College of Social Sciences

2024 Faculty Learning Community:

PROMOTING STUDENT SUCCESS IN WRITING WORKSHOP (100W)

Background

SJSU is supporting college-based Generative Faculty Learning Communities (GFLC) that enhance student success through support of equity-minded, asset-based student support approaches to teaching. Each college will facilitate a Faculty Learning Community focused on a particular set of courses or content areas most relevant to student success in its disciplines.  

The College of Social Sciences (CoSS) FLC focus is on promoting student success in 100W. 

This project is generative in that the hope is participants in the FLCs will become “ambassadors” who share their experiences with subsequent FLC cohorts, to create sustainable and organic engagement in student success. The 2024 CoSS FLC will build on the successes and lessons learned from our 2022 CoSS FLC on Inclusive Teaching and Learning, and 2023 CoSS FLC for Student and Success: Course Completion (Writing Workshop and Elementary Statistics).

CoSS FLC Goals

Our goals are to increase student engagement, improve course completion rates, and reduce equity gaps in 100W courses offered in the College of Social Sciences. 

Faculty Recruitment: CoSS 100W Instructors

To achieve these goals, we seek to engage and support faculty interested in learning about and incorporating  inclusive and equity focused teaching approaches that build connections with students and support their success. Faculty who complete the FLC will receive $1000.

Why Writing Workshop (100W)?

Writing Workshop (100W) was selected because it is a required course for all CoSS majors, it is a course that students across the college can struggle to complete, and it is a course in which there are persistent GPA equity gaps (CSU Student Success Dashboard). In addition, 100W is often one of the first courses transfer students enroll in at SJSU, so they are taking on this challenging course at the same time they are acclimating to a new university.

Taken together, improving student engagement and course completion in 100W can have a significant beneficial impact on our students’ ability to complete their degree in a timely fashion.

Finally, by focusing on 100W we will bring together faculty who, regardless of discipline, may face similar challenges in teaching academic writing.

What will FLC participants do?

Participants will work together to understand the student experience as it contributes to student successes and challenges in the course and draw on best practices of equitable learning to redesign the courses to support all students in active learning and engagement. 

Sample activities include engaging with the Course Equity Portal, redesigning syllabi to promote student engagement, revising assignments/activities in light of principles of Universal Design for Learning, and exploring different feedback and grading approaches. 

Compensation and Completion

Participants will receive $1000 upon completion of the program.

Completion of the program entails meeting the following requirements: 

• Attend a minimum number of synchronous meetings (to be determined based on meeting schedule)

• Complete a revised course syllabi

• Complete a revised assignment/activity

• Participate in student experience and outcomes data collection and analyses.

Tentative Schedule