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Innovative U of M Writing Enriched Curriculum program receives a Bush Foundation grant of nearly $1 million
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL ( 3/19/2007 ) --The University of Minnesota today announced that the innovative Writing Enriched Curriculum (WEC) program will receive a Bush Foundation grant of $996,645 over three years to launch the first phase of the program, an important element in the university's strategic positioning plan. "This marks an exciting opportunity for the university," said University of Minnesota Provost Thomas Sullivan. "The university has received one of the largest Bush Foundation grants awarded, which reflects the importance of writing in the curriculum." The WEC program, a component of the Baccalaureate Writing Initiative, seeks to improve the quality of student writing and writing instruction on the Twin Cities Campus by engaging numerous departments in a multi-phase program. The goal of this campus-wide initiative is to ensure that all university undergraduate students will follow programs of study in which writing instruction has been sequenced intentionally and integrated effectively. When fully implemented, the program will ensure that students in all academic units will follow first-year writing courses with a series of well-sequenced and effectively taught writing-enriched courses within their majors. "Through the WEC Project, the university is not only taking an innovative approach to improve writing, but will equip faculty with the tools they need for achieving and sustaining writing-enriched curricula," said Vice Provost and Dean of Undergraduate Education Craig Swan. "The ultimate beneficiaries of this project will be students, who will receive writing instruction, experience, and feedback throughout their undergraduate years, and employers who need employees with sound writing abilities." During the first phase of WEC, teams of consultants will work with instructors within departments to devise Undergraduate Writing Plans. In designing these plans, faculty members will be asked to articulate the discipline-specific qualities they expect of student writing. They will also be asked to ensure that their undergraduate curricula are sequenced to foster writing development, to consider the support and development needs of their instructors, and to develop plans for assessing both student writing and the writing plans themselves. During this phase, a representative sample of student writing may be assessed to provide a baseline for future comparison within departments. The second phase of WEC will include the implementation of the approved writing plans. In this phase faculty members and other instructors will collaborate with the WEC team's writing assessment director and instructional development experts to assess student writing within courses and majors and to support ongoing writing instruction. In the third and final phase, writing plans will be assessed by departmental colleagues working in collaboration with the WEC assessment director. Faculty members will continue to evaluate the efficacy of instructional support and the improvement in student writing abilities. "Other programs around the country have identified discipline-specific writing expectations," said Pamela Flash, the university's Writing Across the Curriculum director and WEC project leader. "Our program is pioneering in its holistic approach. We are interested in both triggering and sustaining pedagogic change. We are truly grateful for the Bush Foundation's vote of support." ---------- |
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