Writing and speaking to achieve undergraduate learning outcomes: Mastering...
Texas A&M has seven undergraduate learning outcomes, and although only one expressly addresses acquiring written and oral communication skills, having students write or speak can help them achieve...
View ArticleWriting and speaking to achieve undergraduate learning outcomes: Demonstrate...
In my last blog, I began exploring how writing and speaking can help students achieve the seven TAMU Undergraduate Learning Objectives. In this entry, I want to discuss the objective, “demonstrate...
View ArticleWriting and speaking to achieve undergraduate learning outcomes: Practice...
Last month, I claimed that all of the Texas A&M University undergraduate learning outcomes could be supported by teaching oral and written communication (see that blog). In this installment, I will...
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P=M*V: or what physics taught me about graduate writing groups
One of the most pleasant and meaningful tasks I have at the UWC is to facilitate a thesis and dissertation writing group. Once a week, students share their work with the group, and group members offer...
View ArticleWriting and speaking to achieve undergraduate learning outcomes: Prepare to...
I’ve been writing a series of posts on the seven undergraduate learning objectives to show how working on one, namely, “communicate effectively,” can also help students achieve the other six....
View ArticleWriting and speaking to achieve undergraduate learning outcomes: Demonstrate...
In the last few blogs, I have been showing how the learning objectives for Texas A&M undergraduates (as described on the Undergraduate Studies website) can be achieved and enhanced by assignments...
View ArticleWriting and speaking to achieve undergraduate learning outcomes: Work...
This is the final post on how assignments in communication can enhance the learning objectives for Texas A&M undergraduates (Undergraduate Studies website). The last objective I will examine is...
View ArticleWho works at the UWC anyway?
It’s the time of year at the UWC to hire new undergraduate consultants for the fall. I just sent out a mass email to all freshmen, sophomores, and juniors listing the job requirements and the link to...
View ArticleThe power of “be”
If you tell students to avoid to be verbs in their writing, you are guilty. You may think be verbs decrease the power of writing, when, in fact, they can increase it. Writing instruction too frequently...
View ArticleTry something new–video essays
The essay has long been a staple of college writing. Generally, we expect essays to be written for an academic audience, although in origin they were usually intended for an educated but more general...
View ArticleCopy cat: Using models to increase rhetorical knowledge
What’s the first thing you’d do if you were asked to write in a new form for an unfamiliar audience? Most of us would want to see a model, something to give us a start on the parameters of the form....
View ArticleFrom thesis to essay (or speech): Before the outline, try some invention
Typical college students avoid the work required to compose a finished and polished essay or speech. It’s obvious they skimp on editing and avoid proofreading, but more to the detriment of their...
View ArticleDesigning a W or C syllabus: Engaging students as expert writers and speakers
Give a typical student a chance to do work at the very last minute, and he (or she) will take it. Writing a paper the night before, dashing off slides without an outline and not practicing a...
View ArticleActivities and assignments to engage students as expert writers and speakers
In my last post, I discussed how building steps of the composing process into a syllabus encourages students to take on the habits of expert writers or public speakers. I focussed on building drafts or...
View Article“Genre is craft,” and you have to teach it
There’s absolutely no reason you can’t write in ANY genre if you are prepared to put the work in. Genre is craft. Craft can be learnt. So learn the conventions of the genre you want to write. — Lucy...
View ArticleTeach yourself (or your students) some new media tricks
We’re moving into a age of new media, and we’re going to have to draw on some old familiar skills and learn some new ones to keep up with the rapid changes in the way we communicate. While old media...
View ArticleLet’s get started: adding more communication to the curriculum
If you’re writing a grant proposal, developing a curriculum, or orchestrating an assessment, you’ve likely come across the term “high-impact learning.” In fact, you probably want to work that term, one...
View ArticleWhy writers need a writing center
We’ve heard some disturbing hints that many Texas A&M students think the University Writing Center only helps struggling writers. We’ve also heard that some students feel they are such accomplished...
View ArticleGeorge Kuh’s visit and writing centers
George Kuh, a scholar of higher education known best for his work on the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), is visiting Texas A&M on Wednesday, October 3, hosted by the Office of the...
View ArticleValue added: critical reflection and self-assessment
It has become commonplace to ask students to write a “reflection,” but the results don’t always give us the meaningful data we seek for assessment, much less contribute to any significant learning. To...
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