General EducationWriting Across The Curriculum

Retreat

Session II:

The State of Writing at UNLV: Preliminary Findings

October 6, 2006

Goals for the Session

• Describe preliminary findings from the Review of Undergraduate Writing

• Discuss as a group possible conclusions that we might draw from the preliminary findings

• Begin to explore the following questions:– What are we currently doing about

writing/communication at UNLV?– What else do we need to do about

writing/communication at UNLV?

State of Writing at UNLV

• Review of Undergraduate Writing– Current writing requirements and practices– Current quality of undergraduate writing

abilities– Faculty and student attitudes about writing– State of other modes of communication

(speaking, visual, digital)

• Produce Report--end of Spring 2007 semester

Sources of Data

• First-Year Composition Program• Department Chair Survey• Writing Center/Teaching and Learning

Center• College/Department/Program Assessment

Data• Employers in Las Vegas• National Survey of Student Engagement• Graduate Exams (GMAT)

First-Year Composition Program

• Source: Fall 2005 Assessment Report

• Employed Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency exam by ACT– 72-Question multiple-choice “writing skills”

test– Essay test (two 20-minute writing tasks)– 32-Question multiple-choice “critical

thinking” test

First-Year Composition Program

• Measured six outcomes associated with college-level writing:– Focus on purpose– Respond to needs of audiences and to different

kinds of rhetorical situations– Organize ideas for clarity and effectiveness– Adopt an appropriate voice, tone, and level of

formality– Implement strategies of argument, and analyze

and evaluate reasons and evidence– Control surface features such as syntax, grammar,

and punctuation

First-Year Composition Program

• Students scored “satisfactory,” averaging 1-3% above or below the national means in 5 of the 6 outcomes– Differences of less than 5% considered negligible

deviation, 5-10% moderate deviation, and greater than 10% substantial

• The outcome that students scored below was, actually, a subcategory: Basic grammar and Usage scored 6% below the national mean

• First-Year Composition can only tell us about the state of writing at the freshman level.

Department Chair Survey

• Source: Survey distributed by the WAC Steering Committee

• Six questions about writing in the department– Writing requirements– Amount and kind of writing– Majors’ quality of writing– Faculty attitude– Feedback from outside constituents– Additional comments

• Completed surveys from eight departments

Department Chair Survey

• Initial observations from the surveys submitted:– Currently no writing requirements, although

most teachers willingly assign writing– Variety of discipline-specific kinds of writing

assigned, although majority are research papers/reports/essays

– Page requirements average 6-15 pp course per semester

– No real revision opportunities offered– Very few oral assignments listed/described

Department Chair Survey

• Initial observations from the surveys submitted:– No concrete findings about quality of

student writing– Faculty attitudes seem strong overall– Very little feedback about student

writing outside the dept.– Chairs consistently like the idea of WAC,

as long as it’s flexible and well-supported

Writing Center

• A unit of the College of Liberal Arts, reporting to the Department of English– College of Liberal Arts provides budget for

operations and the wages of several consultants – Department of English assigns graduate teaching

assistants– The Regents Award Program (RAP) funds two

positions, which must be approved on a yearly basis.

– The College of Hotel Administration reimburses for the salary of one writing consultant

– The Office of Information Technology funds the receptionists who monitor the computer lab.

Writing Center

• 2005-2006: 2,849 total visits • 967 were for composition courses. • 67% of all remaining visits were for all other courses

• Shows students across campus are seeking assistance• Staffing varies by semester: must turn away students• Need for more consistent and equitable funding

Hotel (36%) Business (15%) Liberal Arts (11%) Health Science (8%) Education (6%) Sciences (6%)

Other/Undecided (6%) Engineering (5%) Fine Arts (5%) Greenspun School (4%) Honors (0%) Law School (0%)

Teaching & Learning Center

• Offers an array of workshops in as many as 17 different programs on a regular basis

• Select TLC Programs with direct or embedded connections to writing/communication– Are They Learning?— Classroom Assessment

Techniques – Case Studies—Create Your Own – Plagiarism — Deterring It– Research Assignment Design – Service Learning– Writing Assignments Across the Disciplines

UNLV College/Department Assessment Data

• Sources: Fall 2005 Assessment Reports from 87 undergraduate programs in 12 colleges posted on Office of Academic Assessment’s website

• These initial assessment reports are considered provisional with the intention that assessment methods employed in this beginning phase will be continually improved upon

• Looked specifically for either direct or embedded writing and/or speaking-related communication outcomes

UNLV College/Department Assessment Data

• Observations– Many departments identify which courses address

particular objectives, including any communication outcomes

– Most programs have a direct or embedded writing and/or speaking-related communication outcome

– Most programs used indirect methods, such as student surveys and course grades

– Practically all programs reported meeting their own expectations regarding learning outcomes

UNLV College/Department Assessment Data

• More Observations– Architecture specifically noted writing skills as an

area in need of improvement– Nursing noted that a “standard evaluation tool, or

set of criteria, might grant a more accurate reflection of students' written communication ability which could be tracked across the levels”

– Honors College specifically set its expectations higher for writing/comm as a result of its Fall ‘05 assessment

– History conducted a direct assessment of a sampling of student writing

UNLV College/Department Assessment Data

• More Observations– Psychology found students performed considerably

lower than expected on their indirect metric (“participation in research activity”)

– Chemistry has developed direct and detailed communication outcomes that include discipline-specific sets of sub-goals related to each outcome

– University College employed a direct assessment tool, an analytic rubric applied to capstone presentation effectiveness

– Environmental Studies requires students complete and defend a senior thesis project in capstone undergraduate courses

Employers in Las Vegas

• Source: The Career Service Center administered voluntary “On-Campus Recruiting Survey” – Employers rate 9 skills and attributes on a 7-point

scale

• 2005-2006, 17 employers completed the survey– 10 Business– 3 Hospitality– 2 Engineering– 2 Education

Employers in Las Vegas

• Resume and Candidate Credential Attributes– “Written Communication Skills” (2005-06)

•Overall difference between Importance vs. Student Rating for UNLV students was -1.4

• Career and Interview Preparation Areas– “Communication/Interpersonal Skills” (2005-06)

•Overall difference between Importance vs. Student Rating for UNLV students was -1.3

Employers in Las Vegas

“The data continues to emphasize the critical need to develop students’ written communication skills and effective communication and interpersonal skills, both of which continue to be the lowest ranked qualities for our students year after year.” (UNLV Career Services Employer Activities Report 2005-2006)

National Survey of Student Engagement

• Pew Foundation-supported • In spring 2006, 557 colleges and

universities participated in the administration of the NSSE survey, including UNLV for the first time

• 12 questions related to written and oral communication

National Survey of Student Engagement

• ~400 students from UNLV participated• NSSE Report not yet available for UNLV• Some National Frequencies

– Prepared two or more drafts of a paper or assignment before turning it in: 18%-very often

– Number of written papers or reports of 20 pages or more: 1%-more than 20; 42%-between 1-4

– Writing clearly and effectively (as outcome): 34%-very often

– Worked on a paper or project that required integrating ideas or information from various sources: 43%-very often

Graduate Exams (GMAT)

• Goal is to track all GMAT, GRE, and LSAT scores for UNLV graduates

• Source: GMAT only

– Three parts: quantitative, verbal, and an analytical writing assessment

– GMAT-provided standard norms: mean score of 47%, or 526.6 and 80th percentile score of 640

– Used primarily for MBA program admissions

Graduate Exams (GMAT)

• Summary of TY 2005 for 266 UNLV Graduates– 138 (51.9%) scored less than 500– 49 (18.4%) scored 500-540– 43 (16.2%) scored 550-590– 26 (9.8%) scored 600-640– 6 (2.3%) scored 650-690– 4 (1.5%) scored 700 and above

• Can infer that UNLV students scored lower on the verbal and analytical writing portions

Freewriting Prompt #1

• Freewrite the two or three points that stood out for you as you listened to these preliminary findings

• Does this preliminary data point to a need for WAC/CAC?

Freewriting Prompt #2

• Considering the writing that you ask students to do in your class, describe the resources that you currently use

• Describe the kinds of resources you would like to have available to you (in an ideal world) to help you use writing in your classroom more effectively

Discussion Activity

• Compare your responses with others at your table:

• As a group – State the one or two findings that you found

the most compelling– Is there a need for WAC/CAC?– State the resources you feel are most

important for improving writing at UNLV