WAC Meeting Agenda
Monday April 12, 2010, CC 203 12:15pm-1:00pm

Attendance:
Steege, Preston, Matthews, Cassidy, Renaud, Hannah, Snavely, Montenarro, Short

I. Approval of minutes from March 18th: yes

https://wac.carthage.edu/)

II. Course Proposals:

Bob Maleske: Psychology Senior Seminar 400: passed

III. WAC Workshops, SP 2010: Adult education.

So far, 4 sessions are planned for 6 people teaching in adult education. Adjuncts are welcome. Jean starts one session tonight.

IV. Fall 2010 Workshops:

Ideas need to be submitted to Rick. New and experienced faculty are encouraged to participate. Current outline is found in last meeting notes.

V. WAC Assessment update:

Instructors are needed to pilot the forms and we need volunteers to test the forms. Volunteers to this point are: Renaud: Race, Ethnicity and Gender, Cassidy: master thesis in art, Snavely: Real Analysis; Short and Preston: Western Heritage. Rick will talk to Ben about more Heritage volunteers. Form has been updated. The old version is attached to these minutes.

VI. Unfinished Business:

Status of update form: There is a proposal form and renewing button for an existing course. Choose the pull down menu. Nothing to retype unless the course has been changed; one can edit what is needed and add a current course syllabus. Stagger renewals beginning fall 2010 for the fall of 2011 (a year in advance). Procedure will be brought to the dept. chair’s committee. Committee has adopted this procedure.

Writing manual will be customized and CSS will distribute. Some CSS skills will be used in the customizing, Plagiarism, Honor pledge, top 10 common student errors, Carthage Cover customized (can’t sell back), writing fellows will be doing presentations for CSS classes, instructor comments, writing intensive requirements.

Jean will work with faculty to get them to buy in and use the manual in their classes. She is working with adult education to get the manual to be required in that program as well.

Dept. Chairs: Manual is the go-to tool in this culture for writing.

VII. New Business:

Renaud: Writing assessment is slow to get restarted. Not everyone on the committee is responding. April 28th is the meeting. Western Heritage is different now. How do we assess Heritage given the prompt and the changes in the textual curriculum? Criteria: divisions, by interest, committee that has its own identity (not a task force). Dana should get involved.

A faculty team should be formed. Dana will be a key person to help.

CLA data: Data was already collected with seniors by previous CADRE (Dan Miller and Christine Rener). Nothing has been done with results. WAFT may want to do something with this information.

New meeting is Tues. May _____ at 8:15am.

WAC Assessment Plan (previous document)
WAC will focus on the assessment of the program itself to ensure that the goals of WAC are being met.
Goals for WAC (per Curriculum Integration Initiative)
a. The course must use writing to promote the learning of course materials. Instructors assign formal and informal writing, both in class and out, to increase students’ understanding of course material as well as improve writing skills.
b. The course provides interaction between the instructor and students while students do assigned writing; in effect, the instructor acts as an expert and the student as an apprentice in a community of writers. Types of interaction will vary. For example, a professor who requires the completion of one long essay may review sections of the essay, write comments on drafts, and be available for conferences. The professor who requires several short papers may demonstrate techniques for drafting and revising in the classroom, give students guidance on the composition of papers, and consult with students after the complete their papers.
c. Writing contributes significantly to each student’s course grade. Writing assignments must make up at least [25%-40%, depending on the decision of the WAC Oversight Committee] of each student’s course grade. If not, the course syllabus must state that students must satisfactorily complete all writing assignments to pass with a “D” or better.
d. The course requires students to do a substantial amount of writing—a minimum of 4,000 words or about 16 pages. This may include informal writing. Depending on the course content, students may write analytic essays, critical reviews, journals, lab reports, research reports or reaction papers, etc.
e. To allow for meaningful professor-student interaction on each student’s writing, the class size is restricted to 22 students.

