Social Work Begins Implementing WIN(ning) Initiative in Undergraduate Curriculum

As a program that already infuses writing through-out its undergraduate curriculum, social work has joined with WAC’s WIN(ning) initiative to make an explicit commitment to providing faculty development in best practices for teaching with writing and support for student writers in the major. The WIN(ning) effort is being led by Cathy Tompkins, who has arranged for brown-bag discussions of teaching effectively with writing and who is also collaborating with the writing center in a study designed to find out how much struggling writers will improve if they meet up to 15 times with the same tutor who has become familiar with the conventions of writing in social work. The students, tutors, and faculty members will complete a pre- and post-program survey to assess whether student writing improves when they work consistently with the same tutor.

For another component of its WIN(ning) efforts, social work will begin mapping writing expectations for students from their first year in the program to the final year as a starting point for thinking about how students are supported in their development as writers as they proceed throughout the curriculum. The role played by English 101 and 302 also will be part of this discussion in consultation with composition program director, Shelley Reid. To learn how your undergraduate program can be part of the WIN(ning) initiative, contact Terry Zawacki at tzawacki@gmu.edu.