Blog 9

The questions that fit into the category of learning outcome 1 are about revision and the process of adding and deleting information. The three questions in the survey that I think give the most information and communicate the best knowledge are "When I revise my writing, my revision typically includes addition, deletion, substitution, and rearrangement", "I typically brainstorm or do other planning activities (ex. freewriting, listing, clustering) as part of the writing", and "when I revise my first draft, I spend most of my time on issues related to purpose, audience, content, and/or organization. These questions provide the best information because they give the most detail and are specifice to what they are trying to prove.

The questions that fit into the category of learning outcome 2 are about how students will use class discussion  to identify ideas and themes. These two questions are "I am able to interpret main ideas through text" and "I know how to make connections between the topics discussed in classes for the English Writing Major and concepts studied in other courses". The first question stated provides a general and to the point statement of whether you can interpret ideas through text. The second question is most specific and gives a straight forward idea of whether you can do what is asked or not.

The questions that fit into the category of learning outcome 3 are about using methodology to develop original research. The two questions that give the most information about this are "I am able to use textual analysis to explore research questions" and "I use writing as part of my thinking and analytic processes". This is because these two questions are straight forward and a student will be able to identify right away if they could complete the task asked or not.

The question that fits into the category of learning outcome 4 are about ability to do an oral presentation. The one question that I think is best described in this category is "I have given a presentation where the audience used writing to respond to my ideas". I like this question because not only does it state a comfort level of a student giving a presentation but it also states that they have had or not had experience with students critiquing them on their presentations and ideas.

The questions that fit into the category of learning outcome 5 are how students connect contemporary issues to classroom assignments. The two question that I think work best in the category are shared with outcomes two and three. These questions are "I know how to make connections between topics discussed in class for the English Writing Major and real world issues" and "I know how to make connections between the topics discussed in classes for the English Writing Major and concepts studied in other courses". I like these questions because they ask the same question but use two different examples. A student can identify which area they feel more comfortable in, whether it is talking about other classes or real world issues. 

Extra information
Information that the department might need but isn't gathered through these questions could be more open ended stuff. Maybe the genre that a particular student wants to write in could help. I don't mean like fiction or poetry, I mean like creative, or business, or technical, etc. This could help a writer identify some of their own weaknesses in the process and help them look into areas that they think they need to improve in.

The department might also benefit by looking at how a particular student learns. Is a student more hands on and writes through the problem or are they able to listen to a lecture and discuss an idea and then apply it. Some students don't only have a preference on the way they write but they also are particular in the way that they learn.