Using+Intensified+Writing+Assignments+to+Enhance+Students'+Composition+Skills

=Using Intensified Writing Assignments to Enhance Students' Composition Skills=

Workshop themes: Adult learning, assessment, and first year experience
In the spring of 2013, Academic Directors for the University of Maryland University College were briefed on one of the challenges facing any open-enrollment institution of higher learning; the “learning readiness” of our student. Of particular note were the areas of mathematics and writing composition. The briefing went on describe several strategies the University is applying to respond to this perceived deficiency. Upon hearing the report, Assistant Professor Patrick Bradley, Academic Director of the UMUC undergraduate Criminal Justice and Investigative Forensics (CCJS) program came to believe that the degree programs have a role in the development and reinforcement of better composition skills. The CCJS Writing Intense Courses Project began with the premise that students had received instruction on the fundamentals of writing composition and grammar at some point in their academic experience. The task would be to resurrect these dormant skills through practice and reinforcement. Keys to the plan included: • Identifying “targeted” courses which will capture the maximum number of students • Focusing on the skills that were familiar to and comfortable for adjunct faculty members • Infusing composition assignments that supported the course curriculum • Maintaining a sensitivity to the workload of adjunct faculty members • Collaborating with the UMUC Effective Writing Center and other support resources Although the CCJS Writing Intense Course Project is just in its plot/launch stage, sufficient developmental work has gone into the initiative to make a review worthwhile. Who should attend: Any faculty member who has been frustrated by their students’ lack of grammar and writing compositions skills and wishes there was something they could do about it.


 * Click to Return to Conference Program ||  || Click to Return to Session Workshops ||