Major
CI (CI-M)
MIT’s Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) program integrates
instruction in writing and speaking into technical, scientific,
and professional subjects in several different but equally effective
ways. WAC instructors work with faculty members as well as entire
departments to design and implement instructional models that best
support the content and communication needs of each subject. This
approach enables students not only to become better communicators;
it also enables them to learn the discourse conventions of their
chosen disciplines.
WAC involvement increases student mastery of technical content
and often reduces faculty workload. By reviewing drafts of technical
reports with WAC instructors, students are forced to think through
their scientific, technical, and design assumptions. The resulting
improvements in logical focus and language can significantly reduce
the amount of time it takes for technical staff to read and judge
final papers.
Although the specific design will differ for each subject, below
are some common models that have been effective in various technical
and scientific subjects at MIT:
- Integrated instruction by WAC and technical staff.
A lead WAC instructor and the professor-in-charge jointly prepare
handouts and give lectures on how to present technical information
in both written and oral formats. Additional WAC and technical
staff then hold writing workshops during lab time to put the new
material into practice. A similar approach integrates the WAC
instructor into the regular teaching staff. He or she gives regular
presentations, tutors students, and evaluates both papers and
oral reports.
- Lectures by WAC staff coupled with feedback on drafts
and revisions of technical reports. WAC staff work with
faculty before the term to tailor communications lectures to specific
class assignments. They critique drafts of those assignments before
they are submitted to the technical instructors. Finally, they
comment on the revised papers either in writing and/or individual
meetings.
- Oral-communication tutorials. In CI-M classes
that emphasize oral communications, WAC faculty digitally record
student presentations. They then review the tapes with the students
in private sessions.
- Communication sections attached to specific technical
subjects. These sections usually meet weekly or biweekly
