A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH: DEVELOPING A WRITING IN THE DISCIPLINES PROGRAM AT AN ENGINEERING COLLEGE

Abstract

This paper describes continuing efforts to build
and sustain a Writing in the Disciplines (WID) program in
an engineering college. Three years of increasing success,
as measured by improvement in student outcomes and
recognition from the degree-granting departments,
encouraged a multi-disciplinary committee to pursue even
more ambitious programs. Initial inroads came as writing
instructors developed project-specific lectures on written
assignments within engineering classes. A faculty retreat
highlighted the need for a common vocabulary—a discourse
community—to encourage the transfer of writing skills from
composition courses to engineering courses. Multidisciplinary
workshops empowered engineering faculty to
generate good writing in their own classrooms. Additional
strategies to build the WID program include the collegewide
adoption of electronic portfolios for assessment and
efforts to secure outside funding for a new writing center.

Index Terms ⎯ Writing in the disciplines, multi-disciplinary
teaching, assessment, electronic portfolios.