In this seminar designed for undergraduate instructors teaching in all disciplines, participants will discuss, learn, and practice strategies for integrating writing, critical thinking, and active reading at a variety of levels, and into various disciplinary and interdisciplinary subjects, with particular focus on research in an age of disinformation. The seminar will stress meta-discursive approaches, including writing as thinking and writing to learn, that guide students to become researchers adept with online sources and alternative media, as well as with embodied research.
This seminar will progress from best practices in the teaching of writing across the disciplines to research-specific pedagogies, including strategies for topic generation, assignment design, teaching online research, and source engagement. Each day will include an introduction to two subjects, time for discussion, and related activities. Participants will have the opportunity to share, compose, and/or revise their own relevant research assignments. This year’s course will take full advantage of NYC, integrating place-based methodologies for teaching writing: two to three afternoons will be dedicated to experiential activities across the city, and one day will be entirely devoted to writing place and the close reading and writing of “texts” all around us. Interdisciplinary faculty across institutions, domestically and internationally, including those with and without writing pedagogy training, will benefit from this course.
Seminar Objectives:
- Learn best practices of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) pedagogy.
- Learn best practices of Place-Based Learning (PBL) pedagogy.
- Experiment with WAC and PBL pedagogies both as designers and participants, to then take to their institutions and students.
- Consider the affordances of embodied and online research practices.
- Learn methods for teaching ethical research practices, including combatting disinformation.
- Design their own discipline-specific prompts, assignments, and activities that integrate writing, research, and place.
When & Where
Seminar Schedule. Seminars run Monday to Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., with a midday communal lunch. Seminar conveners may adjust the class schedule in response to participant needs. Special events may also be held during the week. Participants are required to attend the full week of seminar meetings and maintain 90% attendance overall.
Seminar Materials. Eligible participants are provided with all required seminar materials (books, articles, laboratory equipment, and entrance fees).
Accommodations & Meals. Limited housing accommodations are provided to participants who live more than 50 miles from the program site. All admitted participants are provided with some meals during the program period.
Application Procedure. Applicants should submit the completed application along with all of the following:
- A statement of intent that indicates how the seminar participant will apply what is learned at the home institution
- A current CV
- A letter of support from either the division dean or department head, who is well-acquainted with the applicant’s area of research
- Their institutional liaison officer’s approval