Studies show only 20 to 40 percent of students read assigned texts and are prepared for class discussions. To address this issue we created the "3-2-1 Reading Assignment," in which students engage in critical reading and deep learning by providing "three" points that summarize the text, "two" points that analyze it,…

This Quick Fix describes how the emerging "writing for Wikipedia" activity allows replacing a traditional written paper with a more motivating, digital assignment that also allows students to contribute to society. It presents the most efficient ways to incorporate Wikipedia into one's teaching curriculum, while also discussing best…

This article describes the results of a survey of community college instructors who were asked about the writing they assign in non-English courses. The 171 respondents, representing 140 colleges, identified the kinds of writing they assign and the challenges that come with assigning writing. These challenges included finding time to grade…

Engaging students in completing assigned reading material, particularly textbooks, is a challenge faced by many college professors. Further, research has demonstrated student compliance is typically low with reading course textbooks. This study explores the impact of assigning content-specific books written for popular audiences and having…

Both participation in dialog and exposure to others from different cultures have been theorized to increase the ability of an individual to be creative. This study focused on the multicultural student-to-student dialog that took place in one graduate level course. The purpose of this study was to explore how participation in this dialog might…

Asking students to write at the end of class is a familiar strategy (Angelo and Cross 1993), and it can be done in many ways. Students might focus on the day's lecture--What key idea(s) did they learn? What was confusing? What questions remain unanswered? Or they might look ahead--What are their preconceptions of the next topic? Those…

This paper discusses a collaboration between a criminal justice professor and the coordinator of composition at a small, four-year University in a rural location. The goal was to restructure the writing assignments in criminal justice courses in such a way as to enhance student participation in writing assignments and to improve the quality of…

Scholars have suggested that reading literature can foster empathy. However, learning empathy through literature in the classroom is understudied. The primary objective of this study was to assess whether affective and cognitive empathy, as demonstrated in student writing, relates to textual attributes, the style of writing prompt, student writing…

Fernald developed the Monte Carlo Quiz format to enhance retention, encourage students to prepare for class, read with intention, and organize information in psychology classes. This author modified the Monte Carlo Quiz, combined it with the Minute Paper, and applied it to various courses. Students write quiz questions as part of the Minute Paper…

A college education is expected to improve students' critical thinking skills. Keeping students active in class--through writing activities and class discussion--has been shown to help students think critically. In this article, creative hands-on activities, which are common in engineering courses, are shown to improve students' critical thinking…

We used Problem-Based Learning (PBL) as a new pedagogy in an intermediate composition course. Our course design was based in constructivist pedagogical practices, which suggest that knowledge is co-created through social interactions. Although professors have much to offer students, students can also learn important lessons through interactions…

Response papers are usually brief, recurring assignments, often posted to online course management systems or virtual learning environments, wherein students are free to comment on any aspects of the assigned readings for a class or sequence of class meetings. They are typically to be written prior to the class meetings where the readings in…

Capstone courses emphasize students' experiences and learning, rather than course content. This emphasis is consistent with principles and practices fundamental to humanistic education. Here we describe a capstone course, "Internship," that includes five features consistent with humanistic education: (1) student-centered learning, (2) empathic…

This study investigated whether a reflective journal writing assignment would improve students' course performance. A total of 166 students from undergraduate sections of a course taught by the same instructor over three semesters completed the assignment as part of their requirements. Students (N = 317) from five previous semesters of the same…

Encouraging students' use of satire, irony, and parody in college writing assignments is recommended to help students voice their concerns, think critically, and discover how a form of discourse contributes to both form and substance of the writing. Samples of student work illustrating the effectiveness of this approach are offered. (MSE)