October 29, 2025 • 28 mins
Drs. Tom Polk and Joan Hwang join your host, Dr. Rachel Yoho, to explore what Writing Across the Curriculum is, how it has developed, and current initiatives and impacts.
Resources: Writing Across the Curriculum: https://wac.gmu.edu/ WAC Research Reports: https://wac.gmu.edu/past-assessment-and-program-review-resources/ Meaningful Writing Report: go.gmu.edu/meaningfulwriting
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Episode Transcript
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Rachel (00:08):
Hello and welcome to the Keystone Concepts in Teaching
podcast, a higher educationpodcast from the Stearns Center
for Teaching and Learning atGeorge Mason University.
I'm your host, Rachel Yoho.
Today I'm really excited to bejoined by two guests to talk
about writing and how we writeand how we teach across
disciplines and across thecurriculum.
(00:29):
So with that, I'll ask ourguests to introduce themselves.
Tom (00:34):
Yeah.
Hi, Tom Polk.
I direct Writing Across theCurriculum at George Mason and
teach writing in the Englishdepartment.
Joan (00:42):
Hi, this is Joan Hwang.
Thank you for having me today.
I'm a Term Faculty in theComposition program in the
English department.
And then, work programs facultyfellow.
And I'm happy to join you today.
Rachel (00:55):
Yeah.
Thank you both so much forjoining us.
So as we get started, maybe ourlisteners have heard of Writing
Across the Curriculum, or aswe'll refer to it throughout the
episode, WAC.
So, if not, can you start us offwith a brief overview of, you
know, what is Writing Across theCurriculum and how does it
(01:15):
interact with some of the thingsour faculty are doing?
Tom (01:21):
Yeah.
Well thanks for having us.
WAC, as you got right, WritingAcross the Curriculum, is really
a pretty longstanding curricularmovement or innovation in higher
education that emerged in theUnited States, really in the
late sixties or early seventiesaround the idea that writing is
a good way of facilitating orpromoting learning.
(01:42):
I think really what we commonlycall now, kind of active
learning.
And so the idea of using writingto learn course content is
really sort of where it gets itsstart back at that time.
I would say since then, youknow, it's really added a number
of layers to its programming,but probably its other real core
focus is helping students learnto write in their majors or in
(02:03):
their disciplines, right?
And really helping to kind ofopen up access in the ways in
which communications andknowledge production happens
within those disciplines.
So I guess I would say mostsuccinctly WAC's mission really
is to ensure that all studentshave kinda meaningful
opportunities, to learn, towrite and to write, to learn.
Rachel (02:25):
I like that the learning to write and writing to learn.
So as the name implies, WritingAcross the Curriculum is
everyone.
Right?
So you work with faculty allacross disciplines.
Is that correct, Tom?
Tom (02:37):
We do.
Yeah.
In every, every discipline.
Yep.
Rachel (02:42):
Yeah.
That's great.
So can you tell us a little bitmore about what that looks like
from the Writing Across theCurriculum program at George
Mason University?
What does that look like here?
Coming from that rich history ofinstitutional change and
teaching and learning innovationacross decades now, actually,
what does it look like inpractice here at Mason?
Tom (03:04):
Yeah, I mean over those times, I mean, so I'll just say
WAC at Mason has existed prettymuch that same amount of time.
It really started with a coupleof English faculty members here
at Mason offering workshops onwriting assignment design.
How do you offer feedback tostudents across majors, and that
was in the mid to lateseventies.
And somewhat like the sort oflarger movement, you know, the
program or the idea of WAC haskinda added layers.
(03:28):
But I would say our sort of mainproject areas are true to that
original idea of facultydevelopment and curriculum
development.
How do we do good course designand how do we think about the
way writing is integratedthroughout a major or degree
program?
We do a fair amount aroundpolicy and guidance more broadly
for thinking about how to shapea culture of writing here at
(03:49):
Mason.
And then we do a fair amount ofresearch and assessment, really
trying to understand what ishappening here at, right, at
Mason with writing.
And how effectively are thecourses that we teach operating
to help students really learn,you know, how to write within
their disciplines.
The most visible aspect though,right, of WAC at Mason, I would
say is the WI course, which isacross all disciplines or all
(04:11):
majors that offer anundergraduate degree program.
We do not have a graduateversion of WAC here at Mason.
And that course is really justbuilt on that concept of
learning to write, essentiallygiving students an opportunity
to understand, right, what doesit mean to write within this
field?
How do, you know, members ofthis field or professionals in
(04:32):
this field use writing, andwhat's really important, what do
we value in good writing withinthis degree, program, major, or
discipline?
Rachel (04:42):
Can you also tell us, I think you used the WI acronym,
can you also clarify what youmean there for our listeners?
Tom (04:50):
So yeah, the WI course is an acronym, right?
Stands for Writing Intensivecourse.
They are courses at the 300 orabove level in all undergraduate
degree programs.
Joan (05:01):
So we speaking a little bit more about the WAC courses
at Mason.
All the WAC courses at Mason aredesigned around three key
learning outcomes.
So they are writing to learn andwriting to communicate and
writing as a process.
So if I briefly introduce eachlearning outcomes, writing to
learn outcomes encouragesthinking of writing as a tool
(05:23):
for discovery.
So students they do not justwrite to hand something in, but
they write to think.
Whether it is jotting down theirreflections or notes or
answering to the questions, orsometimes writing short
summaries.
So the act of writing helps themto notice patterns or test some
of the ideas they wanna developin their project, and then
(05:46):
sometimes deepen theirunderstanding of the subject
matter in the course.
So writing becomes a way oflearning, not just showing what
they know.
And then the next outcome,writing to communicate outcome,
this outcome moves from personalexploration to public expression
So students really practicewriting in the genres of their
(06:06):
discipline, whether that means aresearch article or policy brief
or analysis memo, or sometimeseven a blog post.
So the goal of this outcome isshaping ideas in ways that they
communicate with the rightaudiences in certain context.
