Abstract
Reflecting this year’s conference proposal guidelines to highlight creative and reflective learning across the disciplines, the presenters seek to reflect upon the wealth of writing instruction available at Mason. Drawing on an innovative, yearlong review of Writing Intensive (WI) course syllabi by Mason’s Writing Across the Curriculum program, the presenters wish to highlight their findings from evaluating 109 of the most recent WI course syllabi. Further, the presenters wish to share writing assignments and syllabi from a proposed bank of the same, a digitized record of these rich resources. The presenters examined syllabi using Mason’s Writing Across the Curriculum’s course criteria, and they wish to present their main findings. This course evaluation highlights the tremendous innovation on George Mason’s campus and the possibility for further conversation about writing instruction. Instructors across multiple fields will be able to re-invigorate their writing instruction using these rich resources, even if they do not teach WI courses. The presenters propose that this presentation and associated resources will foreshadow future innovations in writing instruction.
Highlights
During the 2015-2016 academic year, the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Program contacted departments and faculty members who teach writing intensive (WI) courses to request the most recent syllabus used for each WI course offered at the university
The 62 academic units that responded represent all colleges and schools offering undergraduate majors. The program reviewed these syllabi to learn how many of them communicate information about the core criteria of a WI course. These core criteria include: § WI syllabi should explicitly state that the course fulfills the WI requirement § Students will write at least two essays totaling 3,500 words § Students will receive feedback on their writing from their instructor The program discovered that 56% of the syllabi reviewed included information about all of these criteria
In order to review the syllabi, the program developed a rubric to focus on 12 criteria, which were comprised of WI requirements and best practices for teaching writing
Summary
Established in 1993, the Writing Across the Curriculum Program at Mason was designed to develop both our students’ understanding of their disciplines and their ability to communicate as professionals in those disciplines. The curricular approach is based on the following beliefs: § writing is an important tool for learning and discovery, § students gain proficiency as writers when they are given frequent opportunities to write for various audiences and purposes, § faculty across share responsibility for helping students learn the conventions and writing practices of their disciplines, § students benefit from revising their writing based on meaningful feedback from their instructors, § and writing instruction must be continuous throughout a student’s education. The frequent opportunities for writing, receiving feedback, and revising help students to think more creatively and critically, engage more deeply in their learning, and transfer their learning from context to context
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