SPRING 2021
Designing an effective writing-intensive course
What’s expected in a course coded as “writing intensive”? How can you meet those expectations in your course? This session explores a variety of approaches to teaching a writing-intensive course—from multiple, smaller writing tasks to semester-long research projects. Topics include choosing writing assignments that fit the course structure, helping students learn about writing in your discipline, using peer feedback, deciding whether to assign multiple drafts, balancing course content and attention to writing.
10-11:30 am, Tues Jan 19 on Zoom (Link will be sent to registered participants prior to the session.)
Please register here.
Crafting Effective Writing Assignments (C1)
How you articulate a writing task can have a large impact on what your students do and what they learn. Topics for this session include setting expectations, selecting an appropriate genre and audience for student writing, helping students identify a meaningful and manageable writing project.
10-11:30 am, Mon Jan 25 on Zoom (Link will be sent to registered participants prior to the session.)
Please register here.
Grading Student Writing (C4)
Grading student writing can be a frustrating and time-consuming affair. This session offers advice on approaches to grading and designing context-appropriate guidelines and rubrics.
1-2:30 pm, Mon Feb 8 on Zoom (Link will be sent to registered participants prior to the session.)
Please register here.
Setting Up and Managing Group Writing Assignments
While co-authorship is increasingly common in undergraduate courses, faculty often have little training on how to effectively manage collaborative student work. Topics for this session include forming groups, assigning roles, reducing freeloading, and setting up a peer evaluation protocol.
10-11am, Mon Feb 22 on Zoom (Link will be sent to registered participants just prior to the session.)
Please register here.
Crafting the Writing Process (C2)
Left to their own devices, students will often wait until a writing assignment is nearly due—cheating themselves out of much the learning the assignment was designed to support. This session explores a range of options for staging the writing process in ways that can maximize learning, without overburdening the instructor.
1-2:30, Tues March 2 on Zoom. (Link will be sent to registered participants prior to the session.)
Please register here.
Giving Efficient and Effective Feedback (C3)
Instructors often spend considerable time marking student papers--identifying errors, making suggestions, line editing, and so on. But the long hours instructors put into this effort are frequently not very effective in helping students become better writers. This session provides strategies for giving effective and efficient feedback on student writing.
10-11:30, Mon March 8 on Zoom (Link will be sent to registered participants prior to the session.)
Please register here.
Using Peer Feedback Effectively
Peer feedback (often called “peer review” or “peer response”) has become a mainstay of writing pedagogy. Peer feedback can indeed be valuable; but, like all classroom practices, it’s effectiveness depends on how it is implemented. Topics of this workshop include understanding students’ history with peer feedback and social dynamics, choosing and articulating the feedback task, setting expectations, and assigning groups.
1-2 pm, Wed March 17 on Zoom (Link will be sent to registered participants prior to the session.)
Please register here.
Audio Feedback for Student Writing
While teachers have traditionally given students feedback on their writing in writing, advances in digital technology have made spoken, recorded feedback a viable option. Spoken feedback can be more pleasant and efficient to give than written feedback, and students tend to respond positively to the intimacy of the spoken voice and the greater nuance of spoken comments. Topics will include benefits and drawbacks of recorded oral feedback, types of oral feedback, and options for recording and disseminating recorded responses.
1-2 pm, Tues March 23 on Zoom (Link will be sent to registered participants prior to the session.)
Please register here.
Helping Students Write with Visuals—Part 1: DESIGNING Visuals
Graphs, tables, diagrams, and other visuals are central to writing in some fields. Yet many students don’t know how to craft such visual elements effectively. This session presents strategies to help students design visuals that communicate their intended meaning clearly for the intended audience.
1-2:30 pm, Mon April 5 on Zoom (Link will be sent to registered participants prior to the session.)
Please register here.
Helping Students Write with Visuals—Part 2: WRITING ABOUT Visuals
Students often struggle to discuss figures, tables, and diagrams effectively. This session presents an innovative approach to helping STEM students move beyond "See Figure 1" through a simple yet powerful vocabulary.
1-2:30 pm, Mon April 19 on Zoom (Link will be sent to registered participants prior to the session.)
Please register here.