NSU's Quality Enhancement Plan April 2017

NSU QEP Literature Review | 11 Though the fifth outcome, reflection, is not used or defined by the CWPA, it is still critical to the learning process. Reflection, as defined by the National Council of Teachers of English Conference on College Composition and Communication, is a process by which students “identify and evaluate the different kinds of learning […] In particular, students may explain how various forms of instructive feedback (from faculty, Writing Centers, peers, and other readers) have influenced the composition and revision” of their writing (Principles and Practices in Electronic Portfolios). Student Learning Outcomes Using the five categories listed above, faculty and committee members designed the following Student Learning Outcomes, which address student writing at all institutional levels. 1. Produce academic writing that demonstrates an awareness of context, purpose, and audience that is appropriate to the specific discipline. (rhetorical knowledge) 2. Locate, evaluate, and properly integrate primary and secondary research sources. (critical thinking, reading, and composing) 3. Demonstrate writing as a process that includes invention, drafting, revision, and editing. (processes) 4. Present writing that is free of serious grammatical and mechanical errors. (conventions) 5. Assess and explain the major rhetorical choices students make in their writing. (reflection) Faculty Outcomes The NSU QEP will seek to change the culture surrounding the emphasis on writing within the university. To that end, it is expected that demonstrable change will occur for faculty members across several domains. Specifically, faculty member outcomes will include 1. increased knowledge and use of writing resources by faculty and staff (writing support services) 2. increased participation in writing workshops designed to assist faculty members in providing writing-related feedback to students (pedagogical support) 3. increased meaningful, strategic, and productive feedback to student writing that is appropriate to the stage of writing (rough draft or finished product) and that provides strategies for revision IV. LITERATURE REVIEW NSU has chosen to focus its second QEP on enhancing student writing across the curriculum, with a special emphasis on writing in the disciplines. For NSU, improving student writing across the university begins by establishing a unified, university-wide writing center, which will become “the center of consciousness about writing” on campus (North, 1984, p. 446). The writing center director and writing faculty members will work together—through the writing center—to help faculty members and students across the university learn to both embrace the importance of writing and improve their