A new semester brings innovative educational techniques for the Graduate WAC Fellows program

 

The Spring semester has provided professional development opportunities for the Grad WAC Fellows, which is a part of Writing Across the Curriculum at the Pearce Center. Faculty and graduate assistants have learned new teaching methods, specifically in disciplinary writing, to strengthen their respective courses

Although the WAC program is well established, utilizing newfound techniques in its teaching structure has advanced the program and its fellows far beyond the starting point of general undergraduate writing styles. 

Paul Hanstedt’s “Creating Wicked Students” was used as the primary text for the first time as a foundation for the writing integration plan. Using this updated problem-solving approach allows graduate Fellows to invite creativity into their own writing tactics, which directly translates into the manner they teach their students. The graduate students have been challenged throughout this semester like never before to solve problems through their academics.

“We asked Grad WAC Fellows to design an assignment addressing a ‘wicked problem,’ such as South Carolina wildfires, from their particular disciplinary perspective. Solving the wildfire problem requires lots of different thinking, such as better prediction models, faster emergency communication and solutions for recycling and cleanup,” Dr. Cameron Bushnell, director of the Pearce Center, said. “Wicked problems are complex problems that have no single solution and may not even be able to be completely described; they require interdisciplinary effort and collaboration to solve from many stakeholders over time.” 

Unlike previous semesters, which focused on John C. Bean’s “Engaging Ideas” topics, this semester used facilitated discussion as the primary teaching method.. The discussion activity centered around writing research articles and analyzing the findings for the students to be able to interpret and understand the articles’ academic writing style.

“We developed visual abstracts for research articles that examined writing instruction in our various fields. Through facilitated discussions, we explored the similarities and differences between the scientific inquiries and writing styles that our fields promote,” Katalin Beck, member of the Pearce Center’s WAC Faculty program, said.

When elaborating upon writing styles and strategies, the WAC Faculty wanted to ensure their methods were engaging for graduate fellows. With the facilitated discussion primarily focusing on academic research writing techniques, the discussions were “experimental,” seeing as most of them incorporated visual abstracts, rather than narrative abstracts, created by the WAC leaders.

The reconditioned terms of education for studying academic research writing aligns with the WID  narrative the WAC faculty has consistently applied throughout this semester. The graduate Fellows examined scientific writing while also gaining knowledge on which exercises to use in their teaching. The “wicked” assignments completed at the beginning of the semester directly translated into the grad fellows’ curation of their teaching assignments.

“The WID cohort created a plan for a wicked writing assignment that aligned with a course goal of social significance. The fellows used a high-impact pedagogical practice to ask their students to make meaning, integrate, synthesize, or make decisions in the contexts of uncertainty. The writing assignment positioned students into a rhetorical situation where they could assume authority, and through the rhetorical context students could identify the audience for their writing, instead of writing for the professor,” Beck said.

Looking ahead, WAC is partnering with the provost’s Faculty Advance program to host a two-day writing retreat in early May. The WAC initiative is set to propose writing strategies Clemson faculty can infuse into their writing, including “demystifying academic writing, developing a ‘Craftsman Attitude,’ and ‘Taming Techniques’ for calming your writing anxieties from Joli Jensen’s ‘Write No Matter What,’” Bushnell detailed.

WAC is looking forward to collaborating with Faculty Advance to assist Clemson faculty in developing their own continuous faculty writing groups.

WAC has always prioritized improving the writing and teaching skills of graduate Fellows and making sure those skills translate into the fellows’ undergraduate classrooms. However, this semester, the program has strived to further develop the educational pathways and strategies through which these programs materialize.

“Almost everything associated with the Pearce Center helps develop a culture of writing at Clemson; that is, ‘writing across the curriculum,’ helps faculty and students in all majors across the campus become better communicators via practice in writing, speaking and digital production as part of their research, coursework, and beyond,” Bushnell said.

The Spring semester has provided professional development opportunities for the Grad WAC Fellows, which is a part of Writing Across the Curriculum at the Pearce Center. Faculty and graduate assistants have learned new teaching methods, specifically in disciplinary writing, to strengthen their respective courses

Although the WAC program is well established, utilizing newfound techniques in its teaching structure has advanced the program and its fellows far beyond the starting point of general undergraduate writing styles. 

Paul Hanstedt’s “Creating Wicked Students” was used as the primary text for the first time as a foundation for the writing integration plan. Using this updated problem-solving approach allows graduate Fellows to invite creativity into their own writing tactics, which directly translates into the manner they teach their students. The graduate students have been challenged throughout this semester like never before to solve problems through their academics.

“We asked Grad WAC Fellows to design an assignment addressing a ‘wicked problem,’ such as South Carolina wildfires, from their particular disciplinary perspective. Solving the wildfire problem requires lots of different thinking, such as better prediction models, faster emergency communication and solutions for recycling and cleanup,” Dr. Cameron Bushnell, director of the Pearce Center, said. “Wicked problems are complex problems that have no single solution and may not even be able to be completely described; they require interdisciplinary effort and collaboration to solve from many stakeholders over time.” 

Unlike previous semesters, which focused on John C. Bean’s “Engaging Ideas” topics, this semester used facilitated discussion as the primary teaching method.. The discussion activity centered around writing research articles and analyzing the findings for the students to be able to interpret and understand the articles’ academic writing style.

“We developed visual abstracts for research articles that examined writing instruction in our various fields. Through facilitated discussions, we explored the similarities and differences between the scientific inquiries and writing styles that our fields promote,” Katalin Beck, member of the Pearce Center’s WAC Faculty program, said.

When elaborating upon writing styles and strategies, the WAC Faculty wanted to ensure their methods were engaging for graduate fellows. With the facilitated discussion primarily focusing on academic research writing techniques, the discussions were “experimental,” seeing as most of them incorporated visual abstracts, rather than narrative abstracts, created by the WAC leaders.

The reconditioned terms of education for studying academic research writing aligns with the WID  narrative the WAC faculty has consistently applied throughout this semester. The graduate Fellows examined scientific writing while also gaining knowledge on which exercises to use in their teaching. The “wicked” assignments completed at the beginning of the semester directly translated into the grad fellows’ curation of their teaching assignments.

“The WID cohort created a plan for a wicked writing assignment that aligned with a course goal of social significance. The fellows used a high-impact pedagogical practice to ask their students to make meaning, integrate, synthesize, or make decisions in the contexts of uncertainty. The writing assignment positioned students into a rhetorical situation where they could assume authority, and through the rhetorical context students could identify the audience for their writing, instead of writing for the professor,” Beck said.

Looking ahead, WAC is partnering with the provost’s Faculty Advance program to host a two-day writing retreat in early May. The WAC initiative is set to propose writing strategies Clemson faculty can infuse into their writing, including “demystifying academic writing, developing a ‘Craftsman Attitude,’ and ‘Taming Techniques’ for calming your writing anxieties from Joli Jensen’s ‘Write No Matter What,’” Bushnell detailed.

WAC is looking forward to collaborating with Faculty Advance to assist Clemson faculty in developing their own continuous faculty writing groups.

WAC has always prioritized improving the writing and teaching skills of graduate Fellows and making sure those skills translate into the fellows’ undergraduate classrooms. However, this semester, the program has strived to further develop the educational pathways and strategies through which these programs materialize.

“Almost everything associated with the Pearce Center helps develop a culture of writing at Clemson; that is, ‘writing across the curriculum,’ helps faculty and students in all majors across the campus become better communicators via practice in writing, speaking and digital production as part of their research, coursework, and beyond,” Bushnell said.

 

Alyssa Dolina headshotBy: Alyssa Dolina, staff writer