But then, that is the purpose of this course that teaches how to use the art of persuasion and effective writing to shape outcomes.

鈥淚 didn鈥檛 know that I鈥檇 be capable of doing this much,鈥� Goolsby, a junior public relations/advertising major, said about her final project to benefit homeless people in Brevard County. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 believe I actually accomplished this.鈥�

Students in the course were required to identify a problem to which they wanted to respond and then implement a civic-engagement campaign. Goolsby鈥檚 project included raising money and supplies for groups that provide aid to the homeless, rallying other students to support the cause, and organizing a volunteer day to help feed the homeless.听

Results of about a dozen projects were showcased Thursday at The Burnett Honors College.听聽

Johanna Anda-Bellorin鈥檚 campaign calls for voters this November to approve the sale of medical marijuana because it could help her 80-year-old grandmother who has painful rheumatoid arthritis and her 11-year-old cousin who has autism and epilepsy.

鈥淎 lot of people don鈥檛 understand what it is or how it can be used,鈥� the junior said.

Sophomore Danielle Saff created a Homeless Bill of Rights that she is pushing the Florida Legislature to pass. The 10 points in the bill include guarantees such as the right to travel freely in public areas and the right not to be subject to unreasonable search.

鈥淭he purpose of this bill is to minimize discrimination against the homeless by ensuring that the homeless are not deprived of the rights and privileges that all other citizens receive,鈥� she wrote in her project.

Other campaigns raised awareness of Indian River Lagoon pollution, worked to establish聽a Seminole County counseling program for victims of school bullying, pushed to keep the arts in schools, and promoted other topics.

Elizabeth Wardle, the class professor and chair of the Writing and Rhetoric Department, said she was pleased with the campaigns by the students, who were 鈥渢o see themselves as active citizens who can use rhetoric to make change in their communities.

鈥淚鈥檓 never surprised by what students can do, but I was impressed. Once they got into it, they were really motivated.鈥�

The course will be one of the core classes of 麻豆原创鈥檚 recently approved Bachelor of Arts in Writing and Rhetoric, housed in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric. The department is part of the College of Arts & Humanities.

The new major scheduled to start this fall is the first of its kind in Florida and is an extension of 麻豆原创 President John C. Hitt鈥檚 vision for students to learn to write more effectively.

When the Department of Writing and Rhetoric was separated from the Department of English in 2010, part of the new department鈥檚 mission was to improve the writing of all graduates from 麻豆原创, Wardle said.

鈥淭his is the final piece of the mission Dr. Hitt gave us. We鈥檙e trying to respond so that when students graduate they鈥檙e career-ready,鈥� she said.

Degree courses will include writing in digital environments, writing for nonprofits, marketing your writing, and other topics.

The program is designed to produce graduates proficient in analyzing, creating and editing, and to prepare them to be 鈥渕ore effective and ethical citizen-communicators,鈥� according to the degree鈥檚 outline. They鈥檒l also have opportunities to work with community and business partners in publishing, education, healthcare, marketing, public relations and other industries.

Several of the students who showcased their projects Thursday said they plan to switch their major to the new Writing and Rhetoric degree instead of just completing the requirements for a minor. All of the courses in the current minor in Writing & Rhetoric can be applied toward the new major.

For more information about the new degree, go to .听

The program was awarded the Writing Program Certificate of Excellence, which is given to up to 20 programs a year that imaginatively address the needs of those they serve while using best practices and effective assessment. Since 1949, the Conference on College Composition and Communication has been the world鈥檚 largest professional organization for researching and teaching composition.

Faculty and staff from 麻豆原创鈥檚 Department of Writing and Rhetoric, which oversees the first-year composition program, will accept the award at the conference鈥檚 annual convention in March.

鈥淥ur department is honored to be recognized in this way,” said聽Elizabeth Wardle, department chair and interim director of first-year composition. “Our first-year composition program has undergone extensive and very positive changes over the past three years, and we are pleased to see that these changes have been noticed nationally.鈥�

麻豆原创鈥檚 first-year program is exemplary because of its experienced faculty, small class sizes, nationally known pedagogy and peer-reviewed student publication, Stylus. The program also hosts the annual Knights Write Showcase聽 to highlight the exceptional works produced by first-year writers.

Launched in 2010, the Department of Writing and Rhetoric also provides writing opportunities for students beyond the first year through its writing and rhetoric undergraduate programs, which include a degree in writing and rhetoric and certificate in public and professional writing, and writing graduate programs, which include a master’s degree in rhetoric and composition and graduate certificate in professional writing.

The department also offers writing-related assistance, training and research opportunities to students and faculty from all disciplines. That assistance has been offered through the writing-across-the-curriculum program and the University Writing Center, which since October have been housed in the new Center for Writing Excellence on the first floor of Colbourn Hall.

The showcase, which is open to the public, will be from noon to 5 p.m. in the Pegasus Ballroom of the Student Union.

Launched in July, the Department of Writing and Rhetoric provides writing-related assistance, training and research opportunities to students and faculty members from all disciplines. That assistance has been offered through a new writing-across-the-curriculum program called Knights Write, as well as through the University Writing Center and First-Year Composition Program.

