BLENDING BASIC WRITING WITH THE FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE You+Universit y
BLENDING BASIC WRITING WITH THE FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
You+University
• With basic writing courses and other developmental courses on the "chopping block," this presentation explores the idea:
• What can we do as a discipline to save first-year developmental writing courses?
• Paired with the continual problem of at-risk student retention in the open-admissions university, this presentation provides a solution by asking the question:
• What happens when you combine the first-year experience course with the basic writing course?
PROBLEMS
• The result is an exciting and refreshing theme-based course, which provides students with an introduction into academic culture and into writing in the academic culture (with a specialized strategy for retention and working with "at-risk" students).
• This presentation discusses the framework, application, and theory behind a experimental project at Utah Valley University, where the administrative interests ask that basic writing courses "step-up their game" or "disappear."
SOLUTION
• Basic Writing Curriculum
• Basic Reading Curriculum
• Student Retention Rates
• Student Familiarity with the Campus/University-College Culture
• Student Engagement with the Culture Curricular-ly and Extracurricular-ly…
FRAMING THE ISSUES
• David Bartholomae once posited that student should learn to "Invent the University" by becoming more aware of its culture and the discourse of the university.
• How?
• Acculturation and Familiarization (Not Necessarily Assimilation) into the Culture….
• How?
• Creating a course which accomplishes its goals, but is heavily thematic. The Theme? The University itself.
THEORY BEHIND FRAMEWORK
• Writing Program Administrators OUTCOME statements
http://wpacouncil.org/positions/outcomes.html
THEORY BEHIND FRAMEWORK
THIS COURSE:
• Must clear the Office of Student Success & Retention
• Must not overlap with the Department of College Success Studies
• Must be connected to Composition & Reading Curriculum
• Must include Technological Foundation, meeting the needs of everyday sorts of techno-tasks….
REALITY CHECK: HURDLES
• President
• Vice-President
• Deans
• Director of Student Success & Retention
• Department Chairs
• Full-Time Faculty (& Part-Time Faculty)
• And, most importantly: Students
REALITY CHECK: STAKEHOLDERS
• Must use conventional Basic Writing & Basic Reading curriculum
• Must not overlap with College Success Studies courses
• Must make all stakeholders happy… sheesh! Right?
CLEARED FOR “TAKEOFF”: RULES
• Make all writing assignments connect to the university
• Make all reading assignments connect to the university
• Develop a schedule with lessons, activities, homework, etc.
• Develop resources especially for this course, which are distinct to this course…
• HOW LONG TO DO ALL THIS: About 4 months….
SPRING BOARD: IDEAS
Foundational (and Pivotal)…. includes:
• Summary (Student Newspaper or Thematic Text)
• Narrative of College Goals
• Description of the College (Physical, Social, etc.)
• Expositive Multimodal Presentation One (Faculty Profile or Service Profile)
LARGE ASSIGNMENTS
• Analysis of Cultural Discourse (e.g., Newspaper, Syllabus, etc.)
• Dialectical/Argumentative Composition (Letter to the Editor)
• Argumentative Multimodal Presentation Two (Identifying Social Issues on Campus)
LARGE ASSIGNMENTS (cont.)
• “Familiarity with Technology” Assignments:
+Creating Two Slideshows (Powerpoint/Prezi)
+Creating a Graph/Chart (Excel)
+Organizational Chart (Word or Excel – Using Tables)
• Daily Writing Assignments
• Reading Assignments
SMALL ASSIGNMENTS
• Smaller Assignments, such as Daily Writing Assignments are in-sync with Readings, while may be in-sync with the larger lessons for the week.
• We don’t discuss things as Week 1, Week 2, etc. We discuss them as Unit 1, Unit 2, which allows us to move the curriculum around each semester (allows for flexible dates).
• I encourage teachers to use a plan but not a set schedule (again, flexibility).
IN-SYNC
• All lessons are “precursory” or “building blocks” to larger assignments. Thus, a student will learn about “visual design” about a week before he/she begins working on the Slideshow Presentations.
• EX: Concurrent to learning about visual design, he/she does smaller projects which help to focus the student on that specific mode (e.g., creating a chart or graph in MS EXCEL, while learning about color and type).
IN-SYNC
• EX: Students learn about “Primary Research” while preparing for their Faculty Profile/Student Service Presentation (thus, they are able to understand and implement strategies for interviewing, question design, etc.)
• EX: Students learn about “Secondary Research” before preparing to write a summary article from the student newspaper (thus they re able to understand quoting, paraphrasing, source documentation, etc..
IN-SYNC
• EXTRA CREDIT is encouraged. I tell teachers to offer “extra credit” only for participation in campus activities (e.g., Go attend a lecturer on campus, go to an art exhibit opening, etc.). Bring back an artifact or write a summary about the activity/event.
• This allows the student to expand their curricular agenda into the “extracurricular.”
• Oftentimes, I have them “report” about it.
• This models many other courses….
EXTRA CREDIT? YES. WHY NOT?
• Design of a “Custom Reader” with readings situated in four areas:
+College Experience (Why are we here? What is the academy?)
+Learning & Intelligence (How does a person learn? Multiple Intelligences? Memory?)
+WIIFM (Is the degree worth it? Economics of College?)
+How to Write and Read in an Academic Culture? (and what are the expectations)
READINGS?
• Description of the Course
• Goals/Outcomes of the Course
• Department Policies
• Notes on “Plagiarism”
OTHER “STUFF” IN THE READER
• To Include Pertinent Materials:
• MLA/APA Citation “Stuff”
• Composition Basics (e.g., Process Description, Research, etc.)
• Grammar/Punctuation/Style/Usage Basics (e.g., fixing the “twenty” most common errors, etc.; achieving a collegiate voice; etc.)
• Sample “A” Assignments (as “Models” or “Samples” for students)
PLANS TO EXPAND THE READER
• Students “Love It.”
• Faculty “Love It.”
• Only Drawback: Faculty Interviews/Student Service Interviews (part of the initial presentation) may “weigh” on the faculty/staff.
• Opportunities: First-Year of the program… many more exciting developments and resources in progress.
PRELIMINARY FEEDBACK
• Pre- and Post-Testing is currently available with our course (an “open” writing diagnostic – students write on a prompt, and a “reading” diagnostic – an exam similar to the Nelson-Denny Reading test is administered)
• Retention Rates will measure rates for our courses compared to our “control” courses (those working without the FYE curriculum).
STUDYING OUTCOMES
THANK YOU!