Special Issue: WAC and High-Impact Practices

  • WEC, WAC, student writing, writing to learn, Literacy, communication, writing in the disciplines, faculty, assessment

Published December 26, 2016

Guest editors: Beth Boquet, Fairfield University, and Neal Lerner, Northeastern University

A central tenet of writing across the curriculum and in the disciplines is that the use of writing goes far beyond improvement of students' skills. Instead, writing is essential to learning and to the processes of development that higher education aims to foster. What might not be as clear to those of us in WAC and WID programs is how we map our the work on to these higher-level outcomes. In this issue of Across the Disciplines, contributors describe those maps in relation to the Association of American Colleges & Universities research on High-Impact Practices. Contributors describe research, theory, and practices from first-year seminar to capstone courses, from specific WI courses in a range of disciplines to the impact of WI and core curricula more generally, from residential learning communities to undergraduate research and presentation opportunities. Overall, these contributions build our understanding of writing programs' roles in promoting High-Impact Practices and place the student experience where it belongs: at the center of a vision for the future of higher education.

Contents:

Introduction to ATD Special Issue on WAC and High-Impact Practices, Beth Boquet, Fairfield University, and Neal Lerner, Northeastern University
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2016.13.4.12

How To Create High-Impact Writing Assignments That Enhance Learning and Development and Reinvigorate WAC/WID Programs: What Almost 72,000 Undergraduates Taught Us
Paul Anderson, Miami University (Ohio), Chris M. Anson, North Carolina State University, Robert M. Gonyea, Indiana University Bloomington, and Charles Paine, University of New Mexico
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2016.13.4.13

"Freeing Students to Do Their Best": Examining Writing in First-year Seminars
Chris Thaiss, Kara Moloney, and Pearl Chaozon-Bauer
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2016.13.4.14

Improving Success, Increasing Access: Bringing HIPs to Open Enrollment Institutions through WAC/WID
Jessica Kester, Rebecca Block, Margaret Reinfeld Karda, and Harold Orndorff III
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2016.13.4.15

Designing High-Impact "Writing-to-Learn" Math Assignments for Killer Courses
Cristyn L. Elder and Karen Champine, University of New Mexico
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2016.13.4.16

"Our Door is Always Open": Aligning Literacy Learning Practices in Writing Programs and Residential Learning Communities
Julia Voss
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2016.13.4.17

Reconstructing the Concept of Academic Motivation: A Gaming Symposium as an Academic Site for Critical Inquiry
Nancy Guerra Barron, Sibylle Gruber, and Amber Nicole Pfannenstiel, Northern Arizona University
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2016.13.4.18

The TEDxLSU Student Creative Communications Team: Integrating High-impact Practices to Increase Engagement, Facilitate Deep Learning, and Advance Communication Skills
Rebecca Burdette, Annemarie Galeucia, Sarah Liggett, and Melissa Thompson, Louisiana State University
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2016.13.4.19

Studying and Supporting Writing in Student Organizations as a High-Impact Practice
Brian Hendrickson, University of New Mexico
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2016.13.4.20

Intersections of Writing, Reflection, and Integration
Anne J. Herrington and Martha L. A. Stassen, University of Massachusetts Amherst
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2016.13.4.21

Assessing a Writing Intensive General Education Capstone: Research as Faculty Development
Juli Parrish, Doug Hesse, and Geoffrey Bateman
DOI: 10.37514/ATD-J.2016.13.4.22