For the first time, I am attempting to design a course. It feels much like a shot in the dark. I happened to write my weekly course outline just a week before I read about the expected learning outcomes and teaching principles detailed in this week’s readings. You would think it counter-intuitive to write a course outline before you read about the current expectations in the field of writing pedagogy, but I found it worked out for me quite nicely. I did have the unfair advantage of working with many wonderful professors who have instilled many of the important values and principles listed in the reading throughout my education here at Kean. Concepts such as rhetorical knowledge, critical thinking, composing, the unpredictability and variety of the writing process, and knowledge of conventions have been emphasized strongly to me since I was a young undergraduate writing student. Although I have only experienced the first-year composition process as a student, I can say the values emphasized to me in my education are reflected in the way I chose to design my course: AI and the Writer: Harnessing Technology for Creativity and Career Success.
Reading through documents such as “WPA Outcomes Statement for First-Year Composition” and “Principles for the Postsecondary Teaching of Writing”, the expectations are that they will be tedious reads. Yet, as I found myself coming through the expected learning outcomes I was getting quite excited. With each outcome I read I was further convinced that my course was capable of accomplishing them all, with not for but a few tweaks. I anticipate going through each outcome and explaining in writing how each one was met in a unique way, not only to probe that I have done so but to notice all of the areas in which I have not. In a moment in which I was feeling very unconfident in my ability to create something like a college composition course, reading about the desired learning outcomes was a boost to my confidence and provided me another step to further revise my work.
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