Faculty members and instructors have learned that moving from face-to-face classes to online and hybrid instruction requires careful consideration of how we communicate information and expectations to our students. Meeting students’ needs and building community requires that we present materials in ways that are clear, concrete, and easy to navigate. 

Previous tips and workshops have addressed the importance of formative feedback for student writers, those comments aimed toward generating revision when a student still has time to revise their work. In this tip, we will focus on two types of informal writing that can help students turn formative feedback into effective revision. Revision plans are beneficial for students who have less experience revising the kind of writing they have produced, while revision memos are more useful for more experienced writers.

As we enter the final weeks of the semester and approach the Thanksgiving Break, after which all classes at the University of Minnesota will be fully remote, the need to maintain supportive communication and instructional presence is vital. For many students, end-of-the-term, often high-stakes writing assignments may generate questions and concerns that are intensified in a remote learning environment and differences in time zones.

Educational research strongly underscores the interdependence of reading and writing and the social nature of literacy.

As the risks associated with COVID-19 become clearer, the University of Minnesota has announced that all course work will move to online venues starting on March 18, 2020 and extending to at least April 1, 2020. General resources on the transition to online teaching are available through UMN’s Keep Teaching Website.

This tip suggests informal writing activities to assist with a vexing challenge for instructors: How can instructors promote engagement with course reading, viewing, and listening materials through writing?

Establish context for reading, viewing, and listening assignments

Unfortunately, the direction to “read Chapter 10” or “watch the linked Ted Talk” may not be enough to promote careful reading, viewing, and listening. Students are more likely to be engaged when they investigate and establish the context of reading and viewing activity.

Many writing prompts begin with a question or two, often framed with context from the course. Here are two examples, one from an Introduction to Ecology course, the other from a Studies in Short Fiction class: 

Congratulations! Week 1 is in the bag. All that remains is the rest of the semester. Take a moment to appreciate all you have already done. You have created and distributed your course syllabus and schedule. In those documents, you have likely provided an overview of the key assignments and assessments you will use to measure student learning. Perhaps you have also indicated ways that students can avail themselves of the rich resources available through Student Writing Support and other campus organizations.

Before the hurly-burly of the academic year begins, it’s worth carving out time to fine-tune your syllabi and the key writing assignments in your courses. The Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) team can support your efforts.

When students seek help with the writing tasks they are assigned for class, their most common requests are for detailed and specific feedback and access to effective examples. Assignment sheets with clear evaluative criteria, rubrics that specify expectations, and formative feedback can help to satisfy the first request. How can instructors use student writing samples without creating an accidental template, or worse, encouraging plagiarism and patchwriting?