Ongoing Pilot: The WE Criteria

Ongoing Pilot: The WE Criteria

If you have any questions about implementing either the SWR or the WE criteria, we in WAC are happy to support you.

Please contact us any time.

Whether you currently teach or plan to launch an course that features significant writing, we invite you to consider piloting the WE (writing-enhanced) criteria. This criteria is approved by UVA's Committee on Educational Policy and the Curriculum (CEPC) to meet the second-writing requirement (SWR) in the College; anyone in the Schools may adopt or adapt the criteria to achieve their learning goals.

In the College: You have two options with any SWR course: you can use either (1) the existing SWR criteria or (2) the new writing-enhanced (WE) criteria. The chart below spells out the key requirements for each model. The College is encouraging the ongoing pilot of the WE criteria because the criteria are designed specifically to develop students’ writing proficiency and deepen students’ engagement with learning in SWR courses.

Regardless of the criteria used, all official SWR courses must be taught in the College of Arts and Sciences, in order to fulfill the CAS requirement. Exception: If a student took an otherwise qualifying course in another School of the University of Virginia before transferring into the College, the course will satisfy the SWR.

Schools wishing to improve their own writing pedagogy may choose to adopt or adopt the WE criteria to best support their learning environments and outcomes.

In our initial pilot phase, faculty found the WE criteria minimally or not at all difficult to implement, and early assessment data showed significant improvement in student experiences, writing quality, and instructor confidence.

chart showing criteria associated with the original Second Writing Requirement and the newer Writing-Enhanced option
    
Descriptive transcript of SWR and WE criteria
    

The figure is a chart listing both the SWR and WE criteria. Here the chart is described in two lists:

First, the 4 SWR Criteria, which are the pre-existing second writing criteria.

1. Be designated as appropriate for the development of writing skills;

2. Have at least two writing assignments totaling 4,000 words (20 pages or more). Assignments must be written in English. Blue books, quizzes, and exams do not count;

3. Have a student/instructor ratio no greater than 30 to 1;

4. Be taught in the College of Arts & Sciences.

Second,  the 4 WE Criteria, which are the writing-enhanced criteria that have been updated based on longitudinal, empirical evidence-based practice.

1. One major learning objective for the course must be the development of student writing, which is reflected in the final course grade;

2. Multiple writing assignments are sequenced and distributed over the course of the semester. Students should write a minimum of 15-20 double-spaced pages (or the equivalent in word-dominant multimodal projects), which may include both drafts and final versions of assignments. Of this total, at least 10 double-spaced pages should be finished, polished writing;

3. Students are required to revise at least 1 longer assignment based on feedback from the instructor and/or peers. This longer assignment should be developed through a multi-step drafting process;

4. The course provides writing instruction and repeated opportunities to discuss and practice writing.

Click here for additional information on the SWR requirements.

Click here for additional information on the WE criteria.

Starting Teaching Suggestions for Incorporating the WE Criteria:

Providing guided instruction is an important way to develop students’ writing proficiency. Some
of the most effective forms of writing instruction can be integrated easily into the overall structure of any course:

  1. Incorporate lower-stakes (W2L) activities throughout the semester;
  2. Walk students through the assignment sheets or writing prompts during class;
  3. Support metacognition about the writing process by explaining the role of drafts and other sub-tasks;
  4. Introduce students to written models, such as sample student papers or published examples;
  5. Identify and explain the key features of those models that students will be expected to learn and produce;
  6. Teach students to recognize for themselves those key features in the course readings and other written models;
  7. Offer students opportunities to practice composing those key features with both W2L and W2C assignments;
  8. Guide students on how to review their peers’ writing to provide feedback on those key features;
  9. Evaluate student writing using a grading rubric or scoring guide that reflects those key features.
     

These suggestions make explicit for students the tacit knowledge about writing conventions and purposes that have become second nature to scholars trained in a discipline. These tips also increase students’ writing competence by teaching them to recognize and produce key features and types of disciplinary writing (Goldschmidt, 2014, 2017; Lindenman, 2015; Tardy, 2009).