Writing to Learn

Most of us are struggling with how to keep students engaged with course material now that we don’t have regular in-class meetings. The majority of our classes are asynchronous. Those of us with synchronous online sessions face difficulties building a community because of technical glitches and students not turning on their videos. It’s easy to get overwhelmed with all the new modalities and technologies we are trying to wrap our heads around. But one of the best tools for online learning is one we are all familiar with, writing. Luckily, there is a long history of using writing in the classroom that precedes online teaching, and while we might have to adapt ideas to the content and modality of our courses, writing is not a new technology.

Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) is a movement that encourages writing in all disciplines and at every level. WAC also promotes “Writing to Learn,” using low-stakes, informal writing assignments that allow students to struggle with course material. Regardless of modality, small writing assignments can help us regularly take the pulse of the class to see what students understand, what they are missing, and what they are interested in. Regular writing assignments also make it clear to students that they should be keeping up with course material and give instructors more tangible evidence of student engagement and learning. Below are a few examples of “Writing to Learn” approaches:

• Entrance and Exit Tickets- Perhaps the most basic WAC approach, this assignment can be both low effort and high impact. For synchronous sessions, just have students spend a couple of minutes answering a basic question about course material at the beginning or end of the class. What were the 2 main points in the reading last night? What questions do you have about the lecture? Ask a few volunteers to read theirs or collect them and choose a few to respond to for the whole class. No need to grade these. Just show that they are responsible for engaging with course material and you are ready to answer questions, confirm when they are headed in the right direction, or devote time to material they are struggling with. Make this a regular part of your class and they get better at asking questions, identifying main ideas, or other skills you are trying to encourage. The approach can be used for asynchronous courses, though the “entrance” or “exit” might be to a module instead of a class period.
• Weekly Responses- Some of us might be using discussion boards for the first time in our online courses, but the idea of having students regularly reply in writing to course content is nothing new. If we are asking students to write regularly because we are suddenly teaching asynchronously, it’s a good idea to look at successful models from the past like journaling, response papers, and free writing. Try to provide students with a balance between clear parameters for what is required of them and the freedom to choose how they want to respond. Occasionally you might want them to answer specific questions, but generally you will get better results if you allow for choice. Choose a quotation and respond to it. Apply the concept we are learning to something happening in the news. Connect this week’s material to something you already know. While each response is still informal and low stakes, depending on the amount and frequency of writing, this might end up being a major part of a student’s grade. While you should let them know that you expect a level of clarity and development, it’s a bad idea to edit these for grammar as this defeats the purpose of allowing students to struggle with course content.
• Critical Questions- Often students want to deal with simple yes or no questions, but much of what we want them to learn is not that simple. Critical questions can lead to multiple answers, research projects, and hours of discussion. Helping students develop the skill of asking good questions can better prepare them for complex concepts in our classes and difficult questions they will face in their careers and as citizens. Ask them to write questions about course content and then have them meet in groups to discuss and choose the best question. Base a synchronous class meeting (in person or online) around these questions or use them to create an asynchronous discussion board.

 

• Student Exam Questions- Writing midterm, final, or quiz questions forces students to think like teachers. What are the most important concepts or issues in the course? How are they connected to one another? How can the course material be applied? If students know to ask these questions in their classes they will better understand how to meaningfully prioritize and organize what we are teaching them. Ask them to submit questions and then have class discussions or asynchronous peer review around why a question works or how it could be better. Include some of their questions on the exam and let them know that they should think of this process as prep for the test.

WAC has been around for decades and is one of the largest bottom-up, faculty-driven pedagogical movements in higher ed, so there are many resources if you want to learn more.  John Bean’s Engaging Ideas offers an introduction to WAC concepts and gives practical examples of assignments. The WAC Clearinghouse delivers direct access to books, journal articles, and other resources. GSU’s WAC program provides summer grants and graduate support to develop and teach writing-intensive courses.