What Is The WAS?
The Writing Associates Seminar at Wake Forest University brings together faculty from every college division to engage in cross-disciplinary conversations about integrating student writing into their teaching. Participants explore, through reading, discussion, and demonstration, key issues associated with teaching writing, including:
- how to develop writing assignments that are based on course learning goals
- how to offer students feedback that encourages reflection and development
- how to read students’ writing from different points of view
- how to talk with students about writing (and our expectations for writing) in specific fields and text types
Renowned writing scholars from around the country join us as guest speakers, and participants are assisted to develop a writing-enhanced course in their fields.
This seminar is based on decades of research in Writing Across the Curriculum and Writing in the Disciplines (WAC/WID)–research which shows that student writing can be one of the most effective instructional tools for fostering critical engagement with course material. It also shows that students can develop their writing capabilities in sophisticated ways when they have opportunities across the curriculum–not just in their first year–to practice and learn about writing in multiple and varied contexts.
Our Writing Associates faculty at Wake Forest have begun to really become part of changing the curriculum across the college. We are excited to see the growth of writing instruction in all disciplines here, from biology to history to computer science!
For more information about the WAS, contact Zak Lancaster (lancasci@wfu.edu)
(data provided by Best Colleges Online)