And writing as a process outcomeemphasizes that writing is not
(06:29):
just one and done event, it's aprocess.
So students learn to draft theirwriting and get feedback from
their professors and peers andrevise.
And this process is not just oneround, but happens at multiple
times.
And each round of revision makesthe writing stronger and more
precise.
(06:50):
So students practice this kindof writing strategies so
tailored to their genre andaudience in their own buildup
study.
Rachel (06:59):
Yeah, that sounds great.
So, you know, we see a lot ofthings across the disciplines
and how students interact withwriting and use that to develop
their thoughts, their analysis,hopefully some of their critical
thinking skills and all of thatas well.
So as we do this, can each ofyou tell us a little bit about
some of the recent projects thatyou're working on, whether
(07:20):
that's with individual groups orfor across the curriculum as a
whole?
Tom (07:27):
Yeah, so we just finished up really a multi-year process
that we've called the WritingIntensive Course Enhancements
Process.
And it was a lot of work, butthat process began really coming
out of our previous Mason Coreassessment process in 2020.
(07:48):
With a reimagining of the WIcourse, and really thinking
what's central to writing atMason and what's central to
writing kind of at that time andsort of looking forward.
And so we've really adopted thisframework that I think the
outcomes Joan talks about, maponto quite well, which we call
meaningful writing.
(08:08):
So how do we think about thatframework of meaningful writing
is more central, really to theWI course rather than the way it
had existed since the ninetiesaround, really some criteria,
right?
The chief one that we alwayshear about from faculty being,
you know, am I assigning 3,500words or not, right?
You know, it's important toassign writing, of course, in a
(08:30):
WI course, but we wanted to adda little bit more
intentionality.
You know, why are we usingwriting and how are we making
this purposeful for ourstudents, meaningful for our
students, right?
And so that process took manyyears, really, five I suppose at
this point.
And unfurled over a variety ofstages.
We worked in a cohort modelacross the full campus, and
(08:52):
across all of our colleges.
You know, really doing someinitial outreach with those
colleges, offering some supportfor the faculty who teach
writing in those colleges asthey prepared materials to
demonstrate or to representtheir WI course designs.
That were then shared with theWAC committee and reviewed by
(09:13):
those members and ultimatelyjust given some feedback on.
So the purpose of that processwas to introduce a new
innovation to the WI course andthen to really give some useful
feedback to the faculty who areteaching those courses.
And so we've really wrapped upthat sort of implementation
phase of that process, Isuppose.
(09:33):
And now Joan and I are kind ofshifting more to an assessment
phase, right?
Really trying to understand whathave we done right?
What have we learned about theWI course and where do we go
with it next?
So that we can think about whatare some of the areas that need
attention and what are some ofthe strengths that we can really
build on?
Joan (09:53):
Yes.
So another fascinating part ofthat WI enhancement project was
that actually it was not just meand Tom reviewing the course.
We invited almost like, Tombriefly mentioned this, that we
invited other faculty volunteersor representatives from colleges
in the review process, so theywere also able to kind of get a
(10:18):
sense of how the WI courses arehappening in other courses in
their college, but also it wasvery cross-disciplinary
experience for them because theyalso look at WI courses in other
colleges as well.
So it just provided us mutualbenefits because not only that
they observe how other facultyteaches their WI courses, but
(10:41):
they also provide their owninsights of the WI courses in
their college.
So they really helped us to kindof deepen and broaden our
understanding of what are thechallenges and benefits of WI
courses in terms of helpingstudents learn through writing
in their programs.
Rachel (11:00):
Yeah, that's great.
So all of our writing intensivecourses are enhanced now, right?
So we're enjoying that and we'reasking questions like what have
we done or what have we done forour assessment?
So I think that's great.
And I think also here, one ofthe things, especially as we
think about our own teaching, orour own teaching, writing, or
anything else, I think one ofthe key points that you
(11:22):
mentioned that I don't wannahave overlooked here is that we
don't have to always be lookingat our own content.
You know, we can learn so muchfrom other disciplines, even if
we're not talking about evenmoderately similar content.
Maybe there's things that we canlearn from other areas that we
can adapt in our courses or ourmodalities.
Maybe it's more about themodality, the instructional
(11:44):
modality than the the content orsomething like that.
So we don't always have to becoming up with our own things or
only talking about our owndisciplines or within our own
disciplines.
So I think that's really one ofthe most powerful things that I
see in workshops or any of theother places where we get
faculty from different areastogether.
So that's such a great point.
(12:05):
So as we continue ourconversation, let's shift over
into teaching writing a littlebit more broadly, since we have
two of our campus experts onteaching writing for our
listeners, you know, what wouldyou say are some of the best
practices or some of your keyrecommendations for teaching
writing in whatever disciplineor across disciplines?
Joan (12:29):
Wow, I mean, there will be so many, so maybe we don't have
enough time to cover all the--
Rachel (12:33):
Yes, quickly, all the things.
Joan (12:35):
But maybe I can share one kind of tips or strategies I
always try to remind myself touse as well.
So there's one Chinese sayingthat I love we don't know who
said that, but it comes from theChinese scholar it goes like
this, so tell me and I willforget and teach me, and then I
will remember and involve me andI will learn.
(12:56):
So I'll use this saying as myteaching principle and then try
to apply when I design mywriting classrooms.
And then I'm sure that this canbe applied to so many different
teaching context.
So for example, modeling, inother words means demonstrating
my own writing is something thatI always find the students loves
(13:17):
to see.
And then this is one of thebest, not the best, but the
effective strategies I try touse in my teaching as well.
So, usually our students alsowant to know how we, the
professors use writing in ourwork and life as well.
So it can mean using model textof a writing assignment.
(13:38):
So I create our very goodexamples of students' model text
in one semester.
I just make sure that I getpermission from the students and
I use it for the next semesterjust to demonstrate what my
instruction means, becausesometimes writing instructions
can be very abstract, somodeling can make abstract
(14:00):
instruction to be very concrete.
So that's something I do.
And then sometimes I create myown text that responds to the
assignment or project I assignto students, and then share that
with the students in the class.
So when I teach researchwriting, I pretend to be a
student and to create a researchquestion and collect sources for
(14:21):
the questions just like mystudents do.
But I just presented in my classas one way of demonstrating what
the assignment is about.
And I actually follow thesequence of the project just to
give the full demonstration ofeach stage of research writing.
Another important teachingstrategy I really wanna
recommend to all the audienceshere is that facilitating
(14:45):
students engagement with writingin the classrooms.
And of course there are manyways of doing that.
One thing we can do in theclassroom is giving feedback,
students writing, and then givestudents to get the feedback
from their peers
Rachel (15:00):
yeah, I think these are really such good points.
Joan.
I think especially when we'retalking about modeling, you
know, I've really done this alot with students as well.
Even in terms of something assimple as like, what's a good
discussion board post and what'sa great discussion board post?
You know, where are the sort ofthose minimums and where can we
level up?
(15:20):
As well as even on things like,again, very simple, but replies
to discussion board posts.
So often the inclination islike, Hey, good job, I agree in,
you know, many more words thanthat.
But the point is, hey, good job.
I agree.
But how do we level that up?
How do we bring in new ideas?
How do we build on that?
And really trying to model thatand what can that look like in
(15:42):
your field, in your area.
So, yeah, let's go back to whatyou were talking about there.
But I think these are reallygood points.
Joan (15:48):
Thank you Rachel.
And then that really digs intomy next strategy I want to share
with you today.
So giving feedback becauseteaching writing is great, but
it also comes with a lot of kindof adjustment.
But one of the thing is thatproviding feedback to students
writing, because sometimes itcan be very time consuming, and
how we can teach giving feedbackamong the peers.
(16:11):
So that's something also needssome modeling or practice in the
classrooms.
So maybe I can share with youwhat I do in my writing
classrooms as well.
But before I begin that, I justwanna let you know that giving
feedback does not have to happenalways on the end product.
We don't have to wait untilstudents submit a complete
(16:31):
draft.
Maybe I would say the earlier,the better in the writing
process.
So for example, I create this inclass peer review activity on
students' research question,which is pretty early stage of
research writing.
So once students upload theirpreliminary research question on
discussion board as homework,then in class, students kind of
(16:53):
pair up with their peers andthen have this consultation
sessions.
But sometimes when we use theword feedback, it sounds like
more corrective or evaluative.
So I prefer to call thisactivity as a peer consultation.
So the first five or 10 minutesstudents exchange their ideas
(17:13):
and the plans verbally, and thenfor the next 10 to 15 minutes
they have this quiet time justwriting up their feedback.
Right?
Focusing only on one or twothings that I ask students, kind
of focus on because they don'thave to provide feedback on
everything about the text orresearch topic.
(17:36):
Usually one of those things thatstudents need to comment on are
the key learning objectives ofthat activity, so that way
students can experience how toengage with their peers in terms
of variety, and also they learnor reinforce their learning for
their day because those twothings are the key concepts for
their day.
(17:57):
Then as a last stage, they alsohave another five or 10 minutes
of verbal session that they readthe feedback they received and
ask questions or sometimesreinforce some of the ideas they
felt that they need to sometimesdiscard or sometimes to keep.
Rachel (18:13):
I think those are such great points, Joan.
You know, even from myexperience, you know, teaching
in the STEM fields, peer reviewis so difficult, and it's such a
hard thing to teach, but it canbe like you're talking about
such a valuable learningexperience.
You know, whether they'reconnecting back to the learning
goals, they're connecting withtheir own thoughts, they're
extending their ideas, but justlike you were talking about
(18:35):
earlier, modeling that, or howdo we help them through that
process.
And so, you know, even some ofthe things that I've done of
like, okay, here's some sentencestarters.
Here are some ways to givefeedback.
And I hope just a little bit,they start to appreciate the
difficulty we have asinstructors giving good
feedback, you know, when they goto read that, but maybe not.
But as we do that, thinkingabout how do you give
(18:57):
constructive feedback, you know,because again, just like those
discussion board posts, you caneasily default to that, hey,
sounds good.
Well, that doesn't actually helpany in the learning process,
right?
So how do we model that?
So yeah, let's turn it over toTom, some of your thoughts and
some of your recommendations forour listeners, if you will, or
solve all the things aboutwriting in under two minutes.
Tom (19:19):
Yeah, here we go.
All the problems gone.
Um, no, I would emphasize, Ithink what you and Joan were
just saying, peer review isreally important and a really
important skill to develop indisciplinary work.
But as people and students worktheir ways toward professions, I
would say one of the thingsthat's really important in using
feedback is echoing a little bitof what Joan said, is that pure
(19:41):
feedback doesn't need to happenon full drafts either.
We can shift it all the way upinto early stages of the writing
process.
And one of the things that Ifind in helping students offer
productive feedback is to notask them to offer evaluative
comments, right?
Like, Hey, is this a good post?
As much as descriptive comments,right?
(20:03):
If you're interested in studentsoffering feedback to one another
on main ideas.
Don't ask them, do they have agood thesis?
Ask them, can you restate themain idea of this paper?
Right?
Can you highlight it for thestudent that you're offering
this feedback to?
Because if they can't do thosethings, that gives the other
(20:26):
student that feedback as towhether it's, whether it's good
or not, and gives them somethingthat they can act upon, right?
That I need to clarify thisrather than, you know, my peer
said it was kind of okay, but Idon't know what to do with that
comment.
So I think, yeah, I think peerreview is really, really, a
great thing to integrate intothe course and can have a lot of
(20:48):
teaching power.
I guess the other thing I wouldadd related to in classroom is
just recognizing that writinginvolves knowledge and skills.
And I think modeling we oftenthink of in terms of modeling
skills, like how do we sort ofmanipulate this microscope or
whatever it might be in, youknow, a different setting.
(21:10):
We can do that with writing.
How do we model revisionstrategies?
But the modeling that Joan istalking about, I think is also
what knowledge goes intoproducing particular kinds of
texts, right?
And what are the particularexpectations for our discipline
of this text.
So that's knowledge thatstudents need to be aware of in
(21:33):
order to really produce thosekinds of texts effectively.
And so just as a frameworkapproaching, I think writing as
both knowledge and skill I thinkis really important in the
classroom.
Outside of the classroom, Ithink we can also really be
aware of the fact that writingcan be so many things and it's
really important or helpful fordegree programs to think about
(21:57):
what parts of writing they'readdressing when, right?
So that faculty in classroomscan make decisions about their
priorities and not have to worryabout all the things that they
could be talking about in termsof writing.
So, you know, generic course300, I don't know, we'll say.
Um, chemistry 300 focuses onsynthesis, whereas chemistry 495
(22:23):
focuses on research basedwriting.
So that the faculty in thoseclassrooms have more of a plan
for their teaching.
And I think also that they haveopportunities, Rachel, like you
were saying earlier, to exchangewith one another.
Right?
So what are the systems outsideof those classrooms that foster
those relationships?
Knowledge exchange, resourceexchange to help one another,
(22:47):
produce more effective, youknow, lessons, stronger course
designs.
And honestly, you know, happierwork.
Right?
I think overall, or more joyfulbecause you have an opportunity
to do this as a team rather thanin isolation, which is what I
find faculty often feel likethey are in.
Rachel (23:05):
Yeah, these are such great points.
I wanna go back and highlightsomething that you mentioned
Tom, about, so even thatproduction, the process and how
we feel about it, but also likewhat you were mentioning
earlier, writing comes in somany forms, and for me, a lot of
the conversation has to startwith having our students see
themselves as writers, right?
(23:26):
Building confidence in order tobe able to combine, like you
were both saying, that knowledgeand the skill, but underlying
that, at least from my view, isa lot of, do I see myself as a
writer or can I see myself as awriter and seeing all the
different ways we write in ourdaily lives, even if it's not,
okay, an academic paper, ahomework assignment, a whatever.
(23:49):
You know, we might be writing agrocery list, a text message, an
email.
We're writers.
But building that transferableskill, that confidence of, yes,
I can do this, I can engage withthis, and it is that skill that
I'm gonna practice, I think isso, at least from my view, so
very important.
Tom (24:07):
A hundred percent.
Yeah, I mean I think confidenceand efficacy with any skill is
super important.
And I think we can all point toour own lives in that regard.
Right, where, you know, we'reworking on a project, we're
trying to write a thing, andit's just not working.
And we find ourselves becomingincreasingly frustrated.
And, uh we want to give up.
I think we should recognize, youknow, again, that knowledge
piece, that writing involvesknowledge and skills.
(24:29):
Anytime we're writing somethingnew, we're learning something
new.
And it can be a frustrating,intimidating process.
And I think, recognizing thatstudents actually do bring quite
a lot of knowledge and skillrelated to writing into the
classroom, or communicationsmore broadly into the classroom
that they are accomplished andcan build upon those skills and
(24:50):
prior experiences withcommunicating to say, you do
have some facility here, right?
We're gonna build it and we'regonna shape it into what this
discipline thinks of as goodcommunications, but you are
already bringing in very, goodexperiences and lots of
knowledge, with communicating,with writing that we can really
(25:10):
recognize and value as teachers.
Rachel (25:14):
Yeah.
That's great.
Well, thank you so much.
So as we start to wrap up today,any resources that you all would
like to share, workshops,consulting, anything that
faculty at Mason might seek orany other listeners might seek
on their own campus?
Joan (25:29):
So when it comes to supporting writing on campus, a
WAC program is trying to meetfaculty where they are.
We offer a range ofopportunities to support faculty
in their work with writing andby hosting workshops.
They dive into the nuts andbolts of designing and then
teaching and assessing writingin the classrooms.
(25:52):
So along those, we run twoextended series.
One is the WAC Primer, whichtakes a closer look at writing
intensive courses, and ithappens over four sessions.
The other is called WAC Academy,and this even takes a step
further and to think more deeplyabout how writing is happening
in each discipline.
(26:13):
So helping WI instructors toteach the threshold concepts in
their disciplines, in theirteaching with the writing.
And beyond these structuredprograms, we also work
one-on-one with the faculty anddepartments.
Providing some consultations oneverything from assignment
design again to assessmentstrategies or sometimes like a
(26:35):
big picture, like a curriculumplanning.
Tom (26:38):
Yeah.
I guess I'll also point out foron campus resources, we have a
grants program that offers timeand space for units to work with
us as teams to further developthe way in which they integrate
writing into their degreeprograms or courses, and a
number of other asynchronousresources that, you know, might
be useful to faculty from allover, including some videos
(26:59):
about some of the concepts thatwe've listed today.
You can check all of those outat WAC.gmu.edu.
I would also say the frameworkthat we referred to earlier of
meaningful writing, Joanproduced a report on that based
on some research that weconducted here with seniors on
our campus, just reflecting backon their experiences with
(27:22):
writing and what kinds ofwriting they found most
meaningful to theirundergraduate experiences.
And so I would encourage peopleto check that out.
We have a number of otherreports on that same website
under a heading of researchreports.
Rachel (27:38):
All right, well, sounds great.
We'll be sure to link those inthe show notes as well.
But with that, as we wrap up ourconversation, I think here we're
really looking at the keystoneconcept of modeling.
Whether we're modeling for ourstudents what writing can look
like or what any other activitywithin our courses or individual
classes might look like.
(27:58):
You know, we talked a little bitabout the engagement with the
topic, engagement with thematerial as well as how we build
knowledge and skill.
But it really comes back to howwe model that, how we model the
feedback process, how we modelthe writing process, and maybe
how we even model how tointegrate some of the new things
like we haven't talked aboutwith like artificial
(28:18):
intelligence or text generators,whatever we're looking at there
as well.
So really here the key beingmodeling.
