What Do You Expect?:
Writing Assignments at SLCC
X
X
Center for Innovation, Professional Dev. Manager
X
X
Communication and Performing Arts, Assoc. Dean
X
English (transfer-level), Faculty
X
X
English (developmental), Faculty
X
X
Faculty Services, Director
X
First Year Experience, Director
X
Health Professions, Faculty
X
Science, Math, and Engineering, Writing Coordinator
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Student Life and Leadership, Student Rep.
X
X
X
X
Student Life and Leadership, Assoc. Director
Student Writing Center, Lead Tutor
X
X
X
Library Services, Director
Admin
X
• Asymmetrical Expectations
• Emotion
• Mechanics
Aviation and Related Technologies, Admin. Asst.
Faculty
Staff
Student
Institutional
Effectiveness
X
Student
Services
Accounting, Finance, and Economics, Assoc. Dean
Career and
Technical Ed.
Position at SLCC
Academic
The Problem
X
X
X
X
Typical Responses
1. “Students should be better prepared!” “What are those
English teachers/high school teachers teaching?!?”
2.
Only nine (9) non-English department courses at SLCC have English 1010 as a
Writing Across
Curriculum:
“Everyone courses
shouldatbethe college.
prerequisite.
That’sthe
fewer
than 1% of credit-bearing
teaching writing!”
The Student Writing Center provides anecdotal evidence of working with
•“Teachers
WAC can
in improve
all disciplines
subject
should
specific
adopt
comprehension
writing as part
and
of writing,
their pedagogy
but only
students who are enrolled in Writing 0990 (or 0900) and 2000-level courses
both
when
to improve
it is consistently
student writing
and rigorously
and optimize
applied.
learning in the discipline.”—
at the same time. Many of these students struggle to understand what
”WAC Can Work”
writing assignments are even asking of them.
• WAC practitioners require extensive pedagogical training, and then
experience an average 25% increased workload when implementing WAC
into their courses.
We Are Not Alone…
In a study that examined 2,101 writing assignments of all kinds (short answer,
reflection, research) across all types of higher education institutions, Dan Melzer
found the following:
1. The purposes and audiences of the assignments were limited: more than 60%
were “to inform” and “the teacher.”
2. However, the genres genres were quite varied (e.g. lab reports, abstracts,
literature reviews, business memos, book reviews, and annotated
bibliographies) and…
3. Instructors’ expectations for similar genres differed widely from course to
course and discipline to discipline, so much so that…
4. Each course could be considered its own discourse community.
What to do?
Start with something small, consistent, and sustainable….
Reduce Asymmetrical Expectations
• Create an SLCC Bill of “Writes” and Responsibilities for
Students and Faculty consisting of the fundamental
expectations for each role in regards to writing assignments.
• Develop in collaboration with faculty divisions and student
leadership.
• Seek endorsement from Faculty Senate and Student Senate.
• Infuse document into Student Handbook, first Year
Experience, Faculty Development, Adjunct Support
*To see all WAC@SLCC priorities for
2015-2016, visit www.slcc.edu/wac
Sample Ideas
• Students have a right to be provided with an accessible
document that describes the writing assignment (beyond a
statement on a syllabus) to which they can return.
Faculty have a responsibility to provide to students an
• Faculty
have
a right tothat
expect
that students
have read the
accessible
document
explains
the assignment’s
writing assignment and have made every effort to understand
purpose, audience, and evaluative criteria.
what it is asking them to do.
Students have an obligation to fully read writing assignments
• Students have a right to ask questions about the writing
in detail before asking questions of their faculty.
assignment and have them answered.
Faculty have a responsibility to respond to questions regarding
• Faculty have a right to have different writing expectations
writing
assignments
the within
best oftheir
theirdepartment
ability.
than
other
faculty dotoboth
and
outsider of it.
Students have a responsibility to accept that different people
read the same piece of writing differently.
Next Steps
1. Meet with divisions and student leadership to share this
presentation
2. Solicit suggestions and feedback on proposed elements of
the document
3. Analyze and synthesize input to draft document
4. Present to Faculty Senate and Student Senate