify course specific assignments during
the workshop and ensuing discussion.
What is the purpose of the assignment? Do you
want students to:
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define and apply a word or term?
understand and describe a procedure?
evaluate the effectiveness of an approach?
take a position about a controversy and
provide evidence to support that position?
The instructor can share information to help
students identify and learn who are typical
audience groups in the discipline. The
instructor can also help students learn about
the various needs and expectations of these
different audience groups.
Doing so can help students better understand
what forms of writing are appropriate and
why.
Do you want students to achieve practice and
improved information literacy because they have
to incorporate information from multiple credible
sources and correctly cite information?
Do you want students to be able to identify
relevant information and correctly quote,
summarize, or paraphrase this information?
Do you want students to know the difference
between a peer reviewed article and a general
periodical article?
If students perceive or attach value to an
assignment, they are more likely to be engaged.
Can the assignment be designed to reflect “real life”
in terms or context students can relate to?
Example: Having students discuss and write about
the textbook market, helps them to understand (if
not appreciate) why their textbook costs as much
as it does.
The instructor does not have to know
everything. Call upon others with specialized
knowledge who can complement your skill or
content knowledge.
Example: UHH Librarians routinely visit classes
and tailor research presentations to students.
They can demonstrate library tools that
students can use to organize and manage
research material necessary to complete the
assignment.
There is no such thing.
It is true that there are typical assignment
forms, but some assignments are more
appropriate in one discipline than others.
What follows are some suggestions. Consider
adopting these assignments if these are
appropriate to the discipline you teach in.
While the term paper (aka research paper) is a common
assignment, it does not have to be the only writing
assignment students work on.
If it is the typical assignment for the course/discipline,
then consider doing the following:
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provide students with a clear purpose
help them identify the intended audience
break the assignment into several shorter tasks with
clearly stated (and reasonable) deadlines
provide opportunities for instructor feedback and
revision throughout the assignment
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Provide students with a range of assignments and activities which are
informal and formal
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Provide students with a range of assignments that vary in length
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You do not have to grade (or score) every piece of writing. Even on
informal writing like journal entries, however, consider writing at least
one comment about a statement or idea so students see you are paying
attention to what they write
Students must learn to accept their responsibility for achieving errorfree writing. You do not have to accept writing which is full of errors.
If you are going to identify errors for students, focus on one paragraph
or section only. Use that as an example of the type and amount of
errors the student now has to examine the rest of his or her paper for.
As I work to build a UH-Hilo inventory of examples of
Writing Intensive assignments, faculty are welcome to
view the resources provided to members of the UH
system on the Manoa Writing Program website:
http://www.mwp.hawaii.edu/
Additionally, here are some Teacher Resource links to
other detailed handouts and examples:
http://www.mwp.hawaii.edu/resources/wm1.htm
http://www.mwp.hawaii.edu/resources/wm2.htm
http://www.mwp.hawaii.edu/resources/wm4.htm
http://www.mwp.hawaii.edu/resources/wm8.htm