Writing Across the Curriculum at KCC

Writing Across the Curriculum at KCCWelcome to our overview of the program with a focus on the process whereby faculty become WAC certified.

Presentation created by Kate Garretson, WAC Coordinator, with help from Tsubasa Berg, Manager of Kingsborough Center for Advanced Technology Training (KCATT)

Administrative structure• Writing Intensive Program Coordinator: Gloria Nicosia, Professor

and Chair, Department of Communications and Performing Arts, • Certification Program Coordinator: Kate Garretson, Professor,

Department of English• Writing Fellow Coordinator: Julie Torrent, Assistant Professor,

Department of English

The WAC Program at Kingsborough is part of the Coordinated Undergraduate Education (CUE) Initiative under the direction of Reza Fakhari, Assistant Vice President for Academic Affairs and Associate Provost.

12/6/12/6: KCC operates using a quarter system with a 12 week Fall semester, a 6 week Winter term, a 12 week Spring semester and a 6 week Summer term. W sections are offered only in the Fall and Spring. Faculty begin certification training in the Winter.

WAC Program OverviewThere are three overlapping sub-programs:

• Writing-intensive section Program Students must pass one W section as a graduation

requirement.

• Faculty Certification Program W sections are offered by WAC certified instructors.

• CUNY Writing Fellow Program at KCC Writing Fellows partner with faculty seeking certification and tutor students in W and Honors sections.

More about. . .

•Writing-intensive (W) Program

• Faculty Certification Program

•KCC Writing Fellow Program

Writing intensive sections (W)• Students must pass one as a graduation requirement.• Over 100 are offered each semester, in all the departments and

majors. They are offered only by WAC certified faculty.• A list is available every Fall and Spring online and on our WAC

bulletin board.• W sections are capped at 25 students.

Characteristics• 30% of the final grade is based on writing assignments.• Revision of drafts, based on feedback, is required.• Students write informally as well as formally about course

content. • Assignments build on one another.

More about. . .




Faculty Certification Program

There are three options for becoming WAC certified: A. an on campus workshop series B. an online tutorial C. independent submission of a writing intensive course portfolio.

The goal of each is the submission of a course portfolio in which faculty showcase the writing assignments they use in the context of the goals of their course.

After drafting this course portfolio in the Winter, Option A and B candidates pilot their course in the Spring.

Final course portfolios are due at the end of June.

More about. . .




KCC Writing Fellow ProgramCUNY Writing Fellows are funded through the Graduate Center and spend one academic year at KCC.Fellows work 450 hours a year, three days a week, on campus.

Fall: Fellows become WAC certified by revising one of the courses they have taught at CUNY. Winter: Fellows work with faculty certification candidates on campus and online.Spring: Fellows partner with faculty piloting writing intensive versions of their course for the first time.

Fellows also tutor W section and Honors students in our Assignment Lab in the Writing Center.

What’s involved in becoming “certified?”




Faculty Certification Program

Why do faculty get certified?• To be able to offer W sections for their department.• To enjoy a course cap of 25 students for each W section

offered.• To receive 3 hours of release time upon successful completion

of the certification process.• To earn a letter of appreciation from the Provost for their

Tenure and Promotion file and credit for a contribution to the college.

• To make the time to think about their teaching and how to better align their practices with their values and goals.

• To interact with faculty from other disciplines in talking about teaching and learning at KCC and make new friends.

A three step process: participate in a certification course, pilot your revised syllabus, submit a revised course portfolio to become certified.

How do faculty become certified?

• Option A: An on campus workshop series with nine sessions, Mondays and Thursdays from 1 PM to 3:30 PM.

• Option B: An online tutorial with nine modules to be completed in the Winter using Wordpress blogs.

• Option C: Independent submission of a writing intensive course portfolio according to KCC guidelines.

Option A. On Campus Group Work. In a 9 session workshop series, faculty read, write, and discuss with the goal of revising course goals, assignments, and syllabus structure; they submit a provisional course portfolio by mid February.

There is always time for reflection in the on campus workshop. . .

Faculty working on campus also post their homework on linked individual blogs online.That way, Coordinators , Writing Fellow partners, and other faculty can read and respond.

