WRIT 1122Faculty meeting

September 23, 2010

Satisfaction with goals and features The survey results showed that faculty are

satisfied overall with the goals and features of WRIT 1122.

In cases where goals/features were rated lower than others, they weren’t that much lower.

The qualitative responses indicated that most faculty wanted no change to the goals/features

Responses did raise some items for discussion: We are going to focus on six findings from the survey

Agenda

Documenting sources course goal 1122 Portfolio Multimodal courses and course goal Editing and proofreading goal/feature Reasoning and evidence goal Reading component feature

In these discussions, we want to encourage the sharing of teaching strategies and formative conversations. We understand the limitations and various interpretations of these data—we are using the survey as a means to encourage a discussion about WRIT 1122 as we all plan our courses.

Course Goal

Documenting Sources

Documenting sources

Demonstrate the ability to incorporate written sources into their own writing and to document those materials. Amount in formal assignments (M = 2.47, SD

= .77) Only a few assignments use outside sources? All other

totals were .48 – 1.32 higher. Is this the “one” assignment goal?

Lowest course goal satisfaction score (M = 2.42 SD = 0.77)

4 faculty offered critique/suggestions in the open-ended questions specifically about this goal.

Options

1) Eliminate it as a goal.2) Leave it as it is.3) Change/revise it to a feature—attribution of

sources rather than focus specifically on documenting sources.  It is already worded as a feature.

4) Integrate it with the “evidence and assertions” goal.  Revision suggestion would be “effective selection and attribution of evidence.”

5) Revise it to make it more rhetorical and less mechanical.

Options

1) Eliminate it as a goal.2) Leave it as it is.3) Change/revise it to a feature—attribution of

sources rather than focus specifically on documenting sources.  It is already worded as a feature.

4) Integrate it with the “evidence and assertions” goal.  Revision suggestion would be “effective selection and attribution of evidence.”

5) Revise it to make it more rhetorical and less mechanical.

Suggested revised goal

Original

Demonstrate the ability to incorporate written sources into their own writing and to document those materials.

Revision

Demonstrate the ability to select and attribute or document source material in rhetorically effective ways.

Course Feature

Portfolio

WRIT 1122 Portfolio

Leads the WRIT Com to: •Questions: What are we doing with 1122 portfolios? How can we make them more integrated or important to the class?•An Investigation •Needing Feedback: Email WRIT Com Suggestions for a) what to investigate, b) uses of 1122 portfolio, c) revisions of the prompts

Generally speaking, how important is the presence of a brief portfolio in a first-year course?

Generally speaking, considering your lesson plans, assignments, etc, how satisfied are you with how you enact a final portfolio?

M = 2.63 SD = 1.01

M = 2.79 SD = 0.92

• “The portfolio still doesn't make a lot of sense right now…. [No] clear evidence that…introductory essays are teaching us anything helpful” • “The portfolio needs a complete overhaul in purpose and substance; the current version is difficult to [and] not particularly helpful for us to use as a learning tool.”• “I am not certain to what degree the final portfolio is useful to the students. … [T]his is purely a final formality to most of them.”

Qualitative Responses

Results, Goal, 1122 Sections

MultiModal Status

Survey Results

The faculty is still split on adding multi-modality as a goal for WRIT 1122.

strongly oppose

oppose

neither oppose/support

support

strongly support

12

34

5

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

The addition of a multimodal goal

Recommendations

The WRIT Committee recommends that we: table multimodal goal for now

encourage multimodal projects with resources and support

continue to offer 1122 sections designated Multimodal for faculty and students who do wish to emphasize a multimodal goal

extend multimodal option to 1133 continued research on multimodal teaching and

writing

Multimodal Sections

Special designation in catalog for courses with significant multimodal emphasis

MM sections include multimodality goal:“Demonstrate practical understanding of various rhetorical advantages and limitations of different compositional modes (writing, image, sound, singly or combined) and, when appropriate, different media (e.g. print, performance, audio, video, networked digital tool) through the ability both to analyze and produce texts composed in multiple modes.”

MM Proposals

All faculty are encouraged to propose MM 1122 and/or MM 1133 sections

Submit a 1-paragraph proposal for each course Please address what kind of multimodal assignment(s)

your course would include, paying attention to how multimodal composing will attend to the established course goals of rhetorical awareness.

Email to Doug (cc: Amy) with “Multimodal Proposal” in subject by September 28th

For Inspiration

2010 MM Pilot sections were quite successful.

Check out the Multimodal Writing Resources Wiki http://multimodalwritingresources.wikispaces.com will be expanded throughout the fall

Course goals/features

3 Noteworthy Findings

Editing and Proofreading

Course Goal: Demonstrate the ability to edit and proofread their writing.

Results indicate that it is primarily achieved through written formal assignments (M = 3.79, SD = .54) rather than informal assignments or classroom instruction.

It was the second lowest in faculty satisfaction with how it was approached (M = 2.58, SD = .84)

It showed the least gain of the course goals in perceived student performance between entering the course and leaving the course Before (M = 2.37, SD = 0.60) After (M = 2.89, SD = 0.58)

Editing and Proofreading

Course Feature: Teach students editing and proofreading strategies in order to produce texts that meet the grammar, usage, and delivery expectations of their readers.

It was the lowest rated goal on the satisfaction scale (M = 2.26, SD =.73).

What sorts of things work in addressing

this feature? Why is this a difficult goal/feature?

Evidence and Argument

Course Goal: Demonstrate the ability to produce writing that effectively provides evidence and reasoning for assertions, for audiences of educated readers.

The third lowest on the satisfaction scale for course goals (M = 2.84, SD = 0.69).

Of note: In defining the course, almost every response had some form of rhetoric in the description—only 3 mentioned argument or evidence/reasoning.

To what extent is this a course about argument? How are we teaching it?

Reading Component

Course Feature:

Include a reading component.  Reading in WRIT 1122 and 1133 is important both for practice in rhetorical analysis and for providing content for students to write about, with, through, and against. Through active reading, students come into conversation with texts by others, analyzing received positions and arriving at their own.  Students need to be able to summarize readings, interpret their meanings and implications, analyze their rhetorical strategies, relate them to other texts about the same subject matter, and explain their limitations or inadequacies.  To practice these skills, students in WRIT 1122 and 1133 may read a text or set of related texts; discuss them (unpacking the meanings, debate the terms used, arriving at an interpretation); write in response; synthesize multiple readings; produce critiques or reviews; and use summary, paraphrase, or quotation to incorporate ideas into their own texts.  Reading of student writing in the course is also important, using all the strategies one might use for published writing.

Reading Component

It was the third lowest on the satisfaction scale for course features (M = 2.47, SD = 0.84).

How do we use readings in our courses? Is this effective?

To what extent do we have students “summarize readings, interpret their meanings and implications, analyze their rhetorical strategies, relate them to other texts about the same subject matter, and explain their limitations or inadequacies”? Content reading and/or interpretive readings?

What is the reading/writing connection in WRIT 1122?