In the USF Learning Community model, the core curriculum or general education requirements reflect the "standard" curriculum offerings of the past, while extending the cultural content to include more diversity than was available to any student a century ago. The role of WAC in the USF Learning Communities is to introduce students to the disciplinary conventions, thereby disassembling the myth of writing as a single generalizable skill. In addition, WAC in the USF Learning Communities utilizes both exp ressive and transactional modes to shape thinking and facilitate learning. WAC instruction places an emphasis on classical rhetorical skills of audience awareness, tone and appeals appropriate to the purpose, and establishing ethos as a writer in a disciplinary forum. To these ends, students will complete the following tasks:

• keep writing journals of personal reflection on the class topics;
  
  
• exercise written skills in a variety of genres;
  
  
• complete a portfolio of graded writing projects demonstrating progress;
  
  
• prepare and launch a website or multi-media presentation;
  
  
• participate in online discussions and MOOs.

Specific outcomes from these tasks will include the following:

• Facilitation of learning through writing; development of critical thinking skills, creativity, and inductive learning.
  
  
• Improvement of writing skills through frequent opportunity.
  
  
• Experimentation with a variety of composing strategies and thinking patterns across writing genres.
  
  
• Understanding of the variety in disciplinary rhetorics.
  
  
• Appreciation of the value of writing well.
  
  
• Recognition of writing as a lifetime apprenticeship.
  
  
• A more "seamless" experience of higher education.
  
  
• Opportunity to learn composition skills through the student's interest, thereby providing exigence in the writing process.
  
  
• Recognition of the uses of language in the construction of individuals, communities, and cultures.
  
  
  

Broader objectives of WAC in the USF Learning Communities include:

Objective 1: Improving Communication Skills

Objective 2: Incorporating WAC

Objective 3: Promoting interdisciplinarity

Objective 4: Improving retention in the university

Objective 5: Improving performance of minority students

Objective 6: Establishing a productive academic climate

The Learning Community course syllabi link to descriptions and examples of specific student projects and activities which demonstrate the accomplishment of these objectives in the USF Learning Communities.

Link to LC syllabi

Although the methods of instruction and expectations for learning within the Communities differ from those in the "traditional" university experience, students within the Communities must be prepared to satisfy statewide assessments and to meet the rigid requirements to receive degrees. Learning Communities must face the challenge of traditional assessment instruments while rising above the constraints of traditional instruction. The discussion of assessments will continue in the development of this site.

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WAC Resource Page

Updated by Charla Bauer 9/14/98