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USM Course Redesign Project The University of Baltimore

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Title: USM Course Redesign Project The University of Baltimore


1
USM Course Redesign ProjectThe University of
Baltimore
2
Context
  • UBTransfer Institution

3
History
  • 1980s The need for an upper-level gen-ed
    writing course--Ideas in Writing

4
Over a 15-year period, the quality of Ideas in
Writing began to suffer
5
Ideas in Writing
  • Adjunct-dependent
  • Inadequate supervision
  • Lack of content and quality control

6
Meanwhile
  • The state implemented a standardized lower-level
    gen-ed core
  • Various disciplines were moving away from
    university core courses to a silo mentality

7
In short, it was time to re-evaluate our junior
level writing course.
8
The Process
  • Meetings at the departmental level
  • Meetings at the college level
  • Meetings at the university level

9
The Redesign
  • and at the same time, along came the MCRI/NCAT
    course redesign initiative!

10
The Redesign
  • Some pieces didnt fit
  • large group lectures
  • student teaching assistants
  • Some pieces did
  • Hybrid structure

11
The New Courseincluded these elements
  • Advanced expository writing
  • in the disciplines
  • Faculty development
  • Fulltime-adjunct balance
  • More accountable supervision/overight
  • Technology-reliant

12
The New Course
  • Improved Communication
  • Student-student
  • Student-faculty
  • Faculty-faculty

13
The New Course
  • Efficiencies of Staffing

14
WRIT 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.

15
WRIT 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

16
WRIT 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

17
WRIT 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

18
Successes
  • 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

19
Successes
  • 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.

20
Successes
  • 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

21
Challenges
  • 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.

22
Challenges
  • 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.

23
Challenges
  • 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

24
Lessons 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

25
Lessons 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.

26
Lessons 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.

27
Assessment 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

28
Assessment 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

29
Rubric Categories
  • Critical Thinking
  • Coherence of Writing
  • Clarity of Writing
  • Quality of Writing Grammar
  • Quality of Writing Mechanics

30
3.5 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.

31
3.5 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.

32
Blended Pre-Post Test Scores
33
Regular Pre-Post Test Scores
34
Greater growth in regular format
35
Differences Blended/Regular
36
More Students in Blended Class Achieved 3.5 in
each category
37
Fewer Students in Blended Class Achieved 3.0 or
Below
38
Lessons 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.

39
Next 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?
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