Curriculum in Support of Student Learning and
Achievement
April 14, 1:00-3:00pm EDT
online webinar
Host: Innovative Educators
Presenter: Dr. Linda Best
http://www.innovativeeducators.org/product_p/552.htm
OVERVIEW
Drawing from policies and practices at
institutions throughout the country as well as
research on writing, this presentation will focus
on what WAC is and how to implement it in the
classroom and across the institution. The session
will offer a variety of examples of WAC
activities, both those specific to particular
disciplines and those that can be utilized in all
disciplines, discussing how they enhance learning.
The underlying purpose of the session is to show
how writing enables students to reflect on,
acquire, absorb, organize, and utilize content
studied. The material covered is relevant to
faculty, professional staff, academic support
staff, and administrators.
The session's content will include commentary on
the Writing Across the Curriculum Movement,
reviewing both its history and its long-time
success; discussion about program policy,
structure, delivery, and assessment, as
exemplified by best practices at different
institutions; the examination of misconceptions
about WAC and implications for instruction; a
review of the relationship between WAC and Writing
to Learn (WTL) and Writing in the Discipline (WID)
pedagogies; and explanation about the difference
between a course that utilizes writing for the
study of content and a course that teaches
writing. The body of the presentation will offer
an extensive review of successful writing
activities across levels and disciplines with
commentary on how to adapt or develop as well as
incorporate these into a given course. The session
will also focus on practical concerns that faculty
and academic support staff typically raise in
discussions about WAC: syllabi design, how to
manage and respond to the writing students
generate, and issues about ensuring the integrity
of course content when placing emphasis on and
giving time to writing.
OBJECTIVES
*Review basic concepts about Writing Across the
Curriculum, the pedagogical movement that began in
the 1980s.
*Consider WAC policy by examining a number of
institutional examples.
*Examine WAC course structures for insights on
workable ideas and activities that can be infused
into the curriculum.
*Understand related topics: WTL (Writing to Learn)
and WID (Writing in the Discipline)
*Review the differences between a course that
utilizes writing for the study of content and a
course that teaches writing.
*Study how to integrate writing into the
curriculum, with references to students' active
roles in learning.
*View statistics on students' performance and
achievement at institutions with strong WAC
Programs.
*Review myths, misconceptions, and testimonials
about WAC.
*Study specific WAC activities, such as quick
writes, mentor texts, logs, briefs, thinking maps,
inquiry, double-entry explorations, and ways these
are used in a variety of disciplines.
*Sketch ideas for their own WAC activities.
*Consider implementation issues, from course
design to grading or responding to students'
writing.
*Consider ways to apply WAC principles and
activities in tutoring and other academic support
mechanisms.
WHO SHOULD ATTEND?
Faculty, Deans, Academic Support Staff,
Administrators, Staff for Retention and
Assessment, First-Year Seminar Faculty and Staff
WHO IS THE SPEAKER?
Dr. Linda Best is Professor and Chair of the
Department of English at Kean University in Union,
NJ. She earned her Ed.D. from the University of
Rochester (NY) in the area of cognition and
instruction. She also directs the Kean University
Writing Project, an approved site of the
federally-funded National Writing Project, the
largest and most successful professional
development program for teachers in the United
States.
Dr. Nilson has also published many articles and
book chapters and has presented conference
sessions and faculty workshops at colleges and
universities both nationally and internationally
on dozens of topics related to teaching
effectiveness, assessment, scholarly productivity,
and academic career matters. She has been a
regular presenter at the Lilly Conferences on
College Teaching for years. Most of her faculty
experience was at UCLA as a sociology professor.
Dr. Best's teaching experiences include
developmental writing, ESL, composition, and
advanced writing through the graduate level. She
has researched and written about the writing
process extensively, publishing over 60 articles
on the topic. Her studies capture data at nature
of writing – how writers compose and how writing
activity exposes and lays out information,
allowing writers to organize what they know,
demonstrate what they know, and advance learning.
Through findings like these, Dr. Best has
come to understand the underpinnings of the
Writing Across the Curriculum movement and has
delivered professional development on the topic to
faculty across the disciplines at a number of
colleges and universities in the United States and
Canada.
Dr. Best is most widely known for her critical
studies on the nature of developmental writing,
which support her work to develop materials that
facilitate students' progress, elevate their
learning and esteem in all subjects they study,
engage them in the deep suprocesses of writing
(e.g. planning, monitoring, questioning,
reviewing, and so on), integrate grammar into
writing practice, lend themselves to active
learning, and support the retention and
application of writing skills for use in other
academic situations.
Dr. Best has served as an external evaluator at a
number of institutions and has delivered well over
100 professional development sessions. Her work
has transformed both students' and instructors'
views on writing in thoughtful, critically-
informed, and affirming ways.
Enquiries: pam@ieinfo.org
Web address: http://www.innovativeeducators.org
Sponsored by: Innovative Educators
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