Project Title:
Developing Writing-Intensive Courses in All Disciplines
Project Director and Other Associated Faculty and Staff:
Richard Jewell, Instructor, English, Inver Hills Community College, Contact: Richard@jewell.net, Telephone: (612)870-7024
Project Design:
Writing intensive (WI) courses are courses in any discipline where there is a significant writing component. Writing requirements must meet standards if they are to be transferable. Currently, University of Minnesota and Minnesota State University have developed writing intensive requirements. The goals of this project are to: (1) Develop WI guidelines, training, courses and assessment at IHCC in a variety of disciplines. (2) To improve IHCC instruction using writing, (3) Make the courses easily transferable to the two Minnesota universities, (4)Organize, assess, describe and publish IHCC initiative throughout MnSCU two-year colleges to provide models for other 2-year schools to develop WI courses.
Project Evaluation and Outcomes:
At IHCC, he project involved 11 teachers who taught 19 new WI sections in 10 disciplines. Further, the project reached an additional 148 teachers through a mix or presentations, committee work, etc. As for students, approximately 700 students registered for new WI sections at IHCC. At IHCC, a duty day was used for a mini conference on WI attended by 90 IHCC teachers. The administrators at UofM-TC have been cooperative and the UofM and MnSCU have agreed to allow IHCC WI courses to be transferred and will meet requirements for WI courses at UofM.
Evaluation instruments included student and teacher surveys administered in IHCC WI courses and revealed that (1) students believed their writing improved, (2) students considered writing very important, (3) students believe that writing increased their learning of course subject matter. Instructors who taught WI courses reported (1) They devoted 6.5 hours per week to assessment of writing, (2) They were very satisfied with having taught a WI course and virtually all wished to teach one again.
Lessons Learned, Dissemination and Sustainability
On the whole, the project proved successful according to the project director. The project demonstrated how much can be done with writing in the disciplines among students and faculty. Another mark of success is that it can serve as an excellent model for use by other schools locally and nationally.
Dissemination: In addition to broad dissemination at training sessions, the national Council of Writing Program Administrators has asked the Project Director to make a presentation to the group’s national conference. The Project Director made a presentation at CTL’s 2004 & 2005 Realizing Student Potential conference.
Sustainablity: The project will be sustained as follows: (1) A large number of teachers have now developed WI courses and these will continue, (2) The UofM will continue to accept these WI courses. (3)The project manager will continue to sustain the WI sections and solicit new WI sections (4) IHCC will continue to list WI courses on student’s transcript, (5) the WI initiative will serve as a national model.