So with that, thank you both somuch for your time.
It was great to have thisconversation and please be sure
to check out our episodes everytwo weeks we're publishing
throughout the fall and springsemester.
So thank you both so much foryour time.
Joan (28:40):
Thank you, Rachel.
Tom (28:40):
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to the Keystone Concepts in Teaching
podcast, a higher educationpodcast from the Stearns Center
for Teaching and Learning atGeorge Mason University.
I'm your host, Rachel Yoho.
Today I'm really excited to bejoined by two guests to talk
about writing and how we writeand how we teach across
disciplines and across thecurriculum.
(00:29):
So with that, I'll ask ourguests to introduce themselves.
Tom (00:34):
Yeah.
Hi, Tom Polk.
I direct Writing Across theCurriculum at George Mason and
teach writing in the Englishdepartment.
Joan (00:42):
Hi, this is Joan Hwang.
Thank you for having me today.
I'm a Term Faculty in theComposition program in the
English department.
And then, work programs facultyfellow.
And I'm happy to join you today.
Rachel (00:55):
Yeah.
Thank you both so much forjoining us.
So as we get started, maybe ourlisteners have heard of Writing
Across the Curriculum, or aswe'll refer to it throughout the
episode, WAC.
So, if not, can you start us offwith a brief overview of, you
know, what is Writing Across theCurriculum and how does it
(01:15):
interact with some of the thingsour faculty are doing?
Tom (01:21):
Yeah.
Well thanks for having us.
WAC, as you got right, WritingAcross the Curriculum, is really
a pretty longstanding curricularmovement or innovation in higher
education that emerged in theUnited States, really in the
late sixties or early seventiesaround the idea that writing is
a good way of facilitating orpromoting learning.
(01:42):
I think really what we commonlycall now, kind of active
learning.
And so the idea of using writingto learn course content is
really sort of where it gets itsstart back at that time.
I would say since then, youknow, it's really added a number
of layers to its programming,but probably its other real core
focus is helping students learnto write in their majors or in
(02:03):
their disciplines, right?
And really helping to kind ofopen up access in the ways in
which communications andknowledge production happens
within those disciplines.
So I guess I would say mostsuccinctly WAC's mission really
is to ensure that all studentshave kinda meaningful
opportunities, to learn, towrite and to write, to learn.
Rachel (02:25):
I like that the learning to write and writing to learn.
So as the name implies, WritingAcross the Curriculum is
everyone.
Right?
So you work with faculty allacross disciplines.
Is that correct, Tom?
Tom (02:37):
We do.
Yeah.
In every, every discipline.
Yep.
Rachel (02:42):
Yeah.
That's great.
So can you tell us a little bitmore about what that looks like
from the Writing Across theCurriculum program at George
Mason University?
What does that look like here?
Coming from that rich history ofinstitutional change and
teaching and learning innovationacross decades now, actually,
what does it look like inpractice here at Mason?
Tom (03:04):
Yeah, I mean over those times, I mean, so I'll just say
WAC at Mason has existed prettymuch that same amount of time.
It really started with a coupleof English faculty members here
at Mason offering workshops onwriting assignment design.
How do you offer feedback tostudents across majors, and that
was in the mid to lateseventies.
And somewhat like the sort oflarger movement, you know, the
program or the idea of WAC haskinda added layers.
(03:28):
But I would say our sort of mainproject areas are true to that
original idea of facultydevelopment and curriculum
development.
How do we do good course designand how do we think about the
way writing is integratedthroughout a major or degree
program?
We do a fair amount aroundpolicy and guidance more broadly
for thinking about how to shapea culture of writing here at
(03:49):
Mason.
And then we do a fair amount ofresearch and assessment, really
trying to understand what ishappening here at, right, at
Mason with writing.
And how effectively are thecourses that we teach operating
to help students really learn,you know, how to write within
their disciplines.
The most visible aspect though,right, of WAC at Mason, I would
say is the WI course, which isacross all disciplines or all
(04:11):
majors that offer anundergraduate degree program.
We do not have a graduateversion of WAC here at Mason.
And that course is really justbuilt on that concept of
learning to write, essentiallygiving students an opportunity
to understand, right, what doesit mean to write within this
field?
How do, you know, members ofthis field or professionals in
(04:32):
this field use writing, andwhat's really important, what do
we value in good writing withinthis degree, program, major, or
discipline?
Rachel (04:42):
Can you also tell us, I think you used the WI acronym,
can you also clarify what youmean there for our listeners?
Tom (04:50):
So yeah, the WI course is an acronym, right?
Stands for Writing Intensivecourse.
They are courses at the 300 orabove level in all undergraduate
degree programs.
Joan (05:01):
So we speaking a little bit more about the WAC courses
at Mason.
All the WAC courses at Mason aredesigned around three key
learning outcomes.
So they are writing to learn andwriting to communicate and
writing as a process.
So if I briefly introduce eachlearning outcomes, writing to
learn outcomes encouragesthinking of writing as a tool
(05:23):
for discovery.
So students they do not justwrite to hand something in, but
they write to think.
Whether it is jotting down theirreflections or notes or
answering to the questions, orsometimes writing short
summaries.
So the act of writing helps themto notice patterns or test some
of the ideas they wanna developin their project, and then
(05:46):
sometimes deepen theirunderstanding of the subject
matter in the course.
So writing becomes a way oflearning, not just showing what
they know.
And then the next outcome,writing to communicate outcome,
this outcome moves from personalexploration to public expression
So students really practicewriting in the genres of their
(06:06):
discipline, whether that means aresearch article or policy brief
or analysis memo, or sometimeseven a blog post.
So the goal of this outcome isshaping ideas in ways that they
communicate with the rightaudiences in certain context.
And writing as a process outcomeemphasizes that writing is not
(06:29):
just one and done event, it's aprocess.
So students learn to draft theirwriting and get feedback from
their professors and peers andrevise.
And this process is not just oneround, but happens at multiple
times.
And each round of revision makesthe writing stronger and more
precise.