The event will include a panel of faculty members from across the university who will discuss their personal experiences with writing. Other panels will allow students to present their research on thought-provoking literacy and language issues.

麻豆原创 President John Hitt and Provost Tony Waldrop also will present the Hitt Prize for Excellence in First-Year Writing to the best article published this year in the department鈥檚 peer-reviewed journal, .

鈥淭his is an opportunity to celebrate writing and research that far too often isn’t given the opportunity to go beyond the boundaries of an individual classroom,鈥� said showcase organizer Matthew Bryan, an instructor in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric, which is housed in the College of Arts and Humanities.

鈥淲e鈥檙e excited to recognize the achievements of young writers and hopefully inspire future student writers, as well,鈥� he added.

Organizers hope that in addition to highlighting student accomplishments, the showcase emphasizes the department鈥檚 important work.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 become good at writing by writing one time or in only one situation,鈥� said Elizabeth Wardle, an associate professor and director of writing outreach programs in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to encourage a culture at 麻豆原创 where students write often and in different contexts.鈥�

The department is helping students by providing a strong writing foundation beginning in first-year composition courses, where they learn to understand how texts are constructed and to utilize the most effective writing practices. The department鈥檚 staff members, through Knights Write, are beginning efforts to collaborate with other 麻豆原创 faculty members who integrate writing into their courses.

The goal of Knights Write is twofold:聽 Help students gain rhetorical dexterity and knowledge of how writing works in the first year, and help professors across the university consider how to incorporate writing into their classes to support learning and provide formative feedback to drafts.

The Department of Writing and Rhetoric has its biggest supporter in President Hitt, whose efforts to help first-year students succeed include reducing the size of freshman writing classes.

The President鈥檚 Class Size Initiative has reduced the number of students in first-year composition classes from 27 to 25, and is funding a three-year study comparing student writing in classes of 25 to classes of 19. This initiative also has increased funding for the University Writing Center.

Remote writing center consultation stations have been established in the 麻豆原创 Library and at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management campus, in addition to regional campuses in Cocoa and Daytona Beach. Improvements to technology also allow for consultations to be conducted online using video chats.

The Department of Writing and Rhetoric plans to offer an M.A. in Rhetoric and Composition. In the meantime, faculty members teach courses in the English Department鈥檚 M.A. Rhetoric and Composition track. Some of the faculty members are also active members of the Texts and Technology Ph.D. program.

John Hitt wants the university鈥攁 public institution with more than 45,000 undergraduates鈥攖o be the premier institution for undergraduate teaching in the state of Florida, explains Alison Morrison-Shetlar, 麻豆原创鈥檚 former vice provost and dean of undergraduate studies, who recently began a new position as dean of Elon College, the College of Arts and Sciences at Elon University. It was this goal that prompted the university to look into factors influencing student success, and the subsequent pilot projects in algebra and English composition. Called the President鈥檚 Class Size Initiative, the plan鈥檚 goal is not simply to reduce class sizes, but to find new ways to teach high-demand courses in smaller settings. The pilot projects are supported by 麻豆原创鈥檚 differential tuition, which all undergraduate students now pay on top of their regular tuition at a rate of about $8 per credit hour. Seventy percent of the differential tuition payment goes to undergraduate teaching and learning initiatives, and 30 percent goes to need-based aid awards. 鈥淎 lot of universities are forced to do nothing new, or even make reductions, during these tough economic times,鈥� Morrison-Shetlar says. 鈥淚 think it鈥檚 visionary of our president to see that even when times are difficult, it鈥檚 important to improve learning and fund things that will make our future citizens and graduate and professional students more capable and more confident.鈥�

Building Better Introductory Courses

麻豆原创鈥檚 work on college algebra pedagogy actually began in 2008, when a grant from the National Center for Academic Transformation allowed Tammy Muhs, 麻豆原创鈥檚 general education program mathematics coordinator, and some of her colleagues to attend a conference on improving outcomes in entry-level math courses. Their goals were to increase student success as measured by course grades, to decrease dropouts, and to reduce costs. When the original grant ran out, the President鈥檚 Class Size Initiative provided funding for additional research and innovation. The mathematics department hired four additional full-time instructors in 2009, selecting people with extensive undergraduate teaching experience and a desire to work within a professional cohort to improve undergraduate education. This cohort set about to develop an introductory college algebra course that worked in a fundamentally different way than traditional first-year math courses.

麻豆原创

The English and math departments at 麻豆原创 recruited new instructors with extensive teaching experience who were willing to participate in ongoing professional development.

