Plan Writing in the Major

The WEC Process

Dr. Robert Scafe

Professional Development Specialist &

Director of the Writing Enriched Curriculum

The Writing Enriched Curriculum guides academic programs through a multi-year, faculty-driven process of creating, implementing, and assessing an undergraduate writing plan. WEC writing plans include agreed upon writing goals, a timetable for completion, and a funding proposal for an internal faculty liaison. WEC supports these efforts by facilitating a series of faculty discussions of student writing, providing models of assessment, and offering customized workshops on pedagogies of inclusive, engaging, and efficient writing instruction.

You may book a customized presentation for your academic unit by contacting Dr. Robert Scafe at email rscafe@ou.edu or by submitting a CFE support request form.

Planning (1 Year)

The first year of your program's work with WEC will be devoted to a series of open, dynamic faculty discussions on writing in the major. These meetings will be informed by data gathered and distributed by an internal faculty liaison and /or writing committee: an initial assessment of capstone-level writing, surveys of faculty and student attitudes toward writing, and a descriptive "curriculum map." At the end of the planning stage, the internal faculty liaison will circulate a proposed writing plan and funding proposal for approval by the faculty.

Semester A

Select Faculty Liaison and /or UG Writing Committee

Assess small sample of student writing

Discuss "Desired Writing Abilities" in Faculty Meeting

Semester B

Present faculty and student survey results in faculty meeting

Create descriptive "Curriculum Map"

Draft Writing Plan

Desired changes in writing instruction
Timetable
Funding Requests

Faculty discussion and vote on writing plan

Implementation (2 Years)

Faculty will implement their agreed upon writing goals over a period of approximately two years (this period will vary depending on the size and needs of the academic unit). By integrating ability-based writing lessons into their courses in a coordinated fashion, faculty can offer students consistent and repeated opportunities to master disciplinary writing skills over the course of the major. Academic programs typically coordinated the implementation of their writing plans in the following ways:

Posting faculty-generated writing expectations on public-facing sites and incorporating agreed-upon writing criteria into course-level assignments and rubrics
Conducting curricular research on disciplinary writing instruction at peer institutions
Facilitating instructional consultations and WEC workshops designed to help faculty efficiently integrate writing lessons, scaffold their major projects, give feedback on student writing, etc.
Incorporating brief "writing to learn" workshops into select undergraduate courses

Assessment (1 Year)

At the conclusion of the implementation phase, unit faculty members, with guidance from WEC will carry out direct assessment of writing plan's impact on student writing in the major. Assessment will include both surveys and direct rating of a significant sample of upper-level student writing. results of assessments will be interpreted by the faculty as a whole and used to revise the program's "desired writing abilities" and to inform ongoing implementation of shared writing goals.

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