(06:50):
So students practice this kindof writing strategies so
tailored to their genre andaudience in their own buildup
study.
Rachel (06:59):
Yeah, that sounds great.
So, you know, we see a lot ofthings across the disciplines
and how students interact withwriting and use that to develop
their thoughts, their analysis,hopefully some of their critical
thinking skills and all of thatas well.
So as we do this, can each ofyou tell us a little bit about
some of the recent projects thatyou're working on, whether
(07:20):
that's with individual groups orfor across the curriculum as a
whole?
Tom (07:27):
Yeah, so we just finished up really a multi-year process
that we've called the WritingIntensive Course Enhancements
Process.
And it was a lot of work, butthat process began really coming
out of our previous Mason Coreassessment process in 2020.
(07:48):
With a reimagining of the WIcourse, and really thinking
what's central to writing atMason and what's central to
writing kind of at that time andsort of looking forward.
And so we've really adopted thisframework that I think the
outcomes Joan talks about, maponto quite well, which we call
meaningful writing.
(08:08):
So how do we think about thatframework of meaningful writing
is more central, really to theWI course rather than the way it
had existed since the ninetiesaround, really some criteria,
right?
The chief one that we alwayshear about from faculty being,
you know, am I assigning 3,500words or not, right?
You know, it's important toassign writing, of course, in a
(08:30):
WI course, but we wanted to adda little bit more
intentionality.
You know, why are we usingwriting and how are we making
this purposeful for ourstudents, meaningful for our
students, right?
And so that process took manyyears, really, five I suppose at
this point.
And unfurled over a variety ofstages.
We worked in a cohort modelacross the full campus, and
(08:52):
across all of our colleges.
You know, really doing someinitial outreach with those
colleges, offering some supportfor the faculty who teach
writing in those colleges asthey prepared materials to
demonstrate or to representtheir WI course designs.
That were then shared with theWAC committee and reviewed by
(09:13):
those members and ultimatelyjust given some feedback on.
So the purpose of that processwas to introduce a new
innovation to the WI course andthen to really give some useful
feedback to the faculty who areteaching those courses.
And so we've really wrapped upthat sort of implementation
phase of that process, Isuppose.
(09:33):
And now Joan and I are kind ofshifting more to an assessment
phase, right?
Really trying to understand whathave we done right?
What have we learned about theWI course and where do we go
with it next?
So that we can think about whatare some of the areas that need
attention and what are some ofthe strengths that we can really
build on?
Joan (09:53):
Yes.
So another fascinating part ofthat WI enhancement project was
that actually it was not just meand Tom reviewing the course.
We invited almost like, Tombriefly mentioned this, that we
invited other faculty volunteersor representatives from colleges
in the review process, so theywere also able to kind of get a
(10:18):
sense of how the WI courses arehappening in other courses in
their college, but also it wasvery cross-disciplinary
experience for them because theyalso look at WI courses in other
colleges as well.
So it just provided us mutualbenefits because not only that
they observe how other facultyteaches their WI courses, but
(10:41):
they also provide their owninsights of the WI courses in
their college.
So they really helped us to kindof deepen and broaden our
understanding of what are thechallenges and benefits of WI
courses in terms of helpingstudents learn through writing
in their programs.
Rachel (11:00):
Yeah, that's great.
So all of our writing intensivecourses are enhanced now, right?
So we're enjoying that and we'reasking questions like what have
we done or what have we done forour assessment?
So I think that's great.
And I think also here, one ofthe things, especially as we
think about our own teaching, orour own teaching, writing, or
anything else, I think one ofthe key points that you
(11:22):
mentioned that I don't wannahave overlooked here is that we
don't have to always be lookingat our own content.
You know, we can learn so muchfrom other disciplines, even if
we're not talking about evenmoderately similar content.
Maybe there's things that we canlearn from other areas that we
can adapt in our courses or ourmodalities.
Maybe it's more about themodality, the instructional
(11:44):
modality than the the content orsomething like that.
So we don't always have to becoming up with our own things or
only talking about our owndisciplines or within our own
disciplines.
So I think that's really one ofthe most powerful things that I
see in workshops or any of theother places where we get
faculty from different areastogether.
So that's such a great point.
(12:05):
So as we continue ourconversation, let's shift over
into teaching writing a littlebit more broadly, since we have
two of our campus experts onteaching writing for our
listeners, you know, what wouldyou say are some of the best
practices or some of your keyrecommendations for teaching
writing in whatever disciplineor across disciplines?
Joan (12:29):
Wow, I mean, there will be so many, so maybe we don't have
enough time to cover all the--
Rachel (12:33):
Yes, quickly, all the things.
Joan (12:35):
But maybe I can share one kind of tips or strategies I
always try to remind myself touse as well.
So there's one Chinese sayingthat I love we don't know who
said that, but it comes from theChinese scholar it goes like
this, so tell me and I willforget and teach me, and then I
will remember and involve me andI will learn.
(12:56):
So I'll use this saying as myteaching principle and then try
to apply when I design mywriting classrooms.
And then I'm sure that this canbe applied to so many different
teaching context.
So for example, modeling, inother words means demonstrating
my own writing is something thatI always find the students loves
(13:17):
to see.
And then this is one of thebest, not the best, but the
effective strategies I try touse in my teaching as well.
So, usually our students alsowant to know how we, the
professors use writing in ourwork and life as well.
So it can mean using model textof a writing assignment.
(13:38):
So I create our very goodexamples of students' model text
in one semester.
I just make sure that I getpermission from the students and
I use it for the next semesterjust to demonstrate what my
instruction means, becausesometimes writing instructions
can be very abstract, somodeling can make abstract
(14:00):
instruction to be very concrete.
So that's something I do.
And then sometimes I create myown text that responds to the
assignment or project I assignto students, and then share that
with the students in the class.
So when I teach researchwriting, I pretend to be a
student and to create a researchquestion and collect sources for
(14:21):
the questions just like mystudents do.
But I just presented in my classas one way of demonstrating what
the assignment is about.