Historically, 麻豆原创 algebra classes featured a large lecture of 380 to 400 students meeting three times a week, plus smaller groups of thirty-five students meeting one hour a week with a graduate assistant, Muhs explains. In the modified course, instructors introduced a new pedagogical method: students meet for only one hour a week in the lecture hall with the instructor, and they sit in cohort groups of eighteen that allow more interaction and in-class collaborative problem solving. Then they spend three additional hours a week working in the Mathematical Assistance and Learning Lab鈥攖he MALL鈥攁t their own pace, with assistance available at all times. Morrison-Shetlar explains that entry-level math is many students鈥� stumbling block, and if they can鈥檛 get to calculus, they won鈥檛 be able to graduate in a STEM discipline. 鈥淲e changed the traditional model of 鈥榳atching math being done鈥� to focus on mandatory lab time with faculty and graduate mentors,鈥� she says. Muhs had noticed that students studying on their own would often get stuck on a problem and not be able to move on, and she designed the MALL to provide immediate assistance in those situations. 鈥淪tudents learn by doing,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just geared toward 鈥業 can鈥檛 figure out problem seventeen,鈥� it鈥檚 geared toward, 鈥業 don鈥檛 understand the concept.鈥欌��

Similar thought went into the redesign of first-year English composition classes. Using funding from the Presidents鈥� Class Size Initiative, the English department hired six new full-time instructors, all with extensive teaching experience and a willingness to do ongoing professional development. Courses were capped at twenty-five students, and some sections were even smaller, capped at nineteen, to allow instructors to spend more time providing detailed feedback on student papers. 鈥淐lasses used to be capped at twenty-seven students, and just taking it down eight students per teacher makes a huge difference鈥攁t a four-four course load, the difference is at least thirty-two fewer papers per teacher,鈥� explains Elizabeth Wardle, an associate professor of English and director of writing programs at 麻豆原创. The nineteen-student classes were taught using a new curriculum that focused on writing concepts and practices that were transferable across the curriculum. 鈥淲e call it writing about writing,鈥� Wardle says. 鈥淲e try to give students a flexible understanding of how writing works and how different situations require different rhetorical approaches. The idea is that they鈥檙e reflecting on their writing, they have meta-awareness, and they can adapt. 鈥� In one assignment, students write an autoethnography; in another, they study scholarship about how writers and readers construct and approach texts. 鈥淲e want them to own the writing process and be active agents, instead of floating along and asking the teacher, 鈥榃hat do you want me to do?鈥欌�� Wardle says.

The university writing center also received a boost with funds from the class size initiative, hiring additional undergraduate and graduate tutors to provide more than seven hundred tutoring slots per week (up from about 450 in past years). 鈥淭he idea behind this initiative is that students do better with more support,鈥� Wardle says. 鈥淪tudents used to have to wait up to two hours for a writing tutor. More tutors mean students get the help they need.鈥�

Assessing Pilot Project Classes

麻豆原创 conducted assessments of both pilot programs to determine whether the pedagogical innovations and reduced class sizes paid off. In a fall 2009 comparison of traditional versus new sections of introductory college algebra, students in the new sections demonstrated higher percentages of success, defined as achievement of a C or higher. Of students in traditional courses, 62 percent succeeded, while 75 percent of students in the new sections succeeded. And more students earned A鈥檚 or B鈥檚 in the new section, too鈥�62 percent, versus 56 percent in the traditional class sections. Muhs notes that there are several intervening factors to consider, including the fact that students who are STEM majors tend to select the traditional classes, and also tend to demonstrate better preparation for the algebra course than their non-STEM-major peers. Even so, she says, the new course format shows that it鈥檚 possible to bring less-prepared students up to and beyond the success level of their better-prepared peers. Muhs also assessed whether students felt the new course design provided sufficient interaction with faculty members. A fall 2009 survey found that 91 percent of respondents in the new course said the format provided at least as much faculty interaction as their other, traditional classes, while 61 percent said the new format actually provided more interaction that their traditional courses. 鈥淭hat really answered some of the critics who might say, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e taking away the teacher and the computer is doing all the teaching,鈥� Muhs says. 鈥淎 strong student will probably be successful in college algebra regardless of the format. But we鈥檙e providing the resources for a weak student to also be successful.鈥�

In the English department, Wardle and her colleagues compared learning outcomes for students taking the redesigned English composition course and the traditional course. They also investigated differences in the three class sizes鈥攖wenty-seven students, twenty-five students, and nineteen students. Using student portfolios randomly sampled from all introductory composition classes, a panel of trained raters read each work sample and rated its demonstration of ten criteria, including college-level thinking, rhetorical analysis, and correct use of citations. The assessment team found that the new curriculum consistently outperformed the old curriculum, and that the nineteen-student classes using the new curriculum performed best on measures of higher-order thinking. 鈥淭he new curriculum is having the effect we wanted, and when you have fewer students, they do even better on the measures that matter,鈥� Wardle says.

Both Muhs and Wardle stress that dedicated, experienced instructors who are paid fairly are a requirement for success, and that without support from the university鈥檚 highest levels, especially the president鈥檚 office, the gains their pilot programs demonstrated would not be possible. The university is now working to develop a plan to expand the methods used in English and algebra to other high-demand courses primarily for first-year students. 鈥淭he take-home point is that it鈥檚 the combination of the new curriculum plus full-time, committed teachers and smaller class size that makes the difference,鈥� Wardle says. 鈥淪maller class size isn鈥檛 the Holy Grail on its own. You need committed teachers making living wages, too.鈥�

Source: Association of American Colleges & Universities, Increasing Student Success: Smaller Classes, Innovative Pedagogy at 麻豆原创