Writing at Ohio State
Writing at Ohio State :
In 1988, the University Special Committee for Undergraduate Curriculum Review stated the importance of writing instruction in any student’s course of study:
“The abilities to read and listen with comprehension and critical acuity are requisite to the gaining of knowledge in a university setting. The ability to express oneself with clarity, both orally and in writing, provides the deepest proof of understanding. Only through such expression can one demonstrate the powers of careful thinking and critical analysis.”
"Further, we recognize that writing especially is a primary tool in learning itself, not just a means of expressing learning that has taken place. Writing is a powerful mode of thinking; writing involves making choices and then ordering those choices effectively."
To meet these goals, Ohio State’s General Education curriculum has a three-tiered system of writing courses that students must complete before graduation. These courses provide a solid anchor for writing instruction across the curriculum, and should be reinforced in courses throughout students’ programs of study.
English 1110 is required of every student at Ohio State, and is a prerequisite for many upper-level courses throughout the curriculum. The course introduces students to the process of writing from the invention and brainstorming phase through revision and the completion of a final product. Moreover, the class helps students to analyze the contexts within which they will have to write in their college careers and beyond.
The First Year Writing Program in the English Department administers the course, and gives the following statement of purpose:
"Though students in English 110 develop expected writing capabilities, the course is far more than a skills course. Students emerge from the course with knowledge of rhetorical analysis and production in addition to more sophisticated perspectives on chosen course themes and experience in writing and editing for publication.”
The program is informed by the latest research in writing studies, and is guided by principles reflected in the National Council of Teachers of English’s (NCTE) Council of Writing Program Administrators’ Outcomes Statement for First Year Composition. In 2005, the program was awarded the NCTE’s “Writing Program Certificate of Excellence.”
Second-level writing classes, designated by the course catalog number 2367, continue the work begun in English 1110. Here, students gain additional opportunities to practice their written and verbal communication skills through writing instruction as well as discipline-specific content instruction. They are expected to write a number of essays and to present their ideas orally. Thematically, the courses address topics that, as the Model Curriculum [doc] suggests, “deal with the pluralistic nature of institutions, society, and culture in the United States, with special attention to issues of race, gender, class, and ethnicity” (page 7).
Twenty-six departments throughout the university currently offer 2367 courses; many of these were developed with the aid of the WAC program, which assisted departments in aligning courses with the university’s curricular guidelines.
WAC provides resources specifically geared toward 2367 courses, in conjunction with general education learning objectives for writing and related skills. The WAC program works closely with faculty coordinators and facilitating workshops on writing pedagogy for GTAs teaching 2367 courses. The program has also developed a series of interdisciplinary workshops for 367 instructors on a variety of topics such as diversity in America, community-based pedagogy, uses of technology in the classroom, and tips for effective and efficient responding to student writing. In addition, over the past several years, the WAC program staff has developed a Second Level Writing Handbook for 2367 instructors in all disciplines, now available online.
The Writing Across the Curriculum program has conducted research to study the teaching of writing at Ohio State, particularly examining the kinds of resources, oversight and training instructors get to teach writing courses in their departments, and looking at how instructors approach writing in their general education courses.
WAC has prepared write papers based on data we collected in surveys of second-level writing instructors.
2016
Cultures of Support for Second-Level Writing: A Survey of 2367 Instructors.
Based on a 2014 survey of second-level writing (designated 2367 in over 30 departments across the university) instructors, WAC reported on the kinds of support that correlated with different kids of instructors' confidence teaching a general education writing course, and made recommendations for how the university and departments might better support instructors teaching these courses.
Strategies to Unlock Student Engagement across Disciplines: A Study of Second-Level Writing Course Documents at Ohio State.
From the same 2014 survey of second-level writing instructors, which asked instructors to share course documents (syllabi and up to three assignments), WAC examined how instructors aligned their courses with general education outcomes for writing, how they discursively framed assignments for their students, and how they approached writing instruction in their courses.