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Writing Instruction Report Regarding Activities Stemming From Summer 2014 Backwards By Design Retreat, Catherine Riordan

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

In the retreat I sought assistance as I developed a new course, a senior seminar in industrial/ organizational (I/O) psychology, a writing intensive course. The field is an applied one with many practitioners working as consultants. During the workshop I decided to use the consultancy relationship as the foundation for the writing assignments.

Students selected one case of many I shared with them as their focus. After doing research and interviewing professionals with knowledge of this content area, students proceeded through a series of writing assignments (Table 1), focusing on ‘business writing’ and switching back and forth between two audiences, …