About the Writing Across the Curriculum Program
The WAC program assists faculty in using writing to enhance their teaching, improving student writing in the major, in Gordon Rule courses, and in other writing-intensive classes.
We offer the following services:
- One-on-one consultations to assist faculty with any issues related to teaching with writing. For example, consultants can provide guidance and feedback on designing writing assignments, on larger course design and assessment issues, and on developing low-stakes in and out of class writing activities to help students learn course materials.
- Virtual Office Hours where faculty are invited to drop by without an appointment and discuss teaching with writing and/or workshop writing assignments. (Fall 2022 virtual office hours )
- WAC Micro-Credential: Teaching with Writing in the Disciplines
- Consultations with groups of faculty and academic departments. The WAC program can assist as departments restructure a curriculum to include more attention to writing or as they design new academic programs with student communication skills in mind.
- Brown bag sessions and workshops during the year. Previous workshop topics have included informal and formal writing assignment design, giving feedback to student work, Gordon Rule Course overview, teaching with writing in STEM courses.
- Specially designed workshops to meet specific needs within academic units. We design workshops for specific department needs. Please contact us to discuss this option.
- Grant programs to assist faculty and departments in course design to enhance writing instruction and writing to learn.
(Please submit a service request and we will follow up.)
FIU’s WAC program is based on the following guiding principles, developed from writing research:
- To improve as writers, students need to have meaningful opportunities to write throughout the university curriculum. If students’ writing skills are not used frequently, these skills will not develop and can degenerate.
- Students illustrate their best writing abilities when given the opportunity to revise their work.
- Writing is a mode of learning and can be used to help students learn complex material and to clarify thinking. Such writing-to-learn tasks do not need to be labor-intensive for faculty and can help them gauge what students are learning.
- Faculty throughout the academic community provide students with unique insight into writing in the disciplines.
- Students learn to write as professionals in their field through guided and informed practice.
- Faculty who teach writing-intensive courses require support.