Prior to the creation of the ad-hoc committee on core curriculum, the Faculty Senate had approved changes to the Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) policy. Because the implementation of that policy did not immediately occur, it is now occurring alongside core curricular changes.

All WAC courses need to be recertified under the new WAC standards. The below guide is designed to assist with the completion of that document.

Example Completed WAC Worksheets

Below you will find several WAC worksheets completed by CSU faculty.

• CHM 301
• COM 240
• PHL 300

Completing the Document

The new WAC worksheet asks for a bit more detail than the prior one, namely aiming to emphasize how writing skills are developed throughout the course. A WAC course is (and has always been, in theory), centrally, a developmental course and so instruction and practice in aspects of writing and information literacy are vital to a successful course.

Writing Assignment Table

This table simply asks you to identify the writing assignments in the course. It is reviewed to ensure the course meets the following WAC criteria:

• Writing is assigned throughout the semester
• Students write at least 3,000 words throughout the semester
• Students engage in both writing-to-communication and writing-to-learn activities and, ideally (but not required), engage in planning and peer review activities as well.

The below example table gives an idea of the different assignment types. Review the provided examples (above) to see how an actual course may incorporate each type.

Writing Instruction Table

The second piece of the WAC worksheet is the most significant change from prior requirements. To ensure WAC courses have a significant focus on writing instruction, and not just assessment of writing, this table prompts you to identify the types of writing instruction that will occur in the course.

In completing this table, you are indicating how the course meets the following WAC requirements:

• Students are being taught writing-to-learn and writing-to-communicate strategies
• Instruction is provided in discipline appropriate forms of texts, arguments, evidence, style, audience, and citation

The below example shows the sorts of things that may be entered into each row.

Key Tips for completing the table:

1. You do not need to provide instruction in every element listed in the table. While there is no strict requirement, you should generally aim for at least 3.
2. Some elements may significantly overlap (such as Textual Forms, Argumentative Strategies, and Appropriate Evidence). It is fine to repeat assignments or not the overlap, or simply to leave one blank knowing you are covering it elsewhere.
3. Use the left-most column as a place to identify your student learning outcome/objective as it relates to that element of writing, which can enhance the clarity of instruction and assignment creation.
4. In the “associated assignment(s)” column you need not refer back to any of the official writing assignments you identified in the previous table. In general, the assignments you use here may be more informal activities aimed at enhancing instruction, rather than assessing achievement of any of the particular outcomes.

Feedback

A key finding in writing instruction (and education more generally) is that it is vital students are provided actionable feedback and given the encouragement to act on it. This idea is captured in WAC criteria 5 and 6:

• Engage students in writing as a process and provide opportunities for students to improve their writing over the course of the semester. This can take different forms including scaffolded assignments, drafts and revisions, and multiple iterations of the same type of assignment (such as a lab report).
• Provide students with extensive feedback on their writing and expect students to use that feedback to improve their writing in subsequent assignments. This feedback should not consist entirely of mechanical correction of punctuation and grammar. Engaging with feedback should be part of the assessment (grading) of the assignments.

So, to answer this question, consider the method(s) by which you will incentivize and verify student use of feedback. This could come in many forms, such as (this is non-exhaustive):

• Requiring students to revise previously submitted work in light of feedback (to receive a grade at all or to receive an improved grade)
• Assessing later tokens of the same assignment type (i.e., the 2nd and 3rd lab reports) partly on the basis of improvement in line with prior feedback
• Requiring drafts or other pre-final writing artifacts that receive feedback and then assessing later iterations partly on the basis of incorporating the feedback
• Incorporating peer review and requiring subsequent submissions to incorporate peer review feedback

Information Literacy

All WAC courses must contribute to the development of a student’s information literacy skills in discipline specific ways. Information Literacy, in this context, is focused on the accessing, evaluating, and integrating of research materials. A narrow focus on citation is not acceptable for meeting this criteria.

Instead, you may consider the following sorts of mechanisms:

• Instruct students in the use of discipline-specific databases or research methodologies
• Instruct students in a particular method or framework for evaluating research
• Instruct students in specific methods for incorporating the work of others into their own work, such as how to properly paraphrase, when (not) to use quotations, etc.

As noted on the form, you are encouraged to work with a librarian on this front and they will be able to provide additional ideas of how best to develop your students’ information literacy skills.