"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 |
Active Learners Gain ConfidenceUnit 2: Rhetorical Analysis of an Engineering Argument The English 111 and SMET 101 learning objectives for Unit 2 include helping students explore new methods of academic inquiry, rhetorical analysis, and argumentation, as well as develop critical thinking skills. The main assignment, the Rhetorical Analysis of an Engineering Argument, teaches students to analyze arguments informally and formally while evaluating the features of a “good” argument and “good” writing. With guidance from the instructor, students analyze sample texts to gain practice in identifying a writer’s argument and describing how a writer uses rhetorical appeals to form a persuasive argument. Students then work independently to rhetorically analyze an engineering argument related to the challenge selected in Unit 1. The successful completion of this assignment depends on students applying knowledge learned from class discussions and group activities. By completing the rhetorical analysis, students provide evidence that they have internalized important course concepts, such as how to identify rhetorical strategies in written academic and professional text and media, how to utilize rhetorical vocabulary in formal and informal written responses, and how to question the validity of information in online and published engineering sources. Once Unit 2 concludes, students should be capable of completing a task they were likely incapable of doing prior to English 111. Unit 2, we hope, challenges students and builds confidence in their abilities to take on complex tasks. By completing the rhetorical analysis assignment, students begin to recognize the importance of investigating real world problems as both engineers and writers; in other words, students learn to inspect problems from multiple disciplinary perspectives. |