Specializing WAC: Results from a Pilot WritingIntensive Outreach Program in the College of Agricultu

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Specializing WAC Results from a Pilot
Writing-Intensive Outreach Program in the
College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental
Sciences

• Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch, Associate Professor,
  University of Minnesota St. Paul

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Acknowledgements

• Dr. Bernadette Longo, Director of
  Writing-Intensive Outreach Scientific and
  Technical Communication Program
• Merry Rendahl, Ph.D. student in Rhetoric and
  Assistant Director, Spring 2004
• Greg Schneider, MA student in Rhetoric and OWC
  Assistant Director, Spring 2004

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Writing-Intensive Requirement

• 4 courses designated as W or Writing-Intensive
• 2 of those courses at 3xxx level or above
• 1 of those courses in the students major or
  program

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Writing-Intensive Courses

• Must include at least 10-15 pages of written work
  during a course
• Must include at least one opportunity for
  revision of a written assignment, with feedback
  from instructor
• Must account for writing in the final grade

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Specializing WAC in COAFES

• COAFES College of Agricultural, Food, and
  Environmental Sciences
• Rhetoric is a department within this college with
  undergraduate and graduate programs in Scientific
  and Technical Communication

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Writing-Intensive Outreach Scientific and
Technical Communication Program

• Co-led by two Rhetoric faculty members
• Assisted by Rhetoric graduate students
• Funded by COAFES to provide support for W-I
  courses in the College

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Pilot Program Spring 2004

• 12 Faculty teaching W-I designated courses
  invited to participate
• Faculty receive 300 stipend
• Participate in interview and survey
• Receive consultations with Program Directors and
  Assistants
• Participate in Workshop
• Offer best practices

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W-I Courses in Spring Pilot

• HORT3002W Greenhouse Management
• BAE4533W Agricultural Waste Engineering
• ES4012 Environmental Impact Statements
• BAE4122W Senior Design II
• HORT4061W Turf and Landscape Management
• ApEc5341/PA5190 Public Finance
• Rhet 3108W Gender and the Rhetoric of Science
  and Technology
• Honors Seminars and Student Programs

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Getting to Know You

• Program focused on Faculty Development
• Interviews allowed us to learn about faculty
  experiences and needs regarding W-I instruction
• We discovered a strong match between Rhetoric and
  COAFES W-I courses

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Building Lasting Partnerships
Sharing Resources
Teaching
Graduate Student Training
Collaboration
Consultation
Faculty Development
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What skills do you want students to have when
they finish your class?

• Team experience and member evaluation
• Incorporating drawings, graphics and words
• Analysis, design, engineering, calculations,
  decision-making, feasible designs
• Presentation skills
• Critical thinking
• Framing arguments

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What skills do you want students to have when
they finish your class?

• Coherent paragraphs, introductions, conclusions
• Peer review
• Revision
• How to deal with hostile audiences
• Basic technical communication skills
• Communicate about research at different levels

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Kinds of writing assignments

• Essay exams
• Bank loan application
• Marketing plan and budget
• Email, memos, oral presentations
• Resume and letter
• Summaries
• Report analyses

• Code of ethics
• Proposal to client and presentation to faculty
• Weekly memos to faculty advisors
• Reflective academic essays
• Talking points

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Articulated Needs

• Assignment Design
• TA support for W-I courses
• Help making grading more efficient and useful
• Help addressing severe student writing problems
• Help administering peer review

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Faculty Attitudes about Teaching W-I Courses

• Early and end-of-semester surveys taken
• Improved attitudes resulted in these areas
• Enthusiasm for teaching W-I courses
• Belief in efficient grading methods
• Belief that writing is integral to course
• Belief that writing is more than grammar
• Belief that writing and critical thinking help
  students learn content better

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Areas Needing Improvement

• Timing of writing instructionhow much class
  time to spend on writing issues?
• Building confidence in instructors writing
  expertise
• Help diagnosing and providing support for
  students with more severe writing problems

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Future Directions

• SMART Center interdisciplinary tutoring
  center for St. Paul campus
• Continued Assessment on Writing-Intensive
  Outreach Program and W-I courses in COAFES

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Combining Strengths
Sharing Resources
Teaching
Graduate Student Training
Collaboration
Consultation
Faculty Development
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Faculty Attitudes about Teaching
Writing-Intensive Courses

• On a scale of 1-5, indicate how enthusiastic you
  are about teaching writing-intensive courses?
  
• A focus on writing and critical thinking will
  help my students learn content more quickly and
  understand it better.
• Emphasizing writing and critical thinking in my
  course(s) will take time away from content.
• Writing assignments are unsuitable in my course.
• It is possible to help students write better
  without correcting grammatical errors.
• Adding more writing to my course will bury me in
  paper grading.
• I am not knowledgeable enough about writing and
  grammar to help students with their writing.
• Writing assignments are integral to my course
  content.
• I can efficiently grade writing assignments.

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Faculty Attitudes about Teaching
Writing-Intensive Courses