Core Programming

Sponsored by the Office of the Campus Writing & Communication Coordinator, this workshop is ideal for those PREPARING to teach an upper-division writing course, for those THINKING about teaching an upper-division writing course, and for those considering PROPOSING an upper-division writing course. Topics will include low-stakes writing, writing that best supports your content, peer-review strategies, and writing portfolio design and assessment. The workshop will only be hosted on Zoom.

Writing-to-learn (WTL) activities, sometimes referred to as “low stakes” writing, can quickly engage students and often require minimal feedback from instructors. These brief, in-class or online writing activities provide students with opportunities to develop conceptual knowledge and to practice core writing abilities such as summary, synthesis, analysis, and data visualization. In this workshop, we will review examples of WTL activities from a variety of disciplinary contexts, identify timely places to integrate WTL into courses, and design at least one WTL activity.

Did you know that UCI now has an official designation for a “C” Communication Course, just like it does for a W Course? Attend this workshop to find out what it is, how to teach it, and what’s needed for an official “C” designation. This workshop will only be hosted on Zoom.

While STEM students develop strong technical writing skills, they often struggle to recognize how these abilities can extend beyond the classroom. This workshop provides instructors with strategies for designing assignments that foreground communication as a central scientific practice. By exploring formats such as research/elevator pitches, project proposals, and reflective memos, participants will learn approaches to help students connect lab work with industry standards, grant applications, and professional self-presentation. Emphasizing clarity, context, and rhetorical adaptability, the workshop equips instructors with scaffolding techniques that support students in making data meaningful to both specialist and general audiences.

Conferencing (or one-on-one or small group meetings) with students can clarify students’ paper ideas, solidify class standards, build rapport between student and instructor, and when done well, can usher in “eureka” moments for your class. In this one-hour workshop, we discuss and practice conferencing strategies and review digital tools (Zoom, etc.) that allow instructors and teaching assistants to make effective use of office hours, paper conferences, and online consultations.