In the past 20 years or so, many colleges have realized that a single writing course (the "English 101" model) is insufficient to teach the required level of skill in academic discourse and research expected from college-level writing. The response to that realization has been various: some colleges have adopted a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) approach in which each discipline incorporates more writing-centered assignments in their courses. Others have required more than one course in writing, sometimes two at a general level and then one in the student's chosen major.
The SAGES program, with its focus on intensive writing over multiple courses through a student's career, culminating in an individual capstone project, represents our own recognition of the need for students to write extensively over an extended period if they are to become competent writers and communicators. But an increased emphasis on helping students become better writers means that the responsibility for guiding them is spread more widely to include instructors who are not used to providing such guidance, and they need to be aware of the kinds of proven strategies that they can adopt to best help students achieve that goal.The next two UCITE sessions will have experts in writing who will share with the rest of us what we can do to improve the writing abilities of our students. They are professor Kim Emmons (Director of Writing Programs), Dr. Megan Jewell (Director of the Writing Resource Center), and Dr. Erika Olbricht (SAGES Instructional Coordinator).
In the first session, they will discuss syllabus and course design strategies, featuring structural issues such as how much time to allow for writing, activities to promote revision, peer review strategies, syllabus design, how to include the Writing Resource Center, etc.
Please join us for this discussion from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. in the Herrick Room, which is on the ground floor of the Allen building (at the corner of Adelbert and Euclid).
Pizza lunch and sodas will be provided at the sessions. To help us estimate the amount to order, please let us know if you plan to attend this session by replying to this email to ucite@case.edu.