MWrite helps students deepen their understanding of challenging course concepts and disciplinary thinking by employing writing-to-learn pedagogies in large-enrollment introductory courses. Faculty who are interested participate in an MWrite Seminar for Engaged Learning or work individually with a member of the MWrite Team to develop prompts or assignments for their course. As they build prompts they develop an understanding of the distinction between learning to write and writing to learn. Faculty also identify key course concepts that present difficulties for students and learn about the features of effective writing-to-learn assignments.
The challenge of including writing in large-enrollment courses is addressed by MWrite’s automated peer review tool. This tool, maintained by ITS, enables students to upload their written responses to an assignment, provide feedback to several peers who responded to the same assignment, and receive feedback on their own writing.
Writing Fellows, students who were very successful in a previous offering of the course and were nominated by the professor, take a required one-credit course at Sweetland which provides them with skills to help students understand prompts, work with the peer review tool, and oversee the drafting, peer reviewing, and revising processes that accompany each prompt. Writing Fellows work closely with faculty, help with evaluation, and in some cases assist faculty in revising or developing new prompts. Writing Fellows receive a stipend from Sweetland for their work.
