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The CFD welcomes Carolyne King, Ph.D., a new Assistant Professor of English and the Director of WAC/WID (Writing-across-the-Curriculum/Writing-in-the-Disciplines) and STEM Initiatives for the Writing Center. Dr. King joins us after five years at Salisbury University, where she was the Director of First Year Writing. Dr. King’s background is in exploring reading-writing connections, and her research focuses especially on examining what students do as they read sources (to write with them). She draws on this research as she works with faculty to develop writing curriculum, to plan out and assess writing, and to cultivate innovative approaches to support student development of critical thinking skills. If you have questions about developing writing instruction in your classes, Dr. King is an excellent contact.

Dr. King joins Writing Center Director and Lecturer Meg Boeshart to support writing instruction on campus. While the Writing Center primarily provides individual student support, Dr. King’s role is faculty-focused, helping faculty to develop additional supports. Most recently, King and Boeshart worked with faculty in the College of Health Sciences to explore concerns about AI and plagiarism. If this sounds like something you’d be interested in—contact Dr. King!

Not quite sure what WAC/WID means? Well, Writing Across the Curriculum has been around on college campuses for more than 40 years. Essentially, most faculty assign writing in some form in their classes—from short-essays on exams, to research papers, and many other ways. A course doesn’t have to be a “W” class to use writing! Many faculty desire greater knowledge about how to support students with writing. With AI becoming an increasing concern for faculty, Dr. King looks forward to working with individuals and faculty groups to support writing instruction in various classroom settings.

Interested in thinking more about writing in your classes? Reach out to Dr. King (c1king@odu.edu). She particularly welcomes conversations focused on ‘how’ students write. She can help faculty develop clear, efficient rubrics to make assessing writing more transparent for students (and less time-consuming for faculty), and she wants to explore how we can better create reading-writing connections in classroom practices. Dr. King is also happy to discuss creating AI protocols for specific writing assignments, scaffolding writing instruction, and integrating short (5 or 10 minute) mini-lessons on writing.

Dr. Finley-Croswhite, Professor of History and Director of the Center for Faculty Development asked Dr. King a few questions about writing instruction.

What are some of the most common problems that you’ve found students face in improving their writing?

Many students lack confidence in themselves as writers. In general, there’s a pervasive myth that “good writers” are “born” rather than made. (Jill Parrott has an excellent, and short, article in the open-access book Bad Ideas about Writing that traces this myth and its problematic conceptions of writing. It's called “Some People are just Born Good Writers”).

Students need to develop a growth mindset when it comes to improving as writers. They need to value the process of writing—not just getting the finished assignment done. We can help students to be aware of their progress as writers, by helping them to appreciate a process of drafting and revision as a normal part of writing a text. Writers need to understand “how they write” and to be in control of their process. And, learning who you are as a writer doesn’t mean that its easy! Rather, trial and error, and an openness to reflecting on what the process entails, is going to help you to learn and grow.

What do faculty need to know to help their students become better writers?

Providing scaffolding for writing projects matters.

I think it’s really important that we remember what it feels like to be a student—you’re constantly rushing from finishing one thing, to starting the project for your next class. Rarely, do you have the time (or take the time) to reflect upon what you’ve accomplished and learned through completing a writing project.

Much like our students, when we assign writing, it often is tempting to pass out the assignment sheet, discuss our expectations, and then simply offer a few reminders of the deadline as it approaches. Yet, even spending a few minutes in class to help students think through the assignment, can have large benefits in ensuring that students are meeting our expectations. For example, when you discuss the assignment, giving students five minutes to reflect and free write on “what have they written that’s similar to this assignment previously” can really help you understand “where students are starting from.” When I’ve done this (I usually collect and skim these free writes)—I’ve often gained valuable insights that help me adjust and plan my support of students more productively.

Scaffolding writing projects does not require in-depth instructional processes that can derail our content courses for weeks at a time. Rather, having a few assignments scattered across the working time period (e.g. students submit source summaries, provide updates via reflective writing about what they’ve learned and how they’ll use this knowledge in their assignment, or even, submit an outline) ensures that students are working before the night an assignment is due. It’s also helped me to address style and citation issues that arise as students “discover questions” in the doing of the assignment.

How can faculty best incorporate the use of technology in writing instruction?

What are some of the advantages for students and faculty? Part of helping students advance in their knowledge of themselves as writers includes helping them to critically examine how their technology impacts them. Students need to experiment with technological affordances and to understand how technology use shapes how they write. For example, when I work with students who tell me they “feel stuck” or are experiencing writer’s block, one of the first things we discuss is if they have tried to write using the “Dictate” feature in MS Word. Maybe, they’re not ready for sentences and paragraphs, but could they get themselves started by simply “talking out” what they know or think on a topic? (They can even do this without looking at the screen). Usually, what I find is that students are unaware that they even have the option—and certainly, that they’ve not thought about how changing the writing tool they are using, may unlock their process. Of course, one thing I remind students about, is also that “just because its tech and is an option,” doesn’t mean that they’ll enjoy using that tech! I encourage students to think about “what does it help them to do” and “why” they like or dislike how it encourages them to think and act.

Instructing your students in engaging technology as part of writing instruction can include small things. Expanding their technological awareness doesn’t have to include GenAI! If you expect your students to use a citation style—have you taught them how to use the “style panes” in MS Word in relationship to that style? Do they know how to use line breaks and indents effectively? It can take only a few minutes to model ‘how’ to do something, yet these moments can be powerful learning opportunities.