Category: WAC in Practice

Course: HIS 3208 – History of Immigration, Ethnicity, and Nativism

Course Link: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/catapanohis3208/

Assignment: Hester Street
In this assignment, students watched the 1975 film Hester Street, in which a Russian Jewish immigrant in NYC’s Lower East Side shakes his ethnic roots for a more Americanized version of himself, leading to family turmoil and strife. Students were given a set of questions to answer as they watched the film. They were also required to post a paragraph-long response on the course blog in the OpenLab which had more questions such as whether or not the film could be considered a feminist film due to its strong female leads..

Assignment Link: https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/catapanohis3208/2013/03/06/hester-street/#comments

What WAC principle(s) does this assignment exemplify?
By asking students to respond to directed questions where they had to analyze the underlying themes of the film, this assignment lays the groundwork for later assignments that may require a thesis statement in a larger research paper. For example, the role of Hester Street as a feminist film could be used as a jumping point for a larger research project in which other contemporaneous (or not) films are analyzed in that light as well. Secondly, these short assignments allow students to write less formally while simultaneously thinking critically about the film they watched. These kind of assignments lend themselves to strong discussions in class and on the course blog.

How might this type of assignment be used in other courses across the curriculum?
By structuring assignments that ask students to critically think about its theoretical/conceptual significance in an informal setting allows for fruitful discussion where students explain (and sometimes defend) their interpretations. This makes the process of writing a formal, thesis-driven assignment more accessible to the student while at the same time giving them ownership of their ideas throughout the writing process.

Today, we would like to highlight Professor Gernert’s writing assignment as an example of effective writing assignment design. The assignment was given to students in ARCH 2321 (History of Architecture: 1900 – Now).

What immediately stands out is the learning value of the assignment itself. By asking students to reflect on the readings assigned for the week and providing them with questions that encourage thoughtful and structured responses, the assignment engages students with the material and encourages critical thinking.

Note also how the tasks communicate clearly what the students are expected to do. This is achieved by use of precise action verbs: Describe… trace the changes… Provide examples… Describe and analyze…

Option 1 also provides students with a question that encourages a comprehensive and structured response: “Who were the significant people and what art, cultural movements and technology influenced them?” Option 2 gives a thesis which writers must develop and support. Both of these strategies provide students with a frame within which they can develop and structure their ideas.

In addition, this assignment clearly communicates all the basic requirements to eliminate any guesswork on the part of the student, such as length, format, due date, and where the readings can be found.

It should also be noted that this assignment is the third in a series of assignment leading up to the final research paper in which students are required to develop and support their own thesis. As such, it is an excellent example of scaffolding approach: students learn to support a thesis and present their argument in a well-structured form before embarking on a more challenging task of developing their own thesis and selecting supporting evidence from secondary sources.

The following blog post is based on an assignment found on the website Slate.com, reprinted from Kurt Vonnegut: Letters, edited by Dan Wakefield and published in October of 2012 by Delacorte Press.

 Professor: Kurt Vonnegut

Course:  Taught in 1965 at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Vonnegut says, “This course began as Form and Theory of Fiction, became Form of Fiction, then Form and Texture of Fiction, then Surface Criticism, or How to Talk out of the Corner of Your Mouth Like a Real Tough Pro.”

 Assignment: Term Paper

After having read a collection of 15 short stories, Vonnegut asked students to create their own table of contents for the book, giving each story a grade from A to F based on their enjoyment of the story. Students were then asked to pretend to be an editor at a literary magazine that is considering publishing 6 of the stories. He asks students to write a letter to their imaginary boss in which they argue for the publication of 3 stories that pleased them the most, and against the 3 that pleased them the least.

What WAC principles does this assignment exemplify?

First, this is a highly original and unusual assignment. As such, it has plagiarism prevention built into its design, as students would be hard pressed to find resources to copy from. Furthermore, the personal nature of the writing discourages cheating, as individual student perspective and voice are central to the assignment, rather than traditional models which privilege reiterating the ‘facts.’ Second, students are being invited to participate in a sophisticated level of academic discourse and analysis used by professionals in their field, i.e. editors, but in a way that is accessible to novices. Lastly, students are writing in a way that involves them in an ongoing and open ended critical conversation about literature. The assignment promotes critical thinking by having students engage with the texts in a way that forces them to reflect on how the stories make them feel, and argue convincingly based on that feeling. They will have to make strong connections between their own unique visceral, impressionistic responses to the stories and the particular elements of the stories that affected them in such a way, and out of this relationship craft an original argument.

How might this type of assignment be used in other courses across the curriculum?

An assignment like this could be used across the curriculum to engage students in drawing on their personal experience with a text, idea, concept, lab experiment, film, design, compute program, etc… and developing a sophisticated argument grounded in that experience. Students could write similar reviews of architectural designs and structures for an imaginary magazine; they could review dental hygiene technology or practices; students could argue for or against philosophers being included in a philosophy course syllabus.

This week’s WAC-friendly highlighted assignment

Professor: Karen Goodlad

Course: HMGT 2401: Wine & Beverage Management

Assignment: Visit and critique a wine retail store

Students were asked to visit a wine store and review specific aspects of the store in a 1½ to 2-page report.  The report had to include whether or not the store’s layout was organized in a customer-friendly manner, whether wines were organized by region of origin, the price range of wines on sale, as well whether the store was offering any promotions.  Students were also required to provide an evaluation of the store by suggesting some improvements the store could make in the future.

What WAC principle(s) does this assignment exemplify?

This assignment asks students to apply topics and concepts they cover in class and apply them to the real world.  It also requires students use their analytical thinking skills by asking students to propose improvements the store could make in order to be more successful.  This kind of writing assignment goes beyond asking students to describe the store.  It makes them think about how and why the store is set up a certain way, as well as think about the degree to which particular setup is effective.  Professor Goodlad’s students took the opportunity to provide the stores they visited with helpful critiques in their essays.  Some students suggested that their stores expand because the space felt cramped, while others applauded their stores’ regional and international selections and knowledgeable/friendly staffs.  The students presented lucid descriptions as well as helpful and practical evaluations and suggestions.

Students posted their assignments to the course’s OpenLab site, allowing for potential discussion about their assignments further down the road.  Such discourse is helpful because it provides potential for meaningful interaction with and clarification/elaboration by the author.

How might this type of assignment be used in other courses across the curriculum?

Applying course concepts to real world situations and subsequently evaluating them can be beneficial in almost any course.  Assignments such as this allow students to see how their course content can be useful for them apart from the academy, which is where the majority of them will spend their careers.  Such assignments would be particularly useful in more theoretical classes where the course content is ephemeral or abstract.  Affording students the opportunity to conduct an assignment similar to Professor Goodlad’s would help students interact substantively with potentially abstract course material.

This week’s WAC-friendly highlighted assignment
Professor: Anne Leonard; original assignment design by Maura Smale
Course: LIB 1201 – Research & Documentation for the Information Age, Fall 2012
Assignment: Course Blogging

Professor Leonard requires students to write a minimum of 20 posts of at least 100 words each for their class blog. She divides blog posts into several types, some linked to specific stages of the course.

 Reading response (posts from 8/29-11/19; see syllabus for details):

Write a blog post discussing one of the readings assigned for the class. Identify a topic or theme from the reading, briefly summarize it, and analyze it in relation to other readings and themes in the course. Does this reading raise any questions in your mind?

Research journal (posts from 10/29-11/14; see syllabus for details):

Write a blog post discussing and documenting your process and progress on the research paper for this course. You may write about any aspect of this process, for example: deciding on a research topic, finding sources, writing the proposal/annotated bibliography/paper, etc. What have you found difficult or frustrating about this process? What successful strategies have you used?

Blog comment (throughout the semester; see syllabus for details):

Select a blog post by one of your classmates and write a response to her/his post. What other perspectives on this topic can you offer? How does the blog post connect to the course readings and themes? Comments must also be a minimum of 100 words.

 What WAC principle(s) does this assignment exemplify?

Professor Leonard’s blog assignments engage students with course content deeply and meaningfully and are excellent examples of informal “writing to learn” and “exploratory writing” assignments. “Reading response” assignments  encourage students to identify key ideas of the text while at the same time teaching the difference between summary and analysis, thus promoting critical thinking and reading skills. “Research journal” assignments offer students an opportunity to reflect on and evaluate their research strategies and articulate questions and difficulties early in the research process. In addition, Professor Leonard encourages students use the blog to explore ideas that they may wish to develop more fully in their research papers, thus encouraging the view of writing as a multi-stage process and providing opportunity to receive feedback.

How might this type of assignment be used in other courses across the curriculum?

Informal writing assignments asking students to identify and summarize a text or reflect on and describe various stages of a project can be used in courses in any discipline. Requiring students to post on a course blog regularly can help them keep up with the reading and/or various stages of the project. Blog assignments can be especially useful in courses with a large number of students, or courses where students have few opportunities for class discussion.

This week’s WAC-friendly highlighted assignment

Professor: Becky Heritage

Course: Introduction to Interactive Media Technologies Design Process

Assignment (brief description): Essay 2

Students are to write an argumentative essay on how new technologies of communication have affected the way we live, think, and interact with one another. Several topics are given from which students can choose one or more topic(s) to focus on to make an argument on how specific technologies will affect a particular subculture/sub genre they choose to discuss.

What WAC principle(s) does this assignment exemplify?

– Clear and Detailed Instruction: One thing that stands out the most about this assignment is that the instructor has clearly laid out what students are expected to do to complete this assignment, including some tips that students can bear in mind as they compose their argumentative essay as instructed.

– Scaffolding and Minimal Marking: The instructor asks students to write an outline and a draft before they hand in their final draft, which invites students to polish their writing as well as their arguments. There seems to be an in-class discussion portion as well as a blog posting portion before and after they write their papers, which further shows the principle of “writing as process”. Moreover, the outline seems to be a process for the students to develop their ideas, while the first draft is a part where the instructor will provide appropriate feedback. This exemplifies the principle of minimal marking, in that not everything has to be marked with feedbacks, depending on the process and purpose of the assignment. The assignment is also thematically scaffolded, in that some of the issues that students are asked to discuss in their essay derive from the concepts that students had already been asked to respond to in previous classes.

– Learning (Technology) through Writing: As an introductory course into the field of interactive media technology, the course covers different technical aspects of the audio, visual, tactile, and interaction design. Considering the specificities of the course content, writing about technology in lieu of relevant current issues and future implications is a great way to not only improve their critical thinking skills in analyzing the uses of technology in life, but also deepen their understanding on the technological concepts covered in class.

How might this type of assignment be used in other courses across the curriculum?

Any courses in the School of Technology and Design could definitely benefit from the model that Professor Heritage has created with this assignment as a way to expand and deepen students’ grasp on the technical concepts that are covered in the course. However, bridging contemporary social issues and the course content is something that can be executed in different forms in any discipline, whether as case study or research paper type final projects or as preliminary research portion for a larger and more technologically in-depth projects.

Professor: Andrew Parker

Course: Foundations of Mathematics Education (MEDU1010)

Assignment: Is Algebra Necessary?

As part of a weekly assignment series, students were asked to read an NY Times op-ed piece by Andrew Hacker, an emeritus professor of political science at Queens College, in which he argues that mandatory mathematics education in high school and college does more harm than good to students.  Students were asked to respond to his criticisms, using sources where necessary to back up their claims.

What WAC principle(s) does this assignment exemplify?

This is a great example of how current events/popular culture can be incorporated into a course curriculum. One virtue this has is encouraging students to relate course material to their everyday lives, which may, in turn, help with retention and understanding.

In addition, the assignment invites students to take a critical stance towards what they are reading, encouraging them to view reading as an active process. This is crucial as they grapple with not only course material, but information they come across on a daily basis whether inside or outside of the college curriculum.

How might this type of assignment be used in other courses across the curriculum?

 Another plus for this type of assignment is that it can be flexibly used in almost any course, not only with op-eds and news articles, but relevant documentaries, YouTube clips, podcasts, and so on.  The more connections students can forge between what they are learning in class, and the world outside the classroom, the better.

This week’s WAC-friendly highlighted assignment

Professor: Jenna Spevack

Course:
Graphic Design Principles I

Assignment (brief description):
 View From My Window

Create black and white figure-ground compositions (stable and ambiguous) using the simplified forms observed within the bounds of your home window (frame).

What WAC principle(s) does this assignment exemplify?

– Scaffolding : In each class for about two weeks, students are asked to complete small assignments that go toward the final assignment that will be presented.

– Writing as a creative tool : The assignment begins with a short low-stake writing segment that will help students verbalize their inspiration for the project.  The assignment ends with a short low-stake writing that documents their thoughts about this project, which will help students with their other projects in the course.

– Writing as a process : For the initial short writing, students are asked to write a draft in their Creative Process Book and then post a refined version of that writing on a blog, thereby helping students refine and clarify their inspirations for the project.

How might this type of assignment be used in other courses across the curriculum?

Scaffolding of the assignment into small segments can be used in any courses across the curriculum to provide a clear guideline for students, to enhance students’ understanding of and commitment to the assignment, and eventually to deepen students’ grasp of the course material.

Additionally, any course could model the way blog was used for this assignment.  As exemplified here, framing the writing portion of the assignment as a blog posting can give students ownership of their own writing, especially in determining when it is ready to publicize it. As a result, students were able to find the fine balance between formal and informal tone of voice in their writing. Such a writing practice can enhance students’ initial engagement with the project, but more importantly, can serve as a tool to improve students’ writing by giving them just the right amount of pressure.

Professor: Karen Goodlad
Course: HMGT 1101, Fall 2012
Assignment: Industry Leader/Organization Profile

Students describe the characteristics of the hospitality industry and professional duties and standards associated with it.

Task
You have recently been hired by _____________ [choose an industry leader or leading organization in the field you wish to start your career]. As part of the orientation process you are asked to write an essay explaining what you know about the leader/organization and what your career goals are.

Role and Audience
The essay is to be written as if the department head of your desired work location will be reading it.

What WAC principle(s) does this assignment exemplify?

• The assignment clearly states the task, role and audience, format, and expectations.
• The assignment is problem-based, focuses on specific course learning outcomes, and asks students to identify and explain key industry characteristics by relating them to their own goals and experience.
• The assignment promotes learning  of professional terms and communication standards  through reading and application.

How might this type of assignment be used in other courses across the curriculum?

We feel that this Prof. Goodlad’s assignment could be adapted to a variety of courses introducing students to professional duties, goals, and standards of a given field.