Students often arrive on University campuses unprepared for the amounts and kinds of reading and writing which will be required for them to be successful in completing degrees and in obtaining and maintaining employment in the future. Entering first-year, and in some cases, advanced students do not understand that they will be writing in a number of contexts throughout their lives.  This presentation will focus on ways in which students can actively engage with reading/writing and gain a greater understanding of the importance of revision. Outcomes of the research related to this project are as follows:1. students are more engaged with writing when prompts and projects are parts of a larger project/portfolio, are grounded in problem solving/real-world scenarios/case studies, or are tied to a professional or publication opportunity when completed; 2. student revision improves when specific, individualized feedback--beyond traditional rubric and paper-based comments--is given.  The presentation will include assignment, case study, and rubric/assessment samples as well as data collected about revision and writing related to this study.   Participants will be encouraged to share assignments and ideas about ways in which to promote the idea of students as life-long writers. 

College students, as faculty know, demonstrate varying levels of writing competence. While most have been taught writing and revision processes in high school, they frequently do not possess the efficacy, motivation, or skills required to be successful with writing at the college level and in their future careers. New students, and sometimes continuing ones, consider writing to be something that only happens in their English classes. Reluctant readers/writers, students who come from low socioeconomic status backgrounds, and students who have traditionally been considered at-risk frequently find themselves overwhelmed by writing and revision.    

Simultaneously, encouraging and giving guidance about deep revision often proves difficult for faculty members who struggle to articulate how a submission can be improved.  Further, in the face of decreased higher education funding across the United States, faculty and administrators are compelled to engage and retain students to off-set funding decreases with self-generated monies. Unfortunately, writing sometimes becomes the assignment which leads to student failure.  A review of literature from various disciplines--Writing and Composition, Nursing, Education, and Educational Psychology, and Student Success, supports a number of high- and low-tech approaches and modalities aimed at providing the tools that students need to be successful in both success in degree completion and developing skills needed to write in their future careers. 

Building upon the data from the aforementioned review of the literature, this mixed methods study utilizes data derived from first-year writing courses, sophomore literature courses, advanced English courses, and upper-level educational psychology courses. Data have also been gathered via focus groups, surveys, and personal interviews. Initial findings from the pilot study indicate that students will better engage with writing when prompts and projects are parts of a larger project/portfolio, are grounded in problem-solving/real-world scenarios/case studies, or are provided with a professional or publishing opportunity when completed, and secondarily, student revision improves when specific, individualized feedback beyond traditional rubric and paper-based comments is given. These two elements combined with a revision policy that allows students to resubmit assignments until they are content with their level of mastery/grade, appear to have a positive effect on student achievement.  Findings indicate that those students receiving interactive, individualized instructor responses received higher scores on assignments and engage in deep revision.  Data from this ongoing study point toward new methods of enhancing student success across the curriculum.    

This presentation will engage participants in discussion of prompts/case studies/assessments/writing opportunities for students which will lead students to engage in writing and revision beyond error correction and to help them to better understand the role of writing in their future lives.  Participants will be encouraged to share ideas and assignments which have helped them to strengthen their classroom practice.  

Beech, J.,  William H. Thelin, a., & Joseph Harris, a. (2004). A Comment on Joseph Harris's "Revision as a Critical Practice". College English, (5), 554. doi:10.2307/4140735

Bok, Derek. (2006) Our Underachieving Colleges: A Candid Look at How Much Students Learn and Why They Should Be Learning More, by Derek Bok. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

West, T. & Harris, J. (1996). "Changing Habits of Thinking": An Interview with Joseph Harris. Writing On The Edge, (2), 5.

Harris, J. (2012). Teaching Subject, A : Composition Since 1966, New Edition. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press.

Harris, J. (2006). Déjà Vu All Over Again. College Composition & Communication, 57(3), 535.

Kennison, M. (2012). Developing Reflective Writing as Effective Pedagogy. Nursing Education Perspectives (National League For Nursing), 33(5), 306-311.

Nora, A., Oseguera, L., Mortenson, T., Mina, L., Morrison, L., Silverman, L., & ... Crisp, G. (2012). College Student Retention : Formula for Student Success. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Spann, N. & Vincent, T. (1990). Student Retention: An Interview with Vincent Tinto. Journal Of Developmental Education, (1), 18.

50-Minute Interactive Session

Communicating Transformative Learning