Members Present: J. Carter, K. Kuipers, M. Medvetz
Members Excused/Absent: H. Bruce, N. Hinman, N. Mattina, D. Micus, A.
Walker-Andrews
Ex-Officio Present: K. Ryan
Communications:
· The committee still needs a member from the humanities.
· Members’ schedules were collected. It looks like Thursday at 1:10 is a better time. A more central room (CE 203) will be located for the next meeting on October 25th.
Business Items:
·
The General Education Model currently being
considered by the Senate will have implications on the Writing Course Guidelines
document. There will be an open faculty
meeting on October 3rd at 3:10 in SB 169 and the Senate will vote on
October 13th.
The Provost has suggestions that ASCRC is considering how to incorporate into
the model. One
of these is information literacy. The
Library proposes that information literacy be included in the writing skills
group. The committee looked at the
proposal and discussed ways to update the writing course guidelines document to
accomplish this. The committee should
also have a member from the library to serve as liaison.
Language pertaining to upper-division and lower-division courses will also have
to be updated and learning outcomes and requirements for composition courses
should be added for consistency. The working draft is appended.
·
The Committee identified the following goals:
1. Finish drafting the writing course guidelines based on the approved general ed model
2. Actively pursue input from all departments and ASCRC regarding the impact of the proposed guidelines
3. Gain approval of the final draft of the guidelines
4. Begin discussing implementation and course review strategies for subsequent years
5. Complete review of new courses with current standards
Timeline:
o Review the draft of the guidelines as revised at Sept 20 meeting and based on general ed model – complete by end of October
o Review new courses as needed – October
o Distribute guidelines to all programs for feedback on pros and cons of the guidelines – distribute by mid- November
o Review the feedback and prepare final draft for ASCRC approval – complete by late December
o If approved, move to ECOS then Faculty Senate for a vote by March
Begin discussing implementation strategies in Mar – May
The meeting was adjourned at 2:40 p.m.
Recommended Writing Course Guidelines (September 21, 2007)
This document describes the
Writing Course Guidelines for The University of Montana-Missoula.
I. Overview
The ability to write
effectively is fundamental to a liberal arts education, essential to academic
inquiry, and better prepares students to succeed in their academic,
professional, and civic endeavors. Composition and writing courses at The
University of Montana (UM) help students become adept at writing for a variety
of audiences and purposes. Students should learn to use writing as a means of synthesizing
and retaining course material.
Writing Requirements
To satisfy the writing
requirements at UM and to demonstrate writing proficiency, students must
complete:
·
College
Composition (ENEX 101), with a grade of C or better
·
One approved writing
course with a grade of C or better
·
The
Upper-Division Writing Proficiency Assessment, with a score of 3 or better
·
Departmental upper-division
writing requirement consisting of one of the following options
o
One
upper-division writing course (numbered 300-400), with a grade of C or better
defined by the department and approved by the ASCRC Writing Committee
o
Upper-division
writing expectation defined by the department and approved by the ASCRC Writing
Committee
College Composition
The Composition Program seeks to
advance the University’s mission to pursue academic excellence in the context
of writing instruction. Composition courses facilitate students’ achievements in
exploring and enacting rhetorical knowledge; critical thinking, reading,
writing and research processes; and knowledge of conventions. Writing is a
powerful means of purposeful inquiry, communication, and action in the
classroom and in the world.
Writing Courses
Courses accompanied by a “w” designation
are l writing courses. These courses use informal and formal writing to enhance
writing skills and promote critical thinking in content areas. Students are
required to complete the College Composition course (ENEX 101), or its
equivalent, prior to taking a w-course.
Writing
Proficiency Assessment
The Upper-Division Writing
Proficiency Assessment is a two-hour essay exam that all students seeking their
first undergraduate degree must pass. Students pass the exam if their essay
demonstrates adequate critical reading, writing, and reasoning skills as
measured against a published scoring rubric (available at
http://www.umt.edu/writingcenter/documents/17.WPAScoringCriteria.pdf). The exam
may be taken
after students complete 45 credits and passed before earning 70 credits. [c1]
Upper-Division Writing Requirement in the Major
Unlike the lower-division w-courses, these
writing classes typically focus on the student’s major area of study; as such,
the courses are developed by faculty members according to their expertise in
disciplinary conventions for research, analysis and writing in their fields and
focus on teaching those same skills to their students.
Examples of Writing Tasks
Writing tasks may include formal and
informal, graded and ungraded, and in-class or out-of-class exercises.