Criteria A, C, D, and E are assessed in the course proposal process in the sense that each proposed WI course meets the criteria before it is offered. We have detailed records on the number of courses offered, when they were offered, new course proposals, and faculty who are eligible to teach WI courses.
Criteria B could be assessed through a student evaluation at the end of the semester. Questions about 1) types of feedback, 2) quality of the feedback, 3) quantity of the feedback and whether it was helpful in revising. Other questions: How does this course compare to other non-WI courses in terms of learning the subject matter? i.e., did the writing assignments help you learn the subject matter better than courses that are non-WI? How does the amount of writing in this course compare to other, non-WI courses you’ve taken? If you have taken other WI courses, how does this one compare? Have these courses prepared you well for this one? Self- assessment: are you a better writer after taking this course?
Faculty should be surveyed also. Workload as compared to non-WI course, whether the writing assignments facilitated the learning of course content, perceptions of improvement in student writing (examples?). Use writing assignments in non-WI courses? How the writing assignments in the class are different? Kinds of feedback work best. Help from WAC, or ways to improve WAC, or provide more support? How many times taught course as WI?
Other WAC Program Concerns:
Certification of WI faculty
Approval of WI courses
Oversight to ensure enough courses are being offered

Student Outcomes:
In assessing student outcomes, WATF may want to look at the following:
1. Departments—should work with them to consider Writing Assessment in the major (what kinds of goals are important in their discourse community? Courses sequential? Important skills?
2. Western Heritage: WH has writing outcomes, how are they assessing them?
3. Global assessment of general writing competency (seniors with CADRE?)
General student outcomes for WI courses include the following:
a. Increase student success in writing in all instructional areas;
b. Increase student learning through the use of frequent writing;
c. Investigate attitudes and anxieties about writing;
d. Insure student-instructor interaction about writing beyond the first year of college;
e. Recognize excellence in student writing.

Instructors will also be able to determine course-specific student outcomes for WI courses in consultation with the WAC Oversight Committee.

Faculty Survey:
Name (optional):_____________________________________________
Number of years teaching WI courses?____________________
Number of WI courses taught?______________________________
Is this course required for your major?____________________

1. What writing goals and objectives did you have for this course?
2. Of the criteria you use to evaluate student writing, which are the most important to you?
3. What kinds of writing assistance (i.e., assignment sheets, rubrics, teacher and/or peer feedback, writing center consultations, etc.) did your students receive in this class? Which ones do you think were most effective, and why?
4. Do you use writing assignments in your other, non-WI courses? If so, how is the teaching of writing in those classes similar or different from your WI courses?
5. Compared to a typical non-WI course you teach, how much more labor intensive is this one for you?
6. Do you believe that the writing assignments in your class help students learn course material more effectively? If so, can you give an example?
7. What is your overall assessment of student strengths and weaknesses at the beginning of this class?
8. Are there particular areas of writing where you have seen student improvement in this class? (please give examples)
9. Is there anything you would like to see from WAC to assist in your efforts to teach WI courses?
10. Other comments, questions or concerns:

Student survey:
What year are you? Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior
What is/are your major(s)?_______________, _____________________
Is this course required for your major? Yes, No
How many other WI courses have you taken at Carthage?_____________
Do you feel confident there are enough WI courses for you to take to meet your WI requirement for graduation? Yes, No

1. Compared to other non-WI courses, did the writing you did in this course help you learn course content better? (Please give an example if possible).
2. Compared to other non-WI courses, how much more writing did you do in this course? Were the types of writing assignments different? How so?
3. What types of feedback on your writing were you given in this course (i.e., comments from your professor, peer review, etc.)
4. Of these types of feedback, which were the most helpful to you in improving your writing?
5. If you have taken other WI courses prior to taking this one, in what ways did that course prepare you to write well in this one?
6. In what ways did your writing improve from taking this course? (e.g., learned how to cite properly, improved skills in editing, revising or organization).
7. Other comments, questions, or concerns about writing you would like to share with the Writing Across the Curriculum Committee: