Frequently Asked Questions

The University of Minnesota’s Writing-Enriched Curriculum (WEC) program provides academic departments with an innovative way to ensure discipline-relevant writing and writing instruction are intentionally infused into their undergraduate curricula. This voluntary, centrally-supported program affords those who are most connected to undergraduate degree programs—the faculty—the opportunity to determine the writing abilities they hope to cultivate in their students and the assignments, activities, and resources that will promote student learning through writing. The centerpiece of the WEC method is the undergraduate writing plan, which is iteratively generated, implemented, and assessed by unit faculty, working in collaboration with writing specialists from the WEC team. The program works toward the University’s ultimate goal of graduating agile and effective writers in all disciplines by helping degree programs become “writing-enriched.”

A group (college, school, department, or degree program) that is involved in developing a shared writing plan is known as a WEC unit. Faculty groups may decide to enter the WEC process in a variety of ways. Full colleges, departments with multiple majors, and even single majors that span departments have engaged with the WEC program to develop shared writing plans. 

Writing plans are documents in which a unit’s faculty describe writing in their discipline, name the abilities with which they would like students to become proficient, locate these abilities in undergraduate curricula, and plan relevant writing assessment and instructional support. The WEC process is designed to ensure that each writing plan is faculty-driven, reflects relevant definitions of writing and course structures, and provides unit faculty with regular opportunities to assess and revise their plan. Writing plans vary from unit to unit as they are tailored to local concerns and disciplinary expectations. Writing plans are approved by the Campus Writing Board.

During the first year, when the writing plan is created, faculty respond to an online survey, attend faculty meetings dedicated to WEC, and participate in drafting and approving the program’s writing plans. Instructors also supply the WEC team with writing samples. In ensuing years, faculty participate in workshops and other implementation efforts and collaborate to implement and assess writing instruction in their programs. 

WEC units recognize the importance of graduating agile communicators and want to engage in faculty-driven change processes in their unit to support student writers. WEC units’ goals often include:

• Identifying and achieving department goals for writing instruction through collective consideration of writing assignments and writing assessment.
• Supporting students with varied writing backgrounds and experience.
• Making intentional decisions about online vs. onsite vs. hybridized course formats through WEC’s backward design process.
• Collecting formative assessment data.
• Addressing faculty concerns with current approaches to writing instruction and/or writing abilities demonstrated by enrolled majors.

Each year, one or two new units (college, school, department, or program) are engaged. Selection is based on multiple factors including unit size, department/college affiliation, and faculty/administrative interest. Current WEC units are listed on the WEC Academic Units page. Units interested in being considered for our next cohort should:

• Review information included on the WEC website and contact the WEC program with questions (or, where relevant, request that we attend a faculty meeting in order to address questions and concerns).
• Complete the program’s Letter of Interest form.

A member of the WEC team would be happy to attend a portion of a faculty meeting to provide information about the model and to address questions. This can be arranged on fairly short notice by the WEC program and communications manager, Heidi Solomonson. To learn more about the faculty experience of WEC, contact any member of the Campus Writing Board, a panel of experienced WEC liaisons who can speak to the demands and rewards of WEC participation.

All WEC units engage with the following data:

• Comprehensive survey data regarding characteristics of relevant writing, assessment of student writing abilities, and writing instruction in the major. This data is gathered from students in the major, faculty and instructional staff, and professional affiliates with connections to degree programs.
• Samples of student writing, collected from across their curricula, de-identified, and cataloged for use in teaching.
• Direct assessment of student capstone-level writing , conducted every 3 years.
• Curricular maps that provide faculty with descriptive information about the kinds of writing and writing instruction that are taking place across the unit’s courses, allowing for intentional sequencing and more effective assessment.

Multiple modes of assessment are embedded in the WEC process:

• The Campus Writing Board assesses and approves faculty-generated writing plans. These plans are assessed using criteria that measure faculty engagement, feasibility and sustainability of implementation activities, and departmental assessment of their efforts.
• As mentioned above, the direct assessment of student writing used by departments also serves as an assessment of WEC engagement over time. Results from the assessment session—summer ratings—have been used recently by the WEC program to redesign its rating process and reporting.
• Student assessment of the WEC initiative, including questions included in the Student Experience in Research Universities survey (SERU).
• The WEC program has also used faculty focus groups to affirm effective practices and to inform updates to the WEC model.

The Campus Writing Board (CWB) is a panel of current and former WEC liaisons who oversee review and approval of WEC writing plans and WI courses. The Provost’s Office created the CWB in 2008, underscoring its commitment to writing-enriched degree programs. The board is appointed by the Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Education, and holds responsibilities that parallel those of the Council on Liberal Education. 

• “The WEC process has enabled me to examine what I do in the most productive ways, as well as introducing me to new and exciting pedagogical possibilities in writing instruction. Many of my colleagues have expressed the same enthusiasm[. …] I am convinced that [my department] will now provide even more coherent, consistent, comprehensive and effective writing instruction because of our participation in WEC and the development of a departmental writing plan.”
• “In our program, the faculty have a sense of being overloaded and any new initiatives have to be considered very carefully in terms of available resources. [As a result of piloting the WEC program,] there is an increased awareness of the WEC requirements [designated in the unit's writing plan] as faculty teach the courses that have been targeted. My own courses have included some of the concepts that are being included, in a more formal manner, and my evaluation of writing assignments has improved.”
• “We in the [...] Department have prided ourselves on teaching writing well for years. But I am convinced that the [...] Department will now provide even more coherent, consistent, comprehensive, and effective writing instruction because of our participation in WEC and the development of a departmental writing plan. Because we cannot separate how we teach writing from how we teach our subject, the WEC project has also facilitated a broader and extremely useful review and revision of our program for majors. My colleagues and I very much hope that the University will expand and promote the WEC program–with all the necessary resources, including staffing and funding–and continue to support it into the future.”
• “The WEC team: (1) gave ample time to revise surveys that reflected language and issues in our department; (2) adapted processes to respect our culture, e.g., inviting part-time faculty, graduate students and staff to participate; (3) was excellent in providing timely minutes of meetings; and (4) was able to work with faculty members who were not always understanding of the process and expectations.”

The Writing Across the Curriculum program has supported UMN faculty and departments in implementing locally-designed, disciplinarily-relevant writing instruction in courses across the curriculum for nearly twenty years. The program’s founding responded to findings from the Center for Writing’s faculty writing consultant program (2002–2006) and faculty focus groups conducted by the Provost’s Strategic Positioning Writing Task Force (2005) which indicated a need for “systematic and comprehensive change in undergraduate writing so that instruction is woven throughout a student’s undergraduate curriculum, not inserted in pieces.” While the 1999 writing intensive (WI) requirement ensured writing instruction occurred in all units, the WEC program works towards systematic educational change through deep work with faculty and instructors. Through WEC plans, units enact sustainable writing pedagogies that support transferable learning about writing through thoughtful curricular scaffolding. Since 2007, the WEC program has worked with over 75 academic units serving over 85% of UMN undergraduates. 

The Office of Undergraduate Education provides fiscal support for the WEC program. The WEC team reports to the Office of Undergraduate Education and is housed in the University’s Center for Writing.

In addition to the first-year writing requirement, each UMN student completes four courses designated writing-intensive (WI). Two of the WI courses must be upper-division, including one upper-division WI in the student’s major. 

While the WI requirement focuses on individual courses, the WEC program focuses on entire curricula. WEC helps faculty intentionally integrate and sequence relevant writing and writing instruction throughout each undergraduate program, creating a culture of continuous growth and improvement for student writers. As appropriate, WI courses are integrated into units’ writing plans, but the scope of plans is much larger than isolated WI courses. In short, the WEC program expands and deepens the work initiated with the introduction of the writing-intensive (WI) requirement in 1999.