And I actually follow thesequence of the project just to
give the full demonstration ofeach stage of research writing.
Another important teachingstrategy I really wanna
recommend to all the audienceshere is that facilitating
(14:45):
students engagement with writingin the classrooms.
And of course there are manyways of doing that.
One thing we can do in theclassroom is giving feedback,
students writing, and then givestudents to get the feedback
from their peers
Rachel (15:00):
yeah, I think these are really such good points.
Joan.
I think especially when we'retalking about modeling, you
know, I've really done this alot with students as well.
Even in terms of something assimple as like, what's a good
discussion board post and what'sa great discussion board post?
You know, where are the sort ofthose minimums and where can we
level up?
(15:20):
As well as even on things like,again, very simple, but replies
to discussion board posts.
So often the inclination islike, Hey, good job, I agree in,
you know, many more words thanthat.
But the point is, hey, good job.
I agree.
But how do we level that up?
How do we bring in new ideas?
How do we build on that?
And really trying to model thatand what can that look like in
(15:42):
your field, in your area.
So, yeah, let's go back to whatyou were talking about there.
But I think these are reallygood points.
Joan (15:48):
Thank you Rachel.
And then that really digs intomy next strategy I want to share
with you today.
So giving feedback becauseteaching writing is great, but
it also comes with a lot of kindof adjustment.
But one of the thing is thatproviding feedback to students
writing, because sometimes itcan be very time consuming, and
how we can teach giving feedbackamong the peers.
(16:11):
So that's something also needssome modeling or practice in the
classrooms.
So maybe I can share with youwhat I do in my writing
classrooms as well.
But before I begin that, I justwanna let you know that giving
feedback does not have to happenalways on the end product.
We don't have to wait untilstudents submit a complete
(16:31):
draft.
Maybe I would say the earlier,the better in the writing
process.
So for example, I create this inclass peer review activity on
students' research question,which is pretty early stage of
research writing.
So once students upload theirpreliminary research question on
discussion board as homework,then in class, students kind of
(16:53):
pair up with their peers andthen have this consultation
sessions.
But sometimes when we use theword feedback, it sounds like
more corrective or evaluative.
So I prefer to call thisactivity as a peer consultation.
So the first five or 10 minutesstudents exchange their ideas
(17:13):
and the plans verbally, and thenfor the next 10 to 15 minutes
they have this quiet time justwriting up their feedback.
Right?
Focusing only on one or twothings that I ask students, kind
of focus on because they don'thave to provide feedback on
everything about the text orresearch topic.
(17:36):
Usually one of those things thatstudents need to comment on are
the key learning objectives ofthat activity, so that way
students can experience how toengage with their peers in terms
of variety, and also they learnor reinforce their learning for
their day because those twothings are the key concepts for
their day.
(17:57):
Then as a last stage, they alsohave another five or 10 minutes
of verbal session that they readthe feedback they received and
ask questions or sometimesreinforce some of the ideas they
felt that they need to sometimesdiscard or sometimes to keep.
Rachel (18:13):
I think those are such great points, Joan.
You know, even from myexperience, you know, teaching
in the STEM fields, peer reviewis so difficult, and it's such a
hard thing to teach, but it canbe like you're talking about
such a valuable learningexperience.
You know, whether they'reconnecting back to the learning
goals, they're connecting withtheir own thoughts, they're
extending their ideas, but justlike you were talking about
(18:35):
earlier, modeling that, or howdo we help them through that
process.
And so, you know, even some ofthe things that I've done of
like, okay, here's some sentencestarters.
Here are some ways to givefeedback.
And I hope just a little bit,they start to appreciate the
difficulty we have asinstructors giving good
feedback, you know, when they goto read that, but maybe not.
But as we do that, thinkingabout how do you give
(18:57):
constructive feedback, you know,because again, just like those
discussion board posts, you caneasily default to that, hey,
sounds good.
Well, that doesn't actually helpany in the learning process,
right?
So how do we model that?
So yeah, let's turn it over toTom, some of your thoughts and
some of your recommendations forour listeners, if you will, or
solve all the things aboutwriting in under two minutes.
Tom (19:19):
Yeah, here we go.
All the problems gone.
Um, no, I would emphasize, Ithink what you and Joan were
just saying, peer review isreally important and a really
important skill to develop indisciplinary work.
But as people and students worktheir ways toward professions, I
would say one of the thingsthat's really important in using
feedback is echoing a little bitof what Joan said, is that pure
(19:41):
feedback doesn't need to happenon full drafts either.
We can shift it all the way upinto early stages of the writing
process.
And one of the things that Ifind in helping students offer
productive feedback is to notask them to offer evaluative
comments, right?
Like, Hey, is this a good post?
As much as descriptive comments,right?
(20:03):
If you're interested in studentsoffering feedback to one another
on main ideas.
Don't ask them, do they have agood thesis?
Ask them, can you restate themain idea of this paper?
Right?
Can you highlight it for thestudent that you're offering
this feedback to?
Because if they can't do thosethings, that gives the other
(20:26):
student that feedback as towhether it's, whether it's good
or not, and gives them somethingthat they can act upon, right?
That I need to clarify thisrather than, you know, my peer
said it was kind of okay, but Idon't know what to do with that
comment.
So I think, yeah, I think peerreview is really, really, a
great thing to integrate intothe course and can have a lot of
(20:48):
teaching power.
I guess the other thing I wouldadd related to in classroom is
just recognizing that writinginvolves knowledge and skills.
And I think modeling we oftenthink of in terms of modeling
skills, like how do we sort ofmanipulate this microscope or
whatever it might be in, youknow, a different setting.
(21:10):
We can do that with writing.
How do we model revisionstrategies?
But the modeling that Joan istalking about, I think is also
what knowledge goes intoproducing particular kinds of
texts, right?
And what are the particularexpectations for our discipline
of this text.
So that's knowledge thatstudents need to be aware of in
(21:33):
order to really produce thosekinds of texts effectively.
