The How Students Learn grant project is an ideal opportunity to develop or revise writing assignments in a variety of courses: first-year, multi-section, General Education, Writing Emphasis, Writing-in-the-Major, capstone, online, etc. Begin by sharing what you do already, where you have encountered problems, and what you hope to achieve. Then collect information about how students interpret and respond to assignment guidelines. After students submit their final papers, discuss what worked well and what might be improved. This process could lead to tangible products you can use in the classroom, in your teaching portfolio, and in department assessment reports.
How Students Learn Grants. The Center for Advancing Teaching & Learning (CATL) invites UW-L instructors to apply for small grants ($750 or $2,000) to explore how students learn. The grants will support small scale projects in which 2-5 instructors jointly focus on how students learn in one of their classes during 2009-2010. (This is a one year grant opportunity funded by a UW System Undergraduate Teaching & Learning Grant.)
Applicants can focus on any class, topic or subject matter but are encouraged to submit projects that explore important concepts or abilities that are difficult for students to learn, or topics in which there is a gap between what instructors expect students to learn and what they actually achieve. The projects are opportunities to explore how students construe and misconstrue the subject matter in your class, where they stumble, what gives them difficulty or seems easy, how they work with the material, how they respond when they are confused, and so forth. By understanding how and why students have difficulty, instructors may be better able to facilitate their learning.
For additional information see the Guidelines and Application. Application Deadline: Thursday, September 24, 2009.
Posted via email from Writing & Learning
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