Title: USM Course Redesign Project The University of Baltimore
1USM Course Redesign ProjectThe University of
Baltimore
2Context
3History
- 1980s The need for an upper-level gen-ed
writing course--Ideas in Writing
4Over a 15-year period, the quality of Ideas in
Writing began to suffer
5Ideas in Writing
- Adjunct-dependent
- Inadequate supervision
- Lack of content and quality control
6Meanwhile
- The state implemented a standardized lower-level
gen-ed core - Various disciplines were moving away from
university core courses to a silo mentality
7In short, it was time to re-evaluate our junior
level writing course.
8The Process
- Meetings at the departmental level
- Meetings at the college level
- Meetings at the university level
9The Redesign
- and at the same time, along came the MCRI/NCAT
course redesign initiative!
10The Redesign
- Some pieces didnt fit
- large group lectures
- student teaching assistants
- Some pieces did
- Hybrid structure
11The New Courseincluded these elements
- Advanced expository writing
- in the disciplines
- Faculty development
- Fulltime-adjunct balance
- More accountable supervision/overight
- Technology-reliant
12The New Course
- Improved Communication
- Student-student
- Student-faculty
- Faculty-faculty
13The New Course
14WRIT 300
- Students attend a face-to-face, heterogeneous
class (composed of students representing various
majors) on Monday or Tuesday or online (if the
student chose a fully online section). - Instructor A teaches students a lesson following
the weeks objectives.
15WRIT 300
- Students also participate in an online,
discipline-specific classroom taught by
Instructor B. - Each instructor is reassigned to manage a
discipline-specific online classroom. - In that online classroom, students
- Read articles related to their major and discuss
them with peers - Discuss topics related to the weekly objectives
- Complete short writing exercises
- Post drafts
- Conduct peer reviews
16WRIT 300
- Students complete shorter writing exercises in
their online classroom, but as the semester
progresses, longer, more challenging and complex
writing projects are - Assigned by Instructor A
- Reviewed by Instructor B and peers in the online
classroom - Graded by Instructor A
17WRIT 300
- Major writing projects are designed to be
discipline-specific - For example
- Business students write business proposals for
their persuasive project - Government and public policy students write white
papers
18Successes
- More engagement in the writing process when
writing about topics related to majors - Discipline-specific and authentic writing
assignments convey a greater sense of relevance
and application - Students enjoyed schedule flexibility the blended
model provides
19Successes
- More control of their learning experience
- Blended model maximum exposure to non-verbal,
interpersonal, intrapersonal, and written
communication - Digital archive of faculty feedback and student
writing ideal for reviewing information, student
self-assessment, and revision.
20Successes
- Blended model offers opportunities for students
to better understand the differences between
academic and informal discourse - Great opportunities to discuss computer,
information, media, and digital literacy - Standardized curriculum allows more consistency
and rigorous writing standards
21Challenges
- Specific needs within our general education
writing program need to be addressed. - Not all students are ready or prepared to learn
online. - Courses complex design has created new
challenges, specifically in the area of writing
in the disciplines.
22Challenges
- Extensive training is required to teach this
course - Redesign has made an impact on existing resources
including E-Learning Center, registration
process, and placement testing.
23Challenges
- Student retention
- A total of 68 students enrolled in the three
pilot sections - 11 officially withdrew
- 8 attended some classes, never finished the
course, and never officially withdrew - One student never attended any courses and never
officially withdrew - 20 students, or 29 of the original enrollment,
never finished the course and must retake it
24Lessons Learned
- Technology
- How can we help students become better online
learners? - Tutorials
- Workshops for students
- FAQ pages
- Online videos introducing students to the course
and their instructors
25Lessons Learned
- Faculty cannot easily track essay drafts (and
subsequently student progress) because the
primary instructor is not reading students
drafts. - The transition from the face-to-face lecture to
the online lab has been bumpy, especially with
two different faculty members managing two
different sets of students. -
- The workload the course calls for is daunting for
full- or part-time faculty. - To tailor each writing and reading assignment to
a specific major, within the context of one
classroom experience, is also difficult.
26Lessons Learned
- Students having two instructors and instructors
having two sets of students (for half the amount
of time than normal) CONFUSING - Not enough time in the lecture or lab to cover
necessary material. - Requires a level of coordination and
synchronicity among faculty that is difficult to
maintain.
27Assessment Processes
- Developed a rubric based on learning outcomes and
tested the rubric for consistency across graders
on two writing samples not related to this
project - Selected writing assignments from the courses to
use as pre- and post-test artifacts
28Assessment Processes, Continued
- Randomly selected writing samples
- 30 pre-test artifacts from blended courses
- 30 post-test artifacts from blended courses
- 30 pre-test artifacts from regular courses
- 30 post-test artifacts from regular courses
- Each artifact rated by two graders when
variation was more than 1.0 in any category, a
3rd grader rated the artifact
29Rubric Categories
- Critical Thinking
- Coherence of Writing
- Clarity of Writing
- Quality of Writing Grammar
- Quality of Writing Mechanics
303.5 Standards
- Critical Thinking Demonstrated ability to work
with key concepts and apply them by drawing
inferences, analyzing patterns, and/or
communicating contrasts and comparisons. - Coherence of Writing Demonstrated command of
unifying strategies introduction, conclusion,
transitions. Adequacy of overall organization. - Clarity of Writing Demonstrated command of
complex sentence structures.
313.5 Standard, Continued
- Quality of Writing-Grammar Accuracy of basic
sentence skills avoiding fragment, correct
choices in pronoun and verb forms and agreement,
correct choices in modifier forms and placement. - Quality of Writing-Mechanics Accuracy of
punctuation usage, spelling, and capitalization.
32Blended Pre-Post Test Scores
33Regular Pre-Post Test Scores
34Greater growth in regular format
35Differences Blended/Regular
36More Students in Blended Class Achieved 3.5 in
each category
37Fewer Students in Blended Class Achieved 3.0 or
Below
38Lessons Learned
- Although there was greater growth indicated for
the regular course, the pre-test scores for that
group were lower. - More students in the blended course achieved
the 3.5 standard or above. - We need to continue to improve our standardizing
of embedding assessment artifacts into the
courses we were unable to assess recall of
general knowledge and use of specialized
knowledge because of variations in the writing
prompts for the artifacts.
39Next Steps
- The content and pedagogy in each format should be
examined so each set of instructors can learn
from each other about the different successes
realized in this pilot - What is it about the blended course that
encourages such high achievement in clarity and
correctness of mechanics? - What is it about the regular course that yielded
such strong growth in critical thinking and
coherence?