"Developing Curriculum for a Multi-Course Interdepartmental Learning Community to Promote Retention and Learning for Underprepared Engineering Students"
About the AuthorsRachel A. Milloy is a Ph.D. student in the Rhetoric and Professional Communication program at New Mexico State University where she teaches first-year writing and technical communication courses. She serves as a writing program assistant and as a co-writer for the English department’s first-year composition textbook, Paideia 14. Her research interests include online pedagogy, composition pedagogy, writing technologies, writing program administration, and student success. When not teaching, she enjoys reading, running, and spending time outdoors. Matthew Moberly is a doctoral student in Rhetoric and Professional Communication at New Mexico State University where he has taught first-year composition and technical communication. His current research interests include writing center administration, incorporating information literacy into first-year writing curriculum, and assessment in higher education. Outside of teaching and research, he enjoys cooking, watching reality television, and figuring out ways to design productive classroom activities based on the reality television he watches. Rebecca Powell is a Ph.D. student in Rhetoric and Professional Communication at New Mexico State University. She revised this article with a baby in her lap. When the baby is not in her lap, she teaches, writes, gardens, runs, and bikes. Her publications include chapters and articles on the intersections of literacy and place, expressivism pedagogy, discourses surrounding motherhood, online instructor identity, and teacher inquiry. Her research interests include writing-across-the-curriculum, literacy, place studies, and composition pedagogy. ContentsThe ILC: Interdisciplinary Collaboration The ILC: Interdisciplinary Collaboration (cont.) Collaborative Curriculum Design for Learner Independence Dependent Learners Become Active Participants Active Learners Gain Confidence Confident Learners Collaboratively Investigate Real World Issues Self-Directed Learners Take on Complex Tasks Formative and Summative Assessment: Gathering Stories and Numbers In Their Own Words: Assessment Outcomes |
Self-Directed Learners Take on Complex TasksUnit 4: The Documented Argument Essay As the final learning unit in the fifteen-week semester, Unit 4 aims to help students create an argument about a current engineering issue; enhance knowledge and practice of writing effective arguments; practice effective critical thinking and writing processes; and understand conventions of academic writing and citations. At this point, instructors present students with a challenge—the Documented Argument Essay—that requires students to employ the skills learned previously and to construct an argument about an engineering issue. Students are well equipped to take on this challenge. In this final learning unit, the instructor “acts as a consultant, reviewing criteria students have developed, time lines, lists of potential resources, and possible productive collaboration” (Weimer, 170), but the student chooses his or her own topic, constructs his or her own argument, and works independently to compose an original argument related to the engineering challenge selected in Unit 1. As one student explained, “I got independence from projects that let you pick what you wanted to do such as picking out what you wanted to write about for the documented argument and so on.” While the student has freedom to choose a topic of interest, the student must implement prior knowledge learned in previous units. For instance, the student must apply common rhetorical moves of academic writing, apply the conventions of academic citation, and carry an argument from draft to finished product by making and justifying individual choices. When asked to reflect on their experiences in the ILC by pointing to an assignment that taught them important habits and values, one student wrote: Well, there are several projects which come to mind, in particular the Documented Argument assignment from English, which is the culmination of the entire semester of learning, distilled to one paper addressing a single topic in a rhetorical argument declaring my position. This forced me to become a more knowledgeable and confident writer, while also developing self-reliance on a time-limited project, and making sound decisions based on the research I acquired, as well as the reflection and analysis of that research to produce a final product. After many revisions and corrections, both self- and other directed, I feel reasonably confident in my ability as a writer to be able to successfully complete the remainder of my college education, knowing that my skill beyond this base will continue to develop. Other students replied in similar ways, explaining that the Documented Argument showed them that “hard work” is required if they want to earn a passing grade and that developing study skills is important. The Documented Argument, and the learning units that lead up to this assignment, teaches students not only how to research and form an argument, but also how to be successful college students. The four learning units described are designed purposefully so that our students achieve success in English 111 and future writing courses. In English 111, students work within a supportive learning community of peers and their instructor. Because the ILC class size is smaller than other English 111 courses at NMSU, students receive extra individualized attention from their instructors, and they become more comfortable sharing ideas with each other. The Integrated Learning Community, and specifically the English 111 course, supports students during their first college semester. Not only do we aim to introduce students to the engineering field, but we aim to help them develop necessary study and time management skills as they work through more complicated writing assignments. Our learning community is a learner-centered space where learner-centered instructors “are careful and deliberate instructional designers, able to identify specifically what each activity, assignment, and course event contributes individually and what the group accomplishes collectively” (Weimer, 175). In our curriculum design, we sought to determine how the individual assignments contributed collectively to student learning, and we did this through formative and summative assessment measures. |