Team-Designed Improvement of Writing and Critical Thinking in Large Undergraduate Courses
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ERIC Institute of Education Sciences
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| Autori principali: | , |
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| Natura: | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| Lingua: | en |
| Pubblicazione: |
2014
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| _version_ | 1867181886820843520 |
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| author | Bernstein, Daniel Greenhoot, Andrea Follmer |
| author_facet | Bernstein, Daniel Greenhoot, Andrea Follmer Bernstein, Daniel Greenhoot, Andrea Follmer |
| collection | Education Resources Information Center |
| contents | Team-Designed Improvement of Writing and Critical Thinking in Large Undergraduate Courses Bernstein, Daniel Greenhoot, Andrea Follmer Undergraduate Students Writing Instruction Writing Improvement Critical Thinking Skill Development Large Group Instruction Curriculum Design Research Skills Partnerships in Education Learning Activities Writing Assignments Scoring Rubrics Writing Evaluation Student Evaluation Teamwork Teacher Collaboration Helping students achieve advanced critical thinking and writing skills in large undergraduate classes is a challenge faced by many university faculty members. We addressed this challenge in a three-year project using team course design, built around a cognitive apprenticeship model, to enhance undergraduates' writing, critical thinking, and research skills in courses ranging in size from 70 to over 400 students. Faculty members partnered with specialists from the university library, writing center, and teaching center, and with graduate student fellows who received supplemental training in those units. Together they designed progressive learning activities and written assignments based on meaningful, situated critical thinking scenarios. Instruction teams also developed rubrics for tracking students' progress on each step, and they used this information to inform the next wave of course enhancements and generate continual and iterative improvement. Assessments developed by the instruction teams showed that students in the team-designed courses improved in their critical thinking and writing skills from the beginning to the end of the semester. Furthermore, an evaluation of student work from the team-designed courses using the AAC&U Value rubrics showed that these students displayed more advanced critical thinking and writing skills than students in roughly comparable but conventionally designed courses. Our results demonstrate that team design involving specialists and graduate students can be a feasible and worthwhile strategy for engaging faculty members in developing advanced instructional and assessment designs that enhance high-end learning in a large university setting. |
| format | Recurso educativo Open Access |
| id | eric_EJ1148830 |
| institution | ERIC Institute of Education Sciences |
| language | en |
| publishDate | 2014 |
| record_format | eric |
| spellingShingle | Team-Designed Improvement of Writing and Critical Thinking in Large Undergraduate Courses Bernstein, Daniel Greenhoot, Andrea Follmer Undergraduate Students Writing Instruction Writing Improvement Critical Thinking Skill Development Large Group Instruction Curriculum Design Research Skills Partnerships in Education Learning Activities Writing Assignments Scoring Rubrics Writing Evaluation Student Evaluation Teamwork Teacher Collaboration Team-Designed Improvement of Writing and Critical Thinking in Large Undergraduate Courses Bernstein, Daniel Greenhoot, Andrea Follmer Undergraduate Students Writing Instruction Writing Improvement Critical Thinking Skill Development Large Group Instruction Curriculum Design Research Skills Partnerships in Education Learning Activities Writing Assignments Scoring Rubrics Writing Evaluation Student Evaluation Teamwork Teacher Collaboration Helping students achieve advanced critical thinking and writing skills in large undergraduate classes is a challenge faced by many university faculty members. We addressed this challenge in a three-year project using team course design, built around a cognitive apprenticeship model, to enhance undergraduates' writing, critical thinking, and research skills in courses ranging in size from 70 to over 400 students. Faculty members partnered with specialists from the university library, writing center, and teaching center, and with graduate student fellows who received supplemental training in those units. Together they designed progressive learning activities and written assignments based on meaningful, situated critical thinking scenarios. Instruction teams also developed rubrics for tracking students' progress on each step, and they used this information to inform the next wave of course enhancements and generate continual and iterative improvement. Assessments developed by the instruction teams showed that students in the team-designed courses improved in their critical thinking and writing skills from the beginning to the end of the semester. Furthermore, an evaluation of student work from the team-designed courses using the AAC&U Value rubrics showed that these students displayed more advanced critical thinking and writing skills than students in roughly comparable but conventionally designed courses. Our results demonstrate that team design involving specialists and graduate students can be a feasible and worthwhile strategy for engaging faculty members in developing advanced instructional and assessment designs that enhance high-end learning in a large university setting. |
| title | Team-Designed Improvement of Writing and Critical Thinking in Large Undergraduate Courses |
| topic | Undergraduate Students Writing Instruction Writing Improvement Critical Thinking Skill Development Large Group Instruction Curriculum Design Research Skills Partnerships in Education Learning Activities Writing Assignments Scoring Rubrics Writing Evaluation Student Evaluation Teamwork Teacher Collaboration |
| url | https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1148830 |