According to the WAC Clearinghouse glossary, scaffolding is an “instructional technique used to move students progressively toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning process” (2015).

Scaffolding: Designing curricular and pedagogical supports for students to work through difficult learning tasks over time. 

Backward design: Curriculum, course, and assignment design that begins with what students should know and be able to do at the end.  

 

  1. What should graduates of your program know by the time they graduate?
  2. What should they be able to do?
  3. What should they be able to write? 


Skills and Knowledge Needed to Produce Expert Insider Prose in a Discipline

  • Writing process knowledge 
  • Rhetorical knowledge
  • Information literacy 
  • Discourse community knowledge
  • Genre knowledge
  • Subject matter knowledge 

John Bean (2022), Anne Beaufort (2007)



Backward Designing WID or CAP Courses 

For WID courses:

As novices in the discipline,

  • What do students need to know coming into the course?
  • What should they leave knowing? 
  • Where do students learn about disciplinary writing in your course?
  • How does your WID course give them practice in developing the skills and knowledge they need to move from novice to (emerging) insiders in the discipline? 

For Capstone courses:

  1. What should students know coming into the course
  2. What will they need to learn to produce expert insider prose?
  3. Where and how does your capstone course give them practice developing these skills and building that knowledge? 


The Meaningful Writing Project

Meaningful writing assignments have these features: 

Interactive components: brainstorming ideas/student choice of topic/direction; feedback (from instructor, peers, writing center); process of discovery through multiple drafts and global revision. 

A meaning-constructing task: students bring their critical thinking to bear on problems that matter to the writer and intended audience. 

Clear explanation of writing expectations: purpose, goals, rhetorical context, and grading/evaluative criteria.