The range of possible writing tasks includes journal entries; case
studies; lab reports; free writing; annotated bibliography; essay; analyses;
proposals; abstracts; reviews; field notes; electronic postings; research
papers; or proofs.
II. Guidelines
Composition and W-courses are
designed to fit into a logical progression of writing development as students
move through the college curriculum. Therefore, writing courses and the upper-division
writing expectation have different expectations. Courses that are designated as
w-courses or the upper-division writing expectation are reviewed and approved
by the Writing Committee and Academic Standards and Curriculum Review Committee
(ASCRC). Faculty proposing writing courses or those
that are assigned to teach departmental courses are encouraged to seek guidance
from the
Composition Courses…….
Learning Outcomes
Requirements
Approved Writing Courses
Upon completing the w-course, students
should understand writing as means to practice academic inquiry and be able to
formulate and express opinions and ideas in writing. Upon completing the
w-course, the student should be able to:
Learning Outcomes
·
Use writing to learn and synthesize new
concepts
·
Formulate and express opinions and ideas
in writing
·
Compose written documents that are
appropriate for a given audience or purpose
·
Revise written work based on feedback
·
Give constructive feedback on written work
·
Begin to use discipline-specific writing
conventions
·
Apply appropriate English language usage
·
Find, evaluate, and use information effectively[c2]
Requirements for Lower-Division Writing Courses
·
Limit enrollment to 25 students per
instructor or grader
·
Identify course outcomes in the syllabus
·
Provide students with detailed written
instructions, including criteria for evaluation, for all formal writing
assignments
·
Provide adequate instruction and require
students to write frequently for a range of audiences, purposes, and genres
o
Formal or informal
o
Graded or ungraded
o
In-class or out-of-class
·
Provide feedback on students’ writing and
give students the opportunity to revise and resubmit at least one formal
writing assignment
·
Require each student individually to
compose at least 16 pages of writing for assessment over the course of the
semester
·
Base a significant portion (at least 50%
of a 3 credit course or equivalent hours) of the course grade on student
performance on writing assignments
Upper-Division Writing Requirement in the Major
Upon completing the upper-division writing requirement,
students should be more active, confident, and effective contributors to a body
of knowledge and should understand the ethical dimensions of inquiry. Upon
completing the upper-division writing requirement, the student should be able
to:
Learning Outcomes
·
Identify and
pursue more sophisticated questions for academic inquiry
·
Find, evaluate, analyze, and synthesize information from diverse
source material[c3]
·
Manage multiple perspectives and voices in
writing
·
Recognize the purposes and needs of discipline-specific audiences
and adopt the academic voice necessary for the chosen discipline
·
Understand the value and use of multiple
drafts, revision, and editing in conducting inquiry and preparing written work
·
Follow the conventions of citation, documentation, and formal
presentation appropriate to that discipline
·
Develop competence in information technology and digital literacy
Requirements
for Upper-Division Writing Courses
·
Limit enrollment to 25 students per
instructor or grader
·
Identify course outcomes in the syllabus
·
Provide students with detailed written
instructions, including criteria for evaluation, for all formal writing
assignments
·
Provide students with tools and strategies
for effective writing in the major
·
Require students to write frequently for a
range of audiences, purposes, and genres
o
Formal or informal
o
Graded or ungraded
o
In-class or out-of-class
·
Provide feedback on students’ writing and
give students the opportunity to revise and resubmit at least one formal
writing assignment
·
Require each student to individually
compose at least 20 pages of writing for assessment over the course of the
semester
·
Base a significant portion (at least 50%
of a 3 credit course or equivalent hours) of the course grade on student
performance on writing assignments
Recommended
Department and Campus Support for Writing Courses
To
ensure sufficient support for faculty members who teach writing courses,
academic departments and the administration are encouraged to consider the
following recommendations:
·
Provide teaching and grading support when class enrollment exceeds
25
·
Compensate for the additional time and effort required for
w-courses in unit standards
·
Provide for a reduction in teaching load for faculty who teach
w-courses
·
Provide one-time grants for faculty members interested in
developing a writing course
·
Provide a venue (e.g., a listserv) for faculty members to share
ideas on writing courses
·
Provide development programs and support for faculty members
teaching w-courses
·
Develop a list of ideas or examples of writing exercises designed
to promote critical thinking
·
Ensure that Banner supports the guidelines for class size,
course sequence, and grade requirements