Writing Program Structure and History at The University of Findlay
In many ways, The University of Findlay’s writing program currently resembles many first-year writing programs at state universities. Straddling the border between small liberal arts college and mid-size liberal arts university, at 3900 undergraduate students and 1400 graduate students*, the writing program is structured so that all students are required to take at least one first-year composition writing course prior to graduation and all sections of the required first year composition course, College Writing II, are evaluated using an end of term portfolio assessment. Instructors from composition sections "trade grade" folders of student work and evaluate writing in categories of "thesis and development," "organization," "documentation," and "mechanics" using a common rubric.
The writing program is housed in the Department of English, and oversees first-year and second-year composition courses. Students are required to pass ENGL 106 College Writing II for graduation, and complete a “second-level” writing course as part of the General Education requirements for all majors. These second-level course choices include ENGL 202 Writing and Literature and ENGL 272 Technical Communication. Students who do not have necessary standardized placement scores to place into College Writing II must first take College Writing I.
In any given semester, roughly 1000 students are enrolled in writing courses housed in the English Department. In 2001, two new second-writing requirement courses were added as options to the English curriculum. The courses of E-Poetics (now titled Electronic Literature and Writing) and E-Rhetoric (Electronic Rhetoric and Writing) are designed to foster study between concepts in Aristotle’s classical works and emerging digital environments. Both courses are taught in a computer lab one day and online the other day using Blackboard’s Chat Tool. Since the inception of these two courses, several other composition courses have migrated to computer labs and have been developed in online as well as face-to-face versions. Still, the majority of these first- and second-year writing courses are taught in traditional classrooms with no technology access beyond the instructor’s computer and a projection screen. Computer access in laptop and lab sections is primarily used for word-processing and Blackboard access, though instructors may reserve an open computer lab for specific classes.
*see http://www.findlay.edu/admissions/info/undergraduate/apply/profileclass2005.htm for an in-depth profile of the student population
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