Utah Valley University Department of Literacies and Composition

Jacqueline Preston and Deborah Marrott

 

We have provided two primary documents here, our curriculum document and a video.

One way that Literacies and Composition makes accessible and transparent the philosophy and shared curriculum practices supported by the department is to make available to all faculty what we refer to as the “Department Curriculum Document.” This document includes the department mission, the philosophy driving curriculum decisions, and a position statement regarding faculty responsibilities to students. The curriculum document was initially authored by the chair, Deborah Marrott, and is updated annually, reflecting changes in philosophy, curriculum practice, assessment procedures as needed based on administrative policy and input from faculty. The document is unique in that it articulates clearly the philosophical disposition that under rides pedagogy, policy and procedure in the Department of Literacies and Composition.

In the Department of Literacies and Composition, instructors take a project-based approach to the teaching and learning of composition. For many students, this approach is entirely new. We’ve found that most of our students enroll in their composition courses assuming that they will be writing traditional research papers, perhaps taking an argumentative stance on a controversial topic, and with little thought to audience and purpose beyond the immediate course. For this reason, in collaboration with the UVU Office and Teaching and Learning, we’ve created a video to help students better understand how this course might be different from other English courses they’ve taken. The video, “A Different Kind of Course,” provides students an opportunity to hear from other students what it’s like to take the course, how they’ve grown to see writing as an art, and what it’s like to write a well-researched proposal for a real audience in place of a traditional research paper written for their instructor.

Download the Curriculum Document

Download the video, A Different Kind of Course