First Quinquennial Statewide Symposium on Effectiveness in First-Year Writing

November 15, 2024

Writing faculty from University of Alaska Southeast (Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka campuses) gathered with writing faculty from other University of Alaska campuses (Anchorage, Matanuska Valley, Homer, Kodiak, Fairbanks, Kuskokwim) in Anchorage September 27-28 for the first Quinquennial Statewide Symposium on Effectiveness in First-Year Writing. 

Jay Szczepanski II, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Alaska Southeast, and Dr. Jackie Cason, Professor of Writing at the University of Alaska Anchorage, organized the event for faculty to strengthen connections and learn more about how the writing courses serve a diverse student demographic across a vast geography. The Faculty Alliance and the Faculty Initiative Fund sponsored the in-person gathering. 

Faculty formed six thematically focused working groups to align courses and programs, increase student access and success, and institute the best, most effective practices to support increased retention and graduation rates. 

  • Group 1 completed a vision, values, and pedagogy statement designed to inform not only students but all other stakeholders who care about effective writing.
  • Group 2 proposed a draft of revised student learning outcomes for WRTG 110, 111, and 192, as an effort to remain aligned in a meaningful way as writers adjust to the contexts of emergent communication technologies.
  • Group 3 identified common principles for writing assessment and explored the development of an archive of student writing that could be used in various ways.
  • Group 4 explored the vast array of dual enrollment programs across the state, categorized them under seven models identified by the Hanover group, underscored the value of strategic partnerships, and pointed to the need for a common understanding of student readiness.
  • Group 5 envisioned the collaborative creation of OERCA-Open Education Resources Collection Alaska that could be used in writing courses across the state. They had gathered a range of open educational resources, identified incentive efforts, and looked to the future need for ongoing support for the labor to create Alaska-rich resources that increase affordability for students but cannot be created for “free.”
  • Group 6 focused on generative artificial intelligence and academic integrity. They crafted a position paper that identified a series of commitments and recommendations in the hopes that disciplinary faculty from across the system will work at various levels to establish clear and transparent policies for students who will need to navigate ethical questions and expectations across a variety of contexts.

The event not only made room for faculty to follow through on the work they started in the spring semester but opened space for faculty to explore synergy among various groups.

UA writing faculty group of 20 standing outside the UAS campus in fall
UA Writing Faculty meet for the First Quinquennial Statewide Symposium on Effectiveness in First-Year Writing (front row, from left: Jessy Goodman, Jen McClung, Lia Calhoun, Jackie Cason, Jay Szczepanski, Carrie Aldrich, Elle Fournier, and Chris Miles; middle row, left-to-right: Emily Wall, Martha Amore, Sarah Kirk, Taten Sheridan, Math Trafton, Jen Tilbury, Greg Hartley, Annette Hornung; back row, left-to-right: Douglass Bourne, Sara Rufner, Katja Perat, Andrew Harnish, Ryan Henderson, James Ryan, Kevin Maier, Trygve Sandvik, Geoff Kirsch, Shane Castle, Zeb Kraft, Don Rearden. (Photo Credit: James Evans)