The Writing Transfer Project: A Multi-institutional, RAD Approach to Enhancing College
Writers' Long-Term Learning1
Dana Driscoll, Oakland University (driscoll@oakland.edu); Gwen Gorzelsky, Wayne State
University (g.gorzelsky@wayne.edu); Ed Jones, Seton Hall University (edmund.jones@shu.edu);
Steve Salchak, George Washington University (steve.salchak@gmail.com), Jennifer Wells,
Florida State University (jwells2@fsu.edu)
Project Methodology
Transfer of learning is an area of study that has been demonstrated to be quite contextdependent (Haskell, 2000). With this project, we sought to address transfer from a broad
perspective; that is, by using multi-institutional, longitudinal, and data-intensive mixed-methods
approaches to studying transfer, we hoped to develop more generalizable knowledge. Our
methodology, therefore, attempts to provide a data-rich, RAD-based approach by using similar
data collection at four different sites and in four differently structured courses. Our study both
examines the initial learning context and longitudinally follows a subset of students as they
engage in new writing contexts. Finally, we see multi-institutional work as the logical next step in
understanding transfer; it provides us with a broad view of transfer that transcends the uniqueness
of local contexts, programs, or instructors; thus, we are also developing new methodologies for
studying learning to write and transfer.
Participants: We made the decision to sample across different courses and participants
to see what similarities existed for students (which will give us a clear sense of what is
generalizable) as well as what differences existed in the four unique university contexts (which
allows for further investigation of those phenomena).
Year 1 participants included students from:
 2 FYW sections at a mid-sized Northeastern Catholic University (Seton Hall)
 9 sections of a sophomore/junior-level writing course at a large urban public
Midwestern urban university (Wayne State)
 25 sections of FYW courses and 1 section of an upper-level course at a suburban
mid-sized public Midwestern university (Oakland University)
 14 sections of FYW courses at a large private Northeastern urban university (George
Washington University)
Year 2 participants are a sampling of students from Year 1, and include…
 7 students from the two FYW sections at Seton Hall
 15 students from the sophomore/junior-level sections at Wayne State University
 7 students from the upper-level writing course at Oakland University
 10 students from the FYW sections at George Washington University
Materials collected
During Year 1, 2011-2012, we collected the following data:
• pre- and post-semester writing samples to examine change over time
• self-reflections from across the semester to understand the role of reflective writing in
transfer and related areas
Special thanks to the Conference on College Composition and Communication, the Spencer Foundation, George
Washington University, Oakland University, Seton Hall University and Wayne State University for financial
support for this study. Special thanks also to Elon University’s ERS Seminar on Critical Transitions: Writing and
the Question of Transfer for creating a wonderful space in which to develop this work.
1
•
pre- and post-semester Writing Knowledge Transfer survey responses about student
writing strategies, beliefs, perceptions, and dispositions to understand self-reported
beliefs/attitudes related to transfer
During Year 2, 2012-2013, we collected the following data:
• WID writing samples from each interviewee
• 60 minute in-depth interviews on writing, transfer, and related areas
• Follow-up Writing Knowledge Transfer Survey responses
Rating and Coding from Years 1 & 2
In summer 2012 and 2013, we trained a group of graduate students working in the WID
program at GWU (24 from year 1; 31 from year two). Raters read and rated a random sample of
208 Year 1 writing samples and 66 year 2 samples using a scoring rubric. We normed the raters
to ensure consistency and calculated inter-rater reliability. Because we rated beginning- and endof-term writing samples, the rubric measured growth in students’ ability to use writing studies’
conceptual and procedural knowledge in producing their texts. By defining rubric categories in
terms of genre appropriateness, we achieved the flexibility needed to evaluate writing samples
produced in varying institutional and classroom contexts.
In addition to rating the writing samples, we used a multi-level coding schema to code a
random sample of 436 reflective pieces of writing. The coding schema includes categories for
students’ descriptions of transfer-focused thinking, writing knowledge, metacognitive strategies,
identity as writers, and dispositions. We normed during rating and coding to ensure consistency,
checking on inter-coder reliability during the norming. This schema includes a total of 98
possible codes (including sub-codes), which were applied 14,127 different times. We normed the
coders to ensure consistency, checking on inter-coder reliability during the norming.
Shared Reflective Assignments
Homework assignment #1: You as a Writer
For the start of our course, please reflect on the following questions in three pages (double
spaced).
1. Think about you and writing being in a relationship. How would you describe that
relationship?
2. What does learning involve for you?
3. Are you a writer?
4. Describe your level of confidence in your writing as you enter this class.
5. When you faced your greatest writing challenges this semester, were you motivated to
face that challenge--why or why not?
