The following are our most requested workshops. Timing and length are always adaptable.

We are also happy to meet with you and customize a workshop that best suits your faculty needs.
Please click here to contact us with any questions.

What Counts as Writing in Your Discipline? 

Do you include writing assignments in your classes? Why would you want to? The answers might surprise you.

Faculty often assume that “writing” refers to long, formal writing assignments (like research papers or reports). Faculty also often avoid assigning writing because of the potential grading burden. But writing is a powerful and flexible tool for learning, and it can enrich your classes without creating grading nightmares.

Join us for this session to talk about the kinds of writing that really take place in professional education and how to best incorporate writing into your courses in order to achieve your own teaching goals. 

• Typically runs 1 hour
• Ideal timing: Any

Scaffolding Assignments to Improve Writing Quality 

When students submit without intermediate steps, the results tend to be rushed and underdeveloped. Providing small, manageable checkpoints throughout a writing process can make a tremendous difference in the quality of the learning and the product. In this workshop, we first consider the possible goals of writing within a course--whether to promote learning and exploration or to practice communication to an audience. Then we work through simple interventions that any instructor can implement to best achieve those goals, without sacrificing "content time" in the course.

• Typically runs 1 hour
• Ideal timing: When planning ahead for a unit or course

Responding Together: An Instructor-GTA/Grader Workshop 

Grading student writing always poses challenges, but grading as a team can be especially tricky. In this workshop, we work with teams of instructors and GTAs/graders to discuss assessment goals and practical strategies, including tailoring grading criteria to specific learning goals, streamlining feedback to improve student performance, and norming grades to increase consistency. 

• Typically runs 1-1.5 hours
• Ideal timing: Early in a term, at least 1 week prior to a first writing assignment coming in for grading
• Optional follow-up: Guided norming session, to help align expectations and feedback approaches prior to grading

Designing Effective Peer Review in Large and Small Classes 

Students can give each other some of the best input on how writing is or isn't working to achieve specific goals. By providing structure and models, you can set up peer review sessions that give your students meaningful feedback on their writing while reducing your need to comment on multiple drafts. In this session, we focus on practical strategies and resources for managing effective peer reviews in and out of class.

We share best practices, as well as handouts and models that you can use in your own classes. We also allow time for you to discuss options with your session peers. 

• Typically runs 1 hour
• Ideal timing: Early in a semester, or prior to a first peer review

Responding to Student Writing (and managing the paper load) 

Responding to student writing doesn’t need to be so overwhelming! As faculty, we can get burned out by trying to sort out what kinds of feedback students need and how to convey suggestions for both content and style. But there are simple ways for you to streamline your assessment and feedback to manage your time (and mental load!).

After all, research confirms over and over again that writing offers important advantages to our students in both understanding and retaining content. So how can you gain those advantages in your courses while managing your time and content priorities?

Join us for this short workshop designed to help you provide targeted comments that offer clear and actionable feedback to your students, based on your priorities and available resources. 

• Typically runs 1 hour
• Ideal timing: Early in a semester to get off to a good start (or mid-semester, if responding is feeling overwhelming)