WIC PROGRAM Guidelines
& Additional Suggestions

Five general guidelines delineate certain minimum expectations for courses to be approved and designated as WIC--Writing in Context of specific disciplines, professions, or fields. Additional Suggestions below offer supporting explanation of the expectations, as well as guidance, for COCC faculty who wish to propose courses for WIC designation.

 Go to WIC Course Proposal Form
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/humanities/WIC/proposalform.htm

1. Objectives of Writing: A wide range of teaching and learning objectives may be met through informal and formal writing across courses, disciplines, professions, and fields. Whatever the objectives, however, writing should be integrated into the WIC course as a significant and integral part of the overall learning experience, and writing should be presented and practiced as an effective and meaningful approach to learning course subject matter and to developing students’ critical and creative thinking skills in the context of the discipline, profession, or field. All writing assignments, including informal as well as formal types of writing, should be designed to meet specific teaching and learning objectives relevant to the course. These objectives should be made explicit to students (e.g., through WIC course syllabi, writing assignment directions, and in-class discussion) and should be reflected in criteria used to evaluate or credit the writing assignments.

2. Amount of Writing: At least 4,000 words of writing should be assigned, and evaluated and/or credited in some form to determine at least 30% of the final course grade in 3-to-5 credit WIC courses. (This minimum may be proportionally reduced or increased, respectively, for courses of fewer or higher number of unit credits.) While writing assignments may be informal/ungraded as well as formal/graded, typically it is expected that at least 2,000 words (the equivalent of about 8 typed/wordprocessed and double-spaced pages) of the 4,000 word minimum would be formal, graded writing on which students receive meaningful, constructive feedback from the instructor. This minimum expectation for the amount of writing to be required in WIC-designated courses is consonant with similar requirements at other colleges and universities, and designed to ensure that transferable COCC WIC Courses meet parallel WIC baccalaureate requirements at four-year institutions.

3. Types and Assessment of Writing: To extend the range of and deepen the students’ writing and thinking abilities across the curriculum, at least two different types of writing experiences should be integrated into a WIC course, and at least one of these two writing experiences or assignments should be designed to give students guided practice in a form of writing and thinking specific to the major discipline, profession, or field of the WIC course. It is expected that writing assessment will vary as appropriate to the learning and teaching objectives and expectations outlined for the assignment, to nature of writing (e.g., informal in-class individual or group writing might be credited only for work completion or quick graded on a point of check-plus system), and to the level of the WIC course and its students, as determined by the instructor and/or the department or program. A wide range of writing types and assessment schemes may be designed to meet WIC course teaching and learning objectives. Research demonstrates that different types of writing produce different types of learning experiences for students (as well as for teachers). WIC course instructors are encouraged to create, pilot, select, and revise informal and formal writing assignments and assessment schemes deemed most effective and appropriate to the objectives of the course, the developmental level of the course, the diverse learning needs of its students, the teaching style of the instructor, as well as realistic for the size of class enrollment.

4. Frequency and Process of Writing: WIC students should be given at least four distinct occasions to write, whether on separate or related writing projects or some combination thereof, over the term of the WIC course. At least one WIC writing assignment should also be designed to guide students in developing an effective writing and thinking process and to enable students to use what they have learned to improve their writing performance. These goals may be accomplished in different ways. For example, the first in a series of similar writing projects may be constructively critiqued individually by the instructor, and general process and performance outcomes discussed in class, with attention to ways students can improve or strengthen their subsequent processes and performances on the same type of writing assignment in future. Or a major writing project may be assigned in two or more distinct stages or parts, giving students guidance in a recommended process for completing the project, an opportunity to prepare a preliminary draft and receive meaningful constructive feedback or critique from the instructor, with adequate time allocated to act on this feedback and revise before submitting the final draft for grading.

5. Course and Discipline-Specific Writing Instruction and Guidance: WIC courses are not intended to take the place of formal writing instruction students receive in Humanities Department Writing courses. Rather they are intended to offer students additional writing, thinking, and learning experiences especially relevant to the subject matter and learning goals of the course, as well as introduce the kinds of writing and thinking specific to the course’s major discipline, profession, or field. As with any type of course assignment or exam, however, good teaching practice would entail devoting adequate class instructional time to introducing and explaining course writing assignments, expectations, and grading criteria; introducing discipline-specific practices and requirements needed to complete the writing assignment successfully (e.g., documentation formats, methods of inquiry, preferred writing style or form to be followed, etc.); guiding students through more complex thinking and writing processes; and providing meaningful feedback or critique of performances and explaining grading decisions and evaluation criteria applied when writing assignments are evaluated and returned to students. Typically, written instructions (handouts) should be given students, in addition to oral and other forms of explanation, especially for formal, graded, and major writing projects, which specify assignment learning objectives, the topic(s), the writing situation (e.g., the writer’s purpose, the intended audience, elements of the writing form or genre, to be written in class or out of class, etc.), the nature of the task and recommended preparation, strategies or processes for completing it successfully, and evaluation criteria.

Rev. 3/15/96 and Approved by AA Curriculum Subcommittee on 4/2/96

ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS

A. Formal Writing Preparation and Prerequisites: The level of writing preparation and proficiency students need to succeed on WIC course writing assignments should be carefully considered, and formal writing course prerequisites may be instituted if deemed essential preparation for student success and appropriate to the level of the WIC course. To make such determinations, WIC Course instructors are encouraged to compare their writing assignments and expectations to the content and skills emphasis of formal Writing-prefixed courses at sequential levels of instruction. However, the factors that influence students' success or failure in any course are complex and often interrelated. Poor writing performance may stem from causes other than inadequate formal writing preparation, such as decay of skills over time (if writing coursework is not recent), time management or attitude problems, the competing demands of outside commitments (such as work or parenting), or dependence on a particular classroom writing community. In particular, WIC course faculty should consider the following factors:

• Foundational Writing course instruction, provided by the English specialists in the Humanities Department and serving students across the curriculum with varied educational needs and goals, is necessarily limited in the range of discipline-specific writing experiences and abilities it can effectively develop in COCC students.