Homework assignment #2 - Reflecting on a Previous Writing Experience (high school or last
semester/year)
Find a research paper that represents your best writing from (high school / last semester). If you
have not done a research paper, please find a paper that is based on at least one text. Submit this
paper along with your reflection. Please answer the questions below, in the order in which they
are given.
1. Describe the assignment and course in which you wrote the piece.
2. Why did you choose this piece?
3. What did you teacher do, if anything, to assist you in writing this assignment?
4. Please describe your writing process for this assignment. This may include prewriting,
drafting, revising, editing, peer reviews, the research process and interaction with your
instructor, writing center, and/or others.
5. Was there something you found difficult to do in writing this piece? Please describe it
and how you dealt with this difficulty.
6. What purposes do the sources serve in this piece?
7. What went well when writing this assignment?
8. What knowledge/skills learned from writing this paper do you plan to take into this
course?
General Reflection for each paper
With each essay you write this semester, you will also be writing a reflective paper. This piece is
a way for you to reflect back on the process you went through while writing the paper and your
perception of your final draft. Please answer the questions below, in the order in which they are
given.
1. Please describe your writing process for this assignment. This may include prewriting,
drafting, revising, editing, peer reviews, the research process and interaction with your
instructor, writing center, and/or others.
2. Did you learn anything about how to write from this assignment? If so, what? If not,
why not?
3. How did you use rhetorical techniques in this assignment?
4. Was there something you found difficult to do in writing this piece? Please describe it
and how you dealt with this difficulty.
5. What knowledge/skills can you take with you to future writing assignments?
If the assignment uses sources, please also include:
6. What purpose do the sources serve in this piece?
Final Reflection
In this last reflection, you should reflect upon both your writing process for the last assignment
and also your general thoughts about the course. Please answer the questions below, in the order
in which they are given.
1. Tell me about choices/decisions (for example: organization, genre, purpose, sources,
audience) you made while writing this paper. What decisions were influenced by what
you learned in this course? What decisions were influenced by what you learned in
previous courses / high school)?
2. What purposes do the sources serve in this piece?
3. Please describe the writing process you developed this semester. If your writing
process remained the same, explain why you made that choice. This may include
prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, peer reviews, the research process and interaction
with your instructor, writing center, and/or others.
4. Was there a writing or research task that you found difficult? Please describe it and
how you dealt with this difficulty.
5. Describe your level of confidence in your writing when you entered this class as
compared to now.
6. When you faced your greatest writing challenges this semester, were you motivated to
face that challenge--why or why not?
7. What knowledge/skills do you plan to take with you into future writing situations?
8. Imagine that you are in an upper-division course in a field different than your own
(e.g. you are an education major and taking a biochemistry course) where you are asked
to write in a genre that you have not worked in before. How would you approach this
situation?
Selected References
Beaufort, A. (2007). College writing and beyond: A new framework for university writing
instruction. Utah: Utah State UP.
Carson, J. G., Chase, N. D., and Gibson, S. U. (1993). Academic demands of the undergraduate
curriculum: What students need. Washington, DC: Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary
Education.
Downs, D., & Wardle, E. (2007). Teaching about writing, righting misconceptions:
(Re)Envisioning "first-year composition" as "introduction to writing studies." College
Composition and Communication, 58(4), 552-584.
Driscoll, D. L. (2011). Connected, disconnected, or uncertain: Student attitudes about future
writing contexts and perceptions of transfer from first-year writing to the disciplines. Across the
Disciplines, 8(2).
Driscoll, D. L., & Wells, J. (2012). Beyond knowledge and skills: Writing transfer and the role of
student dispositions. Composition Forum, 26.
Lobato, J. (2003). How design experiments can inform a rethinking of transfer and vice versa.
Educational Researcher, 32(1), 17-20.
National Research Council (1999). How people learn: brain, mind, experience, and school.
Washington D.C.: National Academy Press.
National Science Foundation. Transfer of learning: Issues and research agenda. NSF Workshop
Report, 2002. Web. http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2003/nsf03212/nsf03212.pdf
Schraw, G., & Dennison, R. S. (1994). Assessing metacognitive awareness. Contemporary
Educational Psychology, 19, 460-475.
Schwartz, D. L., Bransford, J. D., and Sears, D. (2005). Efficiency and innovation in transfer.
Transfer of Learning from a Modern Multidisiplinary Perspective. Ed. Jose P. Mestre.
Information Age Publishing, 1-51.
Taczak, K. (2011). "Connecting the dots: Does reflection foster transfer?" Ph.D., Florida State
University, Tallahassee.
Wardle, E. (2009). “Mutt genres” and the goal of FYC: Can we help students write the genres of
the university? College Composition and Communication, 60(4), 765-789.