WAC Online: Working independently using our online tutorial

Some general facts about WAC Online.

• Goal: to retool a course to make it more reading/writing intensive.• Faculty work on own schedule, but not at own pace: there is a

timeline and a contract to ensure timely progress.• Group discussion is enabled on a Motherblog site where

certification candidates post regularly and respond to each other.• Reflective writing designed to support course revision is

completed on an individual blog.• The course of study in 9 modules ends with the submission in

mid February of a provisional course portfolio to which we respond.• The final course portfolio is due in June after faculty have the

opportunity to pilot the course with the help of a Writing Fellow.

Our online tutorial consists of two spaces: a Motherblog and individual faculty blogs, all interconnected.

The modules listed at the top of the Motherblog contain a list of reading and writing assignments connected to a specific topic.

Topics covered in the nine modules of WAC Online:

• Introduction (Fulwiler, Elbow, Emig, Russell, Bean, Ch 1)• What are academic literacies? Which do you teach? (W&A, 1 -4)• Support for Reading (Bean, Ch 9)• Writing as Thinking (Bean, Ch 2: Critical Thinking)• Creating Effective Formal Writing Assignments (Bean, Ch 6)• Informal Writing (Bean, Ch. 7: Exploratory writing)• Response (Bean, Ch 15/16: Coaching, Writing Comments)• Assessing (Bean, Ch 14: Using Rubrics)• Responding to Error (Bean, Ch 5: Grammar and Correctness)

Faculty work primarily with John Bean’s Engaging Ideas, but also with the first four chapters of Effective Grading (Walvoord and Anderson).The goal is syllabus and assignment revision.

To post, faculty must choose the blog name in the upper left hand corner, then New, then Post

When WAC Online faculty post, they categorize each of their entries.

WAC Online faculty also categorize their postings when they work on their individual blog. Each assignment within a module has a category.

Prompts in each module consist of 5 tasks, or intellectual “moves.” Our goal is to model various kinds of informal, writing-to-learn assignments that faculty might consider using in their W course.

1. Writing reflectively about your own experience with the topic, including thinking about your own evolution as an academic writer.

2. Writing in response to a reading assignment; experimenting with approaches to annotation.

3. Application of ideas to a new context: What has been your experience with this topic in teaching your KCC course? What changes might you make and why?

4. Process writing about “what stood out” in the module work. Revising/editing that informal writing to share with a more public audience on the Motherblog. Reflecting on that process.

5. A fifth move involves posting to the Motherblog and responding to others there. Participating in a public exchange using writing.

Timeline for WAC Certification•

October 15: Application deadline

Mid November: Orientation for certification candidates.

January, February: Certification training, either online or on campus. January 19th: Online and on campus candidates need to have completed the work for at least Modules 1 – 4 . February 1st: Online and on campus candidates must have completed at least Modules 1 – 7 of the WAC seminar. Mid February: Provisional course portfolios due by 5 PM.

Spring Semester: Piloting of re-designed courses with the help of a Writing Fellow June: Courses portfolios are revised based on feedback received on the provisional course portfolio and faculty experience piloting it with the support of a Writing Fellow. June 30th: Final course portfolios are due by 5 PM.

Receive a letter from the Provost for your tenure and promotion file and 3 hours of release time/cash payment.

What is included in a Certification Course Portfolio?

Reflective Statement Provide the reader of your portfolio with an overview of the course: What do you teach and why? What are the weight bearing elements of your syllabus? How has your thinking about the teaching of your course changed as a result of your experiences in the WAC certification program? What changes have you made and why? (Final portfolio: What did you learn from piloting this writing intensive version of your course? What changes have you made and why?) Detailed Syllabus Include teaching/learning goals of the course and the sequence and character of reading and writing assignments, including due dates for drafts. Writing will count at least 30% in determining the final grade for the course. Copies of Assignments (handouts you give to the student) Submit copies of all assignments, including informal writing prompts and Blackboard discussion topics. Assignments should match up with items on your syllabus. Student Work (Final portfolio only) Erase student names from samples. Student work (sample of good, better, best) should be attached to the assignments and clearly labeled.

Our tool is dialogue. . .

Documents

Writing Across the Curriculum at KCC