Using Log Assignments to Foster Learning: Revisiting Writing across the Curriculum

Abstract

During the past several years, the authors have conducted experiments in the use of writing to learn (WTL) techniques in sophomore-level engineering mechanics courses at West Virginia University (WVU). The work was a collaborative effort between a doctoral candidate in the Curriculum and Instruction Department and an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. This paper focuses on the effectiveness of several writing to learn strategies, assigned and completed in the Engineer's Log, which students identified as successful methods for learning. We present and discuss these strategies using sample log entries to illustrate their use and to suggest that expressive writing, or writing for the self, continues to prove itself a successful technique for learning. Finally, we evaluate the data provided and discuss our results.

Statistical Evidence for Enhanced Learning of Content through Reflective Journal Writing

“…Numerous articles report on the practice and implementation of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) [1][2][3] in engineering. Most of the WAC literature relevant to post-secondary science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET) education is concerned primarily with conveying and summarizing student attitudes towards writing assignments, or with helping to guide the implementation of WAC approaches.…”

Communication in the Engineering Curriculum: Learning to Write and Writing to Learn

“…By the end of the semester all of the students interviewed reported experiencing benefits from the WTL assignments and reported the intention to use selected strategies in the future, and students were most positive about the chapter summaries. (Maharaj and Banta, 2000) Burrows, et al, (2001) describe a course structure in which students completed reading assignments and then wrote 1-2 page journal entries about their significance.…”

Writing-across-the-curriculum in a linked course model for first-year students: an activity theory analysis

“…In each article, the authors advocate a different approach for teaching engineering students to be better writers including using variations of the following pedagogical strategies: writing tutors, a writing center, specific types of technical communication assignments, and a discipline specific student writing manual. Like the writmg-m-the-disciplines (WID) literature I discuss in the following section, the majority of articles addressing writing in engineering report programs designed for upper-level students (see for example, Alford and Gribb, 2000;* Alford and Rocheleau, 1998;* Ludlow and Schultz, 1994;Mahan, Jayasumana, Lile, and Palmquist, 2000;* Maharaj and Banta, 2000;Manuel-Dupont, 1996;McQueeney, 1999;Schultz and Ludlow, 1996;Sharp, Harb, and Terry, 1997;Sharp, Olds, Miller, and Dyrud, 1999;Thompson and Alford, 1997;Waitz and Barrett, 1997;Walker, 2000;Weiss and Scarola, 1998;Wheeler and McDonald, 2000).…”