• Writing successfully in course across disciplines and programs calls upon students to transfer, apply, and adapt previously learned foundational writing skills to new contexts, and many students need explicit guidance in making this transfer and/or understanding the level of professional writing standards they are expected to meet on WIC writing assignments. For example, WAD math instructors report that competent writing students asked to write in a math class have assumed Writing 121 standards for following the conventions of standard written English (grammar, punctuation, etc.) are not required unless the instructor makes that expectation explicit. In another case, a student co-enrolled in Writing 121 was assigned an "essay" in a psychology class, but did not realize she could and should apply her developing Wr 121 essay writing skills to the psychology writing task until explicitly guided in making that cross-disciplinary connection.

• Furthermore, discipline-specific writing frequently requires students to develop distinctly new ways of thinking and communicating particular to the course and professional field. Research suggests that even proficient student writers, faced with the challenge of learning to think in the discipline and write about new and increasingly difficult subject matter within and across courses and programs, find their writing abilities temporarily deteriorating in the process.

• Moreover, WIC course instructors guiding students through a major writing project and reviewing rough drafts for the first time may be daunted by their flawed, incomplete state, and conclude too quickly that students’ first imperfect grapplings with the demands of the assignment mean lack of formal writing preparation.

• Finally, students are best prepared to succeed on major written exams and assessments when they have been given guided preliminary practice in the same kinds of writing and thinking they are expected later to perform.

• Students experiencing serious writing difficulties may be encouraged or required to seek tutoring assistance from the Writing Lab, a support service most effective if WIC faculty, WIC students, and Writing Lab staff communicate fully regarding the nature and requirements of the writing assignment and the types of tutoring assistance needed and rendered. Please note that Writing Lab Tutors regularly provide referring faculty with brief descriptive reports on the types of tutoring assistance rendered to their students who drop in for tutoring.

• WIC Course faculty are also encouraged to seek assistance from Writing Across Disciplines (WAD) consultants within and outside the Writing program. All faculty are encouraged to consult with Writing Across Disciplines (WAD) Director Cora Agatucci (x7522), Composition Committee Chair and WAD Consultant Bill Buck (x7523), Writing Lab Director and WAD Consultant Greg Lyons (x7526) or other WAD consultants to seek assistance interpreting and implementing these guidelines.

• Some patience with first writing efforts and reading what students write with attention to the kind of difficulties they seem to be experiencing, the ways they may be misconstruing the directions they’ve been given, and the gaps emerging between what the instructor expects and s/he receives, often offer the most valuable leads to effective instructional response and intervention strategies.

B. Concerns about Meeting WIC Course Guidelines: Many COCC faculty are now using, or considering the use of, writing to teach in their courses across the curriculum, and are commended for their contribution to enabling students to develop their writing and thinking abilities. A particular course may not integrate writing in ways that exactly meet all of the five guidelines stated above for WIC course designation; however, instructors who believe their courses nevertheless provides students with substantial experience and significant instruction in writing appropriate to the discipline or profession, are invited to submit a proposal for WIC designation with a statement of justification for waiving particular guidelines. Such proposals will be given serious consideration. However, instructors are discouraged from trying to "add on" writing to already demanding content-packed and tightly structured courses, which may not be appropriate candidates for WIC-course designation if pre-existing instructional content coverage cannot be reduced and/or instructional "space" otherwise made to emphasize writing as an integral component the course and meet requirements for WIC designation.

C. Special Conditions may be requested when proposing a course for WIC designation. Ordinarily WIC course proposals will be considered for approval on a permanent basis and will be understood to obtain for the faculty member(s) named on the WIC proposal form who teach that course in future. However, in consultation with transcripting administrators in Student Records, special conditions may be proposed for WIC course designation and should be described as an attachment as part of the "Special Conditions" portion of the "WIC Course Approval Form." For example, if the proposed course will only be taught with the WIC emphasis when certain faculty teach that course, the names of the approved WIC Course faculty members should be listed. Note that foundational Writing-prefixed courses are ordinarily not considered for "WIC" status, but special interdisciplinary conditions (e.g., close collaboration with or linkage with a non-Writing instructor or course) may render the WR-prefixed course eligible for permanent or temporary approval for WIC status.

D. Removing the WIC Designation from Courses and Updating Approved WIC Course Faculty Lists:  As noted above, WIC course approval ordinarily is granted on a permanent basis. WIC course faculty may choose to revise the writing component of such courses from time to time as a normal part of curricular revision, but as long as originating departments and programs deem that the revised WIC course continues to meet WIC Guidelines, it is unnecessary to go through the WIC course approval process again for the revised course(s). It is expected that ordinary internal and faculty peer evaluation will include periodic review of how well and how effectively WIC courses and their instructors are meeting WIC Course Guidelines. However, if such WIC course revisions or other curricular imperatives result in substantial changes such that a particular WIC-approved course can no longer meet WIC course Guidelines, instructors and department or program heads are expected to petition the AA Curriculum Subcommittee to formally remove the WIC designation from the affected course. Similarly, department or program heads are expected to review and update approved WIC course faculty lists by notifying AA Curriculum Subcommittee when teachers are to be added or deleted from the approved list of faculty named on the original WIC course proposal form .

Rev. 3/15/96 and Approved by AA Curriculum Subcommittee on 4/2/96