Academic Writing Expectations: Clear Benchmarks for Student Authors

 Academic Writing Expectations (AWE)

Welcome to Today’s Webinar!

• • • • • • Click the arrow to view panel Adjust audio setup as needed Ask questions throughout the webinar Technical Support: 800-263-6317 Closed Captioning available through link in the Questions area Faculty members who are licensed educators can receive a certificate of participation, which may be equivalent to 1 hour of continuing education, for this session. Licensed educators should check their state licensure requirements to determine whether their participation in this session will meet continuing education requirements. Further directions will be provided via an email after the session.

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Presenters

M. Laurel Walsh, Ed.D, MFA, General Education Coordinator, College of Undergraduate Studies “Creating cognitively nurturing

spaces for adults in asynchronous settings has been the focus of my academic research and curricular development efforts. Writing is a form of thinking, and I want every student to be empowered to think

well on the page. ” –from Laurel’s bio Confidential – Internal Use Only 3

Presenters

Lulu Williamson, PhD, Program Director, Interdisciplinary Studies “ Clear expectations and tools to be able to meet those expectations are the two best things we can give to our students.

While teaching upper level undergraduate courses the biggest problem is writing, writing and more writing. As their instructor my job is to lessen the frustration factor by engaging them with tools for writing success .” –from Lulu’s bio Confidential – Internal Use Only 4

AWE –

Academic Writing Expectations RATIONALE: Clarify expectations for effective academic writing, including a scaffolded student experience in regard to APA standards and other academic writing criteria in order to enhance student success. • • • AWE provides consistent, academically appropriate writing standards for undergraduate students. o explains writing as a process and provides an overview of a citation

system

Presents scaffolded expectations for writing skills from the first term through the program capstone, aligned to course level (1000 – 4000).

An AWE document detailing the appropriate writing expectations for each course level will be available in every undergraduate classroom.

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AWE Implementation

1 • AWE documents creation and dissemination included the following stakeholders: UG Writing Taskforce, Program Directors, Associate Deans, Academic Writing Center, CUGS CAP, OAA, Vice Presidents . • Submit to Course Maintenance to insert AWE Documents into all UG Classrooms (tentatively by April 2013) 2 3 • Provide Faculty Training PRIOR to implementation • Faculty training to be required for CUGS faculty, requirement for other UG faculty TBD by VPs • CUGS Faculty AWE workshop sessions – Miami National Faculty Meeting (January 2013), program specific AWE training throughout March 2013. AWE in an ELMS course by April 2013. • Synchronous general faculty webinars 2x per month for first quarter 2013, then asynchronous training available in archived form. 4 • FUTURE INITIATIVE: Develop consistent rubric content to evaluate writing for course assignments 6

AWE Collaborative Process

• • CUGS Writing Taskforce, Composition Faculty, Walden Writing Center, and CUGS academic leadership collaboratively constructed the AWE documents.

Following feedback from Walden Program Directors, Associate Deans, and Vice Presidents, AWE was revised to align with Association of American Colleges and Universities composition skill benchmarks. 7

AWE Creative Team: Member Selection Venn Diagram 8

AWE for Undergraduate Students

• • Rooted in the understanding that students develop academic writing skills over time. In each course, students gain more insight about how to use appropriate content to develop and explore ideas in writing.

• The new AWE docs will provide clarity on student writing expectations by course level. AWE Confidential – Internal Use Only 9

AWE Skill Development Across Course Levels • • • • AWE 1: First Term/1000 level courses Show consideration of audience as they gain more understanding about how to use appropriate content to develop and explore ideas in writing. Students should practice the revision process and take responsibility for proofreading for writing errors before submission.

Students should: – practice sentence-level skills and paragraph-level writing skills practice using evidence to support a claim in a writing assignment 10

Grammar and Punctuation Matter

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AWE Skill Development Across Course Levels • • • • AWE 2: 2000/3000 level courses Demonstrate awareness of context, audience, and purpose in all writing assignments. Gain more understanding about how to use appropriate and relevant content to develop and explore ideas in writing. Show an understanding of the revision process and take responsibility for proofreading for writing errors before submission.

Students must be able to – display sentence, paragraph, and essay level writing skills and – use evidence to support a claim in an academic argument and give credit in writing to the source. – Students should demonstrate awareness of discipline-specific conventions particular to a writing assignment 12

Information Literacy

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AWE Skill Development Across Course Levels • • • • • AWE 3: 4000 level courses Demonstrate awareness of context, audience, and purpose in all writing assignments. Display an understanding regarding how to use appropriate and relevant content to explore ideas in writing.

Students must show an understanding of the revision process and take responsibility for proofreading for writing errors before submission.

Students must be able to – display sentence, paragraph, and essay level writing skills. – use evidence to support a claim in an academic argument and give credit to a source.

– Students should demonstrate awareness of discipline-specific conventions particular to a writing assignment, including academic expression, presentation, and stylistic choices appropriate to an academic audience.

provide the reader with documentation of research with a reference page.

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Use of Evidence

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AWE Skill Development Across Course Levels • • • • • AWE 4: Capstone courses Demonstrate a thorough understanding of context, audience, and purpose. Students must use appropriate, relevant, and compelling content to illustrate mastery of the subject, conveying the writer's understanding, and shaping the whole work. Students must show an understanding of the revision process and take responsibility for proofreading for writing errors before submission.

The capstone must demonstrate detailed attention to and successful execution of a wide range of conventions particular to a specific discipline and/or writing task (s) including – Show organization, content, presentation, formatting, and stylistic choices. – Demonstrate skillful use of high quality, credible, relevant sources to develop ideas that are appropriate for the discipline and genre of the writing. Use appropriate and persuasive language that communicates meaning to readers with clarity and fluency, and is virtually error-free. 16

Uniform Capstone Products

• • • • Capstone Template: Preformatted and APA compliant.

Provide a Walden branded look and feel for each capstone product.

Capstone as display case for student learning.

Students who meet the capstone academic writing expectations are ready for graduate school.

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Academic Writing and APA

• • • • Addressing APA as part of a writer’s toolkit.

Looking at developing student awareness of mechanics, idea development, drafting, and paraphrasing as skills they can practice.

Pushing students toward Walden Writing Center resources.

Working to develop a culture of clear written communication in all disciplines across Walden.

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AWE is Positive Social Change

• • • • Clear written communication allows students to author persuasive material (such as grants, job applications, and love letters).

Employers value strong writing skills, and asynchronous learning requires it.

Writing skills are portable and enhance student critical thinking skills.

Content is not dissolvable in hot liquids; content mastery is displayed in writing; all Walden faculty members are writing teachers.

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Questions for undergraduate faculty…

• • • • Would AWE (as described) address the writing issues from the poll?

What is missing from the AWE material?

Do you think that students will use the documents? Why or why not?

Will you feel comfortable using the AWE documents? Why or why not?

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Writing and Critical Thinking

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