Writing Across the Curriculum Pilot Project – DABCC Susan Wood Pierre Laroche

What is the question? Is every teacher a writing teacher?

What is the problem? The transfer of writing and thinking skills learned in composition and rhetoric courses at DABCC to other courses offered at DABCC

What is a possible solution? Assess the problem – Put together a team of DABCC faculty across disciplines to look at student data and student writing Learn about Writing-Across-the-Curriculum theories and principles Develop a plan to address identified problems/issues

DABCC’s Pilot Project NMHEAA Summer Retreat At least one faculty from each division at DABCC attended a three day retreat in Ruidoso this past summer to learn about assessment and create a plan for an assessment project

DABCC’s Pilot Project In our plan we: – Developed a mission statement – Clearly defined our goals and expected outcomes – Proposed a preliminary writing assessment tool – Generated a detailed timeline for accomplishing project – Asked for volunteer participants representing each division at DABCC

Pilot Project Plan Pilot Project group: representatives from all divisions (full and part-time faculty) Timeline: 7 working meetings between September and May

Pilot Project Plan Mission Statement: – To implement a Writing-Across-the-Curriculum program at DABCC that helps students meet the Communication and Literacy instructional objective

Pilot Project Plan Goals: – Assess the writing needs of DABCC students – Create tools for instructors and students that will standardize student-writing across the campus – Provide Writing-Across-the-Curriculum professional development to full and part-time faculty participating in project – Offer a support structure to faculty participating in project

Pilot Project Plan Outcomes – A tool to help teachers design writing assignments – A revised rubric to evaluate student-writing campus-wide – A recommendation report based on assessment data

Pilot Project Plan What we’ve accomplished – Have conducted benchmarking – Have provides professional development – Have created and conducted surveys – Have redesign assessment tool for students – Have created “writing assignment creation” tool for instructors Next steps – Create, administer and assess writing assignments using tools – Assess pilot project and write recommendation report

Tools in Process DABCC Pilot Project Writing Standards Rubric DABCC Pilot Project Writing Standards Rubric “Planning a Successful Writing Project” tool

Preliminary Data ENGL 111 students

Preliminary Data DABCC Associate Degree Graduates

Preliminary Data ENGL 111 students

Preliminary results from Survey How important is writing to your academic success? q7 Course123459Grand Total COLL COMM ENGL ENGL OEBU OEBU PSY Grand Total

Preliminary results from Survey How important is writing to your professional success? q8 Course123459Grand Total COLL COMM ENGL ENGL OEBU OEBU PSY Grand Total

Preliminary results from Survey Do you have confidence in your writing? q6 Course123459Grand Total COLL COMM ENGL ENGL OEBU OEBU PSY Grand Total

Q&A What do you think? What are your suggestions?

Contact information Pierre Laroche Susan Wood