The Summer Writing Institute provides full-time faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences with tools and strategies to integrate writing into their content-based classes.
The Summer Writing Institute is based on the philosophy that writing provides a unique and important way of learning and understanding discipline-specific information. The Institute awards a $1,500 stipend for fellows from across disciplines to participate in a 5-day workshop designed to help them weave meaningful writing tasks into their courses. The Institute is facilitated by Department of Writing Studies faculty who will continue to provide support to the fellows throughout the fall semester as they implement changes to their classes. As one previous fellow stated, “The Summer Institute was truly a game-changer for me. To see what can be achieved with something which I previously (as a physicist) thought was simply ‘writing’ was inspiring.”
Fellows will leave the Summer Writing Institute with these materials:
- completed plan for using writing activities to help meet course or program goals
- two new or revised writing assignments applicable to their classes
- peer review guidelines applicable to an assignment
- grading rubric applicable to an assignment
- revised syllabus
- marking techniques
- overview of current technologies for working with student writing
- reference text and current literature on integrating writing strategies
- toolkit for alternative grading strategies
- overview of potential strategies for integrating AI (such as ChatGPT) into their classes
- overview of potential strategies for avoiding unwanted use of AI in their classes
The 2024 Summer Writing Institute will take place in person, on May 14-17 from 10AM-5PM, with a follow-up meeting in late August. Lunch is included for all dates.
Participants will be selected from an applicant pool of full-time faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences. Preference will be given to faculty who teach, or are interested in teaching, “W” courses. Criteria for selection include departmental support, openness to collegiality and exchange of ideas, and a high level of interest in developing, implementing, and sustaining innovative teaching techniques. Faculty will be asked to revise one undergraduate course and teach that course with a “W” designation at least three times over the next five years.
Applications are due electronically to atsgarcia@miami.edu or a.mann@miami.edu by May 1st, 2024.
