A writing assignment to increase student understanding of and interest in practical applications of organic chemistry is described. Students were required to study a pharmaceutical or other organic compound and perform a qualitative risk assessment on the chemical. Student perceptions of the benefits of the paper were generally positive. (Contains…

As any instructor knows, the easy availability of internet content has greatly increased student opportunities for work that is less than original. Today, the term plagiarism can range in meaning from using an unattributed phrase or sentence (accidentally or intentionally) to submitting entire purchased works as one's own. The profusion of online…

College honors courses provide an opportunity to tackle controversial topics in an atmosphere that encourages active learning, critical thinking, and open discussion. This venue is particularly appropriate for examining the debate about teaching intelligent design (ID) in public school science classes. A one-credit honors enrichment seminar taught…

In Fall 2006, a faculty member in George Washington University's University Writing 20 (UW20) program began incorporating service learning into her theme-based first-year writing course. Along with her librarian partner, they linked two research assignments to the service work of the students. An end-of-semester survey was administrated over three…

This paper explores Malaysian students' problems within their science and engineering tertiary courses in Japanese through their diary entries and semi-structured interviews. The study analyses how students implement management strategies to overcome their problems. Although many studies are available regarding students' academic activities in a…

Contract grading has achieved some prominence in our field as a practice associated with critical pedagogy. In this context we describe a hybrid grading contract where students earn a course grade of B based not on our evaluation of their writing quality but solely on their completion of the specified activities. The contract lists activities…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature of multi-drafting among college students according to demographic characteristics and measure its impact on students' achievements. Design/methodology/approach: The research was conducted in two stages. First, a preliminary research based on data from the Highlearn web-based content…

This article used work from the writing assessment literature to develop a framework for assessing the impact and perceived value of written, audio, and combined written and audio feedback strategies across four global and 22 discrete dimensions of feedback. Using a quasi-experimental research design, students at three U.S. universities were…

The stories of how educators become readers can lead to insights in the teaching process as well as providing enlightenment as to individual identity. One educator has found that writing his autobiography as a reader leads to valuable insights concerning the reading process. The insights gained through writing an autobiography, titled "My…

Circa 1984 early practitioners in the composition field imagined a potential blossoming of early efforts in computers and writing that subsequent developments in the field have lost sight of. The expense of developing personal programs, the emergence of word processing software that incorporated many of the mechanical aspects of spelling and style…

Presents a teacher's journal entries for poetry classes she conducted for fourth and fifth graders at Anthony Chabot Elementary School in Oakland, California, located in a middle class neighborhood with an ethnic mix of students. Describes two poetry writing ideas: "What Matters" and "100 Words." (PA)

Looks at writing as a dialectical affair--"dialectic" refers both to the dialogical nature of writing and the opportunity it opens up for the writer in coming to a new understanding of the subject matter. Uses H. Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics as a starting point for developing writing as a dialectical process. (PA)

Uses "Black Misery," a picture book that shines a spotlight on 27 humiliating moments of childhood. Begins by reading the text and discussing the pictures and captions; then asks students to write a minimum of five captions in a manageable amount of time. Concludes by having students read their captions aloud and engage in more…

Presents a list of 49 ideas for teaching Shakespeare. Gives these ideas mostly in the form of writing assignments for the students. (SG)

Describes a take-home midsemester exam in American Literature in which students express their knowledge of authors by transporting them to the present-day setting of their community college. (MG)