Writing Fellows 2023 Update
Our Winter Fellows program has come to a close, and we now look forward to the next steps. The fellows will be implementing new strategies and techniques in Fall 2023, and working individually on their final output, which is due by January 2024. Here’s an update on their work in progress: Silja Makinen (Chemistry) is…
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WID at Vanier!
On May 30 2023, Jeff Gandell & JF Brière gave a presentation about Assessing Language at Vanier College’s Supporting Departments in Student Success event. Faculty members at Vanier are considering the best way to implement their revised Student Proficiency in the Language of Instruction policy, which stresses that developing language proficiency is the responsibility of…
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Rethinking Assignment Design in the Age of AI
Wednesday, April 19, 2:00-3:30, 2023. In light of the panic over AI-generated plagiarism and cheating, we are forced to ask some intriguing questions: Can college instructors design assignments that will motivate and inspire students to do their own great work? Is there a way to create at-home assignments so that students can’t cheat? Is it…
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Rethinking Writing in the Age of AI
In the dawn of accessible AI-generated writing, we are forced to go back to the basics and ask ourselves: What is writing? Why do we ask our students to write? How is writing related to critical thinking? This informal session will give participants an opportunity to reflect on their own relationships to writing and share…
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Collaborative Writing Technologies for the English Classroom
Wednesday, January 25, 2023 This workshop was an introduction Miro, an online interactive canvas that can be used for annotation, idea-generating, and other collaborative tasks both in the classroom and at home. Miro is free, easy to use, and requires no sign-in on the part of students or collaborators. It’s an excellent way to create…
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Rethinking Community In and Out of the Classroom
Dawson, January 2023. Graduation workshop for Winter 2022 Fellows cohort. How can we foster meaningful relationship-building to support student learning? Join the Writing in the Disciplines 2022 Fellows for a show-and-tell workshop on four strategies for building community within and beyond the classroom: group work, grading and feedback, translingualism, and real-world partnerships. Presenters: Sara Louise…
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Learning Without Grading: An Introduction to Contract or Specifications Grading
Over the past few years, several Dawson teachers have experimented with Contract or Specifications grading, which is a way to take the focus off of grades, and instead emphasize each individual’s progress and body of work throughout the semester. In this informal online meetup, three teachers share their experiences with this different paradigm. Three brief…
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Engaging Groupwork: Strategies for Meaningful Activities
Here are notes from Engaging Groupwork: Strategies for Meaningful Activities, a workshop held on PED Day at Dawson College on October 14, 2022. It was co-led by Cory Legassic from Saltise and Jeff from WID. The following notes were written by Cory and sent to participants after the workshop: One of the bigger distinctions in…
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Empowering and Motivating Students Through Better Assignment Design
This workshop was the culmination of the Fall 2020 Writing Fellows Program. In the video below, each Fellows shares one pedagogical tool developed along their WID journey. Topics include creating meaningful problems, writing in genres, self-reflections, and group projects. Here are the slides from the session.
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The wind at your back: How to tap into students’ emotions to inspire deep learning
Dawson, Fall 2021 Learning is an emotional business. How students feel goes a long way in determining their level of success. This workshop presented research-based ways to tap into emotions that can motivate students, allow them to persist through the tough times, and give them a better chance to retain knowledge and skills. Click here…
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