Education Commons^™

Incorporating Academic Writing Into The Advanced Chinese Class, Li Wang

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

How to incorporate academic writing into the Advanced Chinese Class? My mini-study explores how to balance the grammatical aspect with the writing train in the fourth-year Chinese class. By dividing the argumentative essay into a beginning, a main body and a conclusion parts, students can practice how to write an argumentative essay step by step. By including revision into the writing process, students get more opportunity to reflect and rewrite their writing.

Peer Editing As Learning Tool, Warren Cornwall

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

Structured peer editing of student writing provides a valuable tool for teaching writing concepts and skills. This write-up describes a detailed process for teaching and using peer editing in a journalism class. The goal of the peer editing is to help students understand and apply concepts and skills used to craft engaging and informative news stories, and to develop skills providing and receiving feedback about writing.

Incorporating Exploratory Writing Assignments For An Intermediate Nutrition Class, Claudia Wang

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

Several exploratory writing assignments were developed and implemented in a 300 level nutrition class based on the Backward By Design Strategy. A weekly written reflection assignment was analyzed, summarized, and reflected for its strengths/weakness. Strategies were identified to use this assignment in the future better.

Improving Mba Students' Ability To Do Financial Analysis, Claire Lending

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

I restructured my graduate class, MBA 541, Managerial Finance with a focus on the core concept, company value maximization. The course was structured around assignments where the students would do research on a specific company for the whole quarter. These almost daily assignments all focused on value and I would specifically ask the students to make “refutable statements” on how the company was adding or detracting from value due to their financial decisions. The combination of frequent low stakes assignment and the explicit connection to value enhanced the students’ learning and improved class atmosphere.

Scaffolding Writing Assignments In Introductory Art History, Monique Kerman

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

As a result of my participation in WWU’s Backward by Design retreat in 2017, I sought to modify the written assignments of my introductory Art History course for pre-majors in order to better prepare students working towards a lengthy research paper. In course evaluations and anecdotally, students reported being intimidated by the size and scope of the final paper, and asked for more writing practice. I decided that instead of requiring a high stakes research paper as the culmination of the coursework, I would scaffold assignments throughout the course that would eventually lead students to composing a thesis around which …

Consensus To Co-Create Curricula And Build Community, Nini Hayes

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

This project was about using consensus to co-create curricula and build classroom community. I worked with students to narrow their study of focus to two concepts, Neoliberalism and Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. This co-creating and buy in from students really encouraged them to be present and find the course relevant to their work as environmental educators.

Using Reflective And Meta Writing Practices In English 101, Michelle Runyan

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

This study examines the ways in which a low-stakes meta, reflective, and reflexive writing assignment has the potential to help students better understand the writing that they do in the classroom. This assignment allows students to think through threshold concepts in the course, to question course concepts, and to think through the areas they are struggling with. Additionally, students are encouraged to think through their own writing process and how the skills they learn in the course might transfer to other courses. Finally, it allows the course instructor to examine their course curriculum and to adjust lesson plans based on …

Course Revision Using Backward By Design, Rita Daniels

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

The purpose of this mini-study was to redesign a Research Methods in Communication course using Backward by Design (BbD; Wiggins & McTighe, 2005). The first stage was to identify the desired results for the course and the second stage was to determine acceptable evidence for the desired results. The third stage was to plan learning experiences. Results of the study indicated that students found assigned course work to be challenging but the effective teaching of the course content, the relevance of the course to communication studies, and the instructor’s contribution to the course made the course overall worth taking. Having …

Unconference Faqs 2018, Shevell Thibou

Western Libraries Unconference

What is an unconference?

An unconference is an informal event where participants bring their ideas, thoughts, and experiences related to the selected theme. A loose agenda is provided, but attendees participate in determining the topics of discussion for the day. The overall goal is to foster collaboration and inquiry.

Advising Undocumented Students At Western Washington University, Emmanuel Camarillo

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Residency

In the summer of 2016, as a result of undocumented students demands for more resources to support undocumented students at Western Washington University (WWU) my position in Student Outreach Services (SOS) was developed. I was assigned to be the advisor for undocumented students in Student Outreach Services. During the 2016-2017 academic year, I began my first year advising undocumented students and had a total of 112 advising appointments with undocumented students

I attended the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning (SoTL) in 2017 to begin looking at advising style and methods I use while advising with students as well as to …

Needs Assessment Of Graduate Student Support Services At Western Washington University, Megan Spiegel, Trista Truemper

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Residency

This project aims to understand what graduate students need professionally and personally to enhance the academic experience and meet future goals. Interviews and survey data will be used to assess student perceptions and needs for graduate level professional development and student services at Western Washington University, with the goal of identifying possible areas for enhanced programming.

Change At The Core: A Collaborative Model For Undergraduate Stem Education Reform, Emily Borda, Edward Geary, Emily Schumacher

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Residency

Here we describe two projects that describe and study the effects of Change at the Core (C-Core), a professional development program for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) faculty and an institutional reform project for three interlinked institutions. One takes a classroom view, describing initial implementation of student-centered teaching in C-Core participants’ classrooms, and the other takes an institutional view, describing affordances and constraints of the Western Washington University (WWU), Whatcom Community College (WCC), and Skagit Valley College (SVC) collaboration.

Becoming Teachers Of The Language Of Content, Jennifer Green Ph.D.

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Residency

Content teachers are also teachers of the language of that content. However, research has shown that teachers are neither knowledgeable nor confident in their ability to address the specific linguistic aspects of their content. This study examines how our ELL Endorsement program prepares teachers of different content areas, including elementary education, to become teachers of the language of that content.

"I Hate Group Projects", Hillary Thalmann, Hannah Davis, Austin Vaughan

Undergraduate Studio Assistant Research

Most college students will be assigned a group writing project during their academic career. However, traditional writing center pedagogies are not optimized for group work. What types of concerns are common in group writing and how do they differ from those of individual writers? What strategies can writing tutors use to best address these group writing concerns? In this module, participants will explore the concerns unique to group writing and discuss strategies for effectively facilitating group writing.

Assessment Of Engineering Writing At Western Washington University, Sura Al-Qudah, Nathan Romond

Writing Research Fellows

Effective writing skills are crucial to the transfer of knowledge and information in all fields. In Engineering, writing skills are the key to communicating the results and findings of engineering analysis, since this analysis is not only represented by graphs, plots, equations, etc. but is also presented in technical reports, lab reports, proposals, and articles. Engineering programs emphasize the importance of teaching students effective writing skills by implementing some writing proficiency courses in their curriculum. However, these programs are usually concerned with how to prepare and assess their students to have effective writing skills to help them in their professional …

(Re)Sequencing The Research/Writing Process In The Writing Classroom, Megan Spiegel, Lee Olsen, Suzanne Paola

Writing Research Fellows

What are the outcomes of sequencing writing assignments so that students are introduced to primary sources and allowed to browse these sources prior to selecting a research topic? (This as opposed to the standard sequence by which instructors ask students to choose a topic before completing any sort of preliminary research in source material.)

Telling Stories In A Professional And Technical Writing Course, Jeremy Cushman, Kaitlyn Teer

Writing Research Fellows

Because students, arguably, entered this 400-level Professional and Technical Writing (PTW) course with some already established ideas and expectations, it was our best chance at addressing our overriding concern that students continue to approach PTW as a mere conduit for communicating knowledge made elsewhere. So if, in fact, our own assumptions about these students were legitimate, the course allowed us to begin exploring the impact storytelling research may have in an advanced PTW course. Consequently, we worked from these two guiding questions:

• What changes, if any, occur in the ways students approach Professional and Technical Writing (PTW) in terms of …

Co-Authors: Faculty-Student Collaborative Writers, Tara Perry, Jackie Heller

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question(s):

RQ1: What communication processes are involved in collaborative co-authorship between faculty and students?

RQ2: What happens when faculty and students engage in collaborative writing through co-authorship?

Exploring A Threshold Concept In Kinesiology 306 Course, Harsh Buddhadev

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

In Fall 2015, the new 5-credit KIN 306 course was created by combining old KIN 306 and 301 classes (3-credits each). This is the first course completed by all students pursuing a major in Kinesiology. Prior to Fall 2015, all Kinesiology majors completed two separate introductory 3-credit courses KIN 301 and KIN 306. The old KIN 306 course introduced students to theories of measurement and evaluation and various health and sport related aspect of fitness. The KIN 301 course, introduced the process of conducting a systematic search of research literature on health and sport related aspect of fitness and it …

Backwards By Design Retreat And Teaching Mini-Assessment, Hilary Schwandt

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

At the Backwards by Design (BbD) retreat last fall for every topic and assignment, I focused on a class I was about to teach the coming fall that is a core class at Fairhaven college. Every student entering Fairhaven, whether a student in their first year of college or a transfer student from main campus or another college or university, must take this class in the first quarter as a Fairhaven student. The class is 201: Critical and Reflective Inquiry. At Fairhaven, professors are encouraged to select a content area of their choosing – as the focus in the class …

When Developing A Course Goal Becomes Developing Shared Norms, Brian J. Bowe

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

Having just arrived in Washington from my longtime Michigan home a few days before, the Backwards by Design retreat was the first formal activity of a new adventure on the faculty at Western Washington University. It was a great opportunity to get to know other faculty across departments. But, even more importantly, it was an open environment dedicated to fostering the creation student-centered learning environments. I learned many things — including a much more enthusiastic approach to using sticky notes to storyboard activities. I hope I was able to contribute as well.

Circling Back To Guiding Questions, Marc N. Muniz

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

My participation in the Backwards by Design workshop last Summer inspired me to think deeply about the nature of writing experiences afforded to our students in the physical sciences. One of the courses I teach is SCED 201: Matter and Energy in Physical Systems. This is a 4 credit-hour, inquiry-based, physics course for prospective primary (elementary) school educators. It utilizes a well-researched curriculum known as “Physics in Everyday Thinking,” which allows students to investigate various physical phenomena through activities.¹These activities begin by eliciting students’ initial ideas, which are often shared during whole-class whiteboarding sessions. The students then proceed …

Actionable Learning For A Living Earth: Backwards By Design 2015-16 Project Report, James Loucky

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

During the summer 2015 “Backwards by Design” working retreat, I explored the intricate pairing of knowledge and action as central to efforts to bridge anthropology and environment. The retreat initiated a focus on “actionable learning” as a threshold concept that would come to underlie my seminar on “Ecocultural Ethics” in Winter 2016.

It’S All About That Base: Persuading Learners Of Spanish As A Second Language That Verb Acquisition Is The Essence Of Communication, Sean Dwyer

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

The intended result of a series of Spanish courses is the ability to speak fluidly, if not extensively, in Spanish. The quickest way to speak quickly is to learn some set phrases. As a result of strategies that involve this learning tool, perhaps 75% of Americans can parrot “¿Dónde está el baño?” and “Dos cervezas, por favor.” However, a disappointingly high percentage of people who can say those things cannot say anything that would be useful outside a restaurant.

Working backwards from my curricular goal of creating verbal facility in my students, I start by expressing the threshold concept that …

The Value Of Refining A Threshold Concept, Michael Fraas

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

In the summer of 2012, I had the privilege of attending the Backwards By Design workshop, where I was introduced to the “threshold concept” (Cousin, 2006). I learned how the use of this approach could shift the ontological and conceptual dimensions of students’ perspectives. That fall, I implemented the threshold concept into my undergraduate CSD 401 Writing Lab. My intention was for students to gain perspective into the lives of survivors of acquired brain injuries. I hoped the assignment would help them develop empathy for the types of clients they would work with one day as burgeoning speech-language pathologists.

Mix And Match: Promoting Interdisciplinary Teaching, Learning, And Community Through Classroom-Level Partnerships, Natalie J.K. Baloy, Joanne A. Fox, Allen Sens

Staff Scholarship

Developed at the University of British Columbia (UBC), UBC Mix creates interdisciplinary learning experiences for students by developing partnerships between existing courses, and between existing courses and other learning opportunities. UBC Mix connects faculty members interested in making their courses more interdisciplinary, and facilitates the creation of shared learning activities that "mix” students together. The UBC Mix project provides a model for facilitating interdisciplinary teaching and learning within existing courses and programs at colleges and universities.

Postcolonial Critique: A Threshold Concept In Organizational Communication Studies, James Fortney

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

In 2014, I attended the Backwards By Design professional development retreat as a way to enhance my writing instruction in the field of communication studies. The retreat workshops provided an opportunity for me to create and transform one of my courses by envisioning where I wanted to end up and working backwards on how to get there. By giving attention to design, enactment, and result, I was able to re-consider the overall learning goals of the course, with particular attention to the core concepts that potentially hold the power to transform student perception of communication studies. Below, I provide a …

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, …

Improving Student Understanding Of Writing Assignment Guidelines And Expectations: Mini-Assessment, Cat Armstrong Soule

Backward by Design Mini-Studies

As a marketing instructor, it has been challenging to find effective techniques to help my students improve their written communication skills. I have found that many students are seriously lacking skill in this area and have little recognition of its importance. Many times students have told me that other instructors “don’t care about the writing” and only grade “on the content.” This oversight could almost be humorous, since a threshold concept in marketing is the importance of effective communication between a brand and its desired audience. My personal dedication to better teaching of these critical skills led me to participate …

Does The Creation Of An Outline Prior To Writing A Draft Enhance The Quality Of Students’ Papers?, Karen Bradley, Michael Manley

Writing Research Fellows

Research Question: Does the development of an outline prior to writing an extensive research paper positively impact the quality of the student’s final paper?