And so just as a frameworkapproaching, I think writing as
both knowledge and skill I thinkis really important in the
classroom.
Outside of the classroom, Ithink we can also really be
aware of the fact that writingcan be so many things and it's
really important or helpful fordegree programs to think about
(21:57):
what parts of writing they'readdressing when, right?
So that faculty in classroomscan make decisions about their
priorities and not have to worryabout all the things that they
could be talking about in termsof writing.
So, you know, generic course300, I don't know, we'll say.
Um, chemistry 300 focuses onsynthesis, whereas chemistry 495
(22:23):
focuses on research basedwriting.
So that the faculty in thoseclassrooms have more of a plan
for their teaching.
And I think also that they haveopportunities, Rachel, like you
were saying earlier, to exchangewith one another.
Right?
So what are the systems outsideof those classrooms that foster
those relationships?
Knowledge exchange, resourceexchange to help one another,
(22:47):
produce more effective, youknow, lessons, stronger course
designs.
And honestly, you know, happierwork.
Right?
I think overall, or more joyfulbecause you have an opportunity
to do this as a team rather thanin isolation, which is what I
find faculty often feel likethey are in.
Rachel (23:05):
Yeah, these are such great points.
I wanna go back and highlightsomething that you mentioned
Tom, about, so even thatproduction, the process and how
we feel about it, but also likewhat you were mentioning
earlier, writing comes in somany forms, and for me, a lot of
the conversation has to startwith having our students see
themselves as writers, right?
(23:26):
Building confidence in order tobe able to combine, like you
were both saying, that knowledgeand the skill, but underlying
that, at least from my view, isa lot of, do I see myself as a
writer or can I see myself as awriter and seeing all the
different ways we write in ourdaily lives, even if it's not,
okay, an academic paper, ahomework assignment, a whatever.
(23:49):
You know, we might be writing agrocery list, a text message, an
email.
We're writers.
But building that transferableskill, that confidence of, yes,
I can do this, I can engage withthis, and it is that skill that
I'm gonna practice, I think isso, at least from my view, so
very important.
Tom (24:07):
A hundred percent.
Yeah, I mean I think confidenceand efficacy with any skill is
super important.
And I think we can all point toour own lives in that regard.
Right, where, you know, we'reworking on a project, we're
trying to write a thing, andit's just not working.
And we find ourselves becomingincreasingly frustrated.
And, uh we want to give up.
I think we should recognize, youknow, again, that knowledge
piece, that writing involvesknowledge and skills.
(24:29):
Anytime we're writing somethingnew, we're learning something
new.
And it can be a frustrating,intimidating process.
And I think, recognizing thatstudents actually do bring quite
a lot of knowledge and skillrelated to writing into the
classroom, or communicationsmore broadly into the classroom
that they are accomplished andcan build upon those skills and
(24:50):
prior experiences withcommunicating to say, you do
have some facility here, right?
We're gonna build it and we'regonna shape it into what this
discipline thinks of as goodcommunications, but you are
already bringing in very, goodexperiences and lots of
knowledge, with communicating,with writing that we can really
(25:10):
recognize and value as teachers.
Rachel (25:14):
Yeah.
That's great.
Well, thank you so much.
So as we start to wrap up today,any resources that you all would
like to share, workshops,consulting, anything that
faculty at Mason might seek orany other listeners might seek
on their own campus?
Joan (25:29):
So when it comes to supporting writing on campus, a
WAC program is trying to meetfaculty where they are.
We offer a range ofopportunities to support faculty
in their work with writing andby hosting workshops.
They dive into the nuts andbolts of designing and then
teaching and assessing writingin the classrooms.
(25:52):
So along those, we run twoextended series.
One is the WAC Primer, whichtakes a closer look at writing
intensive courses, and ithappens over four sessions.
The other is called WAC Academy,and this even takes a step
further and to think more deeplyabout how writing is happening
in each discipline.
(26:13):
So helping WI instructors toteach the threshold concepts in
their disciplines, in theirteaching with the writing.
And beyond these structuredprograms, we also work
one-on-one with the faculty anddepartments.
Providing some consultations oneverything from assignment
design again to assessmentstrategies or sometimes like a
(26:35):
big picture, like a curriculumplanning.
Tom (26:38):
Yeah.
I guess I'll also point out foron campus resources, we have a
grants program that offers timeand space for units to work with
us as teams to further developthe way in which they integrate
writing into their degreeprograms or courses, and a
number of other asynchronousresources that, you know, might
be useful to faculty from allover, including some videos
(26:59):
about some of the concepts thatwe've listed today.
You can check all of those outat WAC.gmu.edu.
I would also say the frameworkthat we referred to earlier of
meaningful writing, Joanproduced a report on that based
on some research that weconducted here with seniors on
our campus, just reflecting backon their experiences with
(27:22):
writing and what kinds ofwriting they found most
meaningful to theirundergraduate experiences.
And so I would encourage peopleto check that out.
We have a number of otherreports on that same website
under a heading of researchreports.
Rachel (27:38):
All right, well, sounds great.
We'll be sure to link those inthe show notes as well.
But with that, as we wrap up ourconversation, I think here we're
really looking at the keystoneconcept of modeling.
Whether we're modeling for ourstudents what writing can look
like or what any other activitywithin our courses or individual
classes might look like.
(27:58):
You know, we talked a little bitabout the engagement with the
topic, engagement with thematerial as well as how we build
knowledge and skill.
But it really comes back to howwe model that, how we model the
feedback process, how we modelthe writing process, and maybe
how we even model how tointegrate some of the new things
like we haven't talked aboutwith like artificial
(28:18):
intelligence or text generators,whatever we're looking at there
as well.
So really here the key beingmodeling.
So with that, thank you both somuch for your time.
It was great to have thisconversation and please be sure
to check out our episodes everytwo weeks we're publishing
throughout the fall and springsemester.
So thank you both so much foryour time.
Joan (28:40):
Thank you, Rachel.
Tom (28:40):
Thank you.
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