SCALING UNDERGRADUATE WRITING AT PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES:Problems and Prospects

Douglass Dennve

University of California at Berkeley, Center for Studies in Higher Education from Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley

Abstract: Although writing is well established as a high-impact educational practice, scaling that practice is challenging. Writing is a modeof engaged learning, and teaching it requires providing careful attention informed by expertise. These conditions are labor-intensive and expensive, even as public universities are hardly awash in funds. Writing skills develop over time as a function ofencountering challenges and being coached on addressing them. What counts as “good” writing varies according to context,target readership, and purpose. Students need to build a repertory of strategies and experiences, along with the executivefunctions to know when to access what. They acquire this repertory by writing: doing it, not simply being told about it, andreceiving feedback and advice. Technologies cannot currently or foreseeably provide feedback of sufficient quality to solveproblems of scale. Writing Across the Curriculum programs can supplement first year writing courses, even replace some ofthem—but only if accompanied by sustained professional development that includes thorough knowledge of effective writingpedagogies, knowledge bolstered by existing research, theory, and best practices. New faculty models that feature full-time,benefited continuing lecturers or teaching professors exist at many universities, private and public; these models are more cost-effective than tenure-line faculty owing to enrollments. Even when they’re more expensive than adjuncts, these models’ return inquality is profound. The bottom line is that, even with cost ceilings, it’s possible to scale quality writing instruction, howeverincrementally. At least minimally, this requires faculty writing specialists who can work directly with disciplinary faculty and whocan ensure that anyone teaching writing is doing so in well-designed courses, using effective and efficient pedagogies. Writingcenters are vital in supporting these efforts. Permanent, professional writing faculties, in new kinds of faculty roles, offer thegreatest promise, albeit at greater costs.

Keywords: Education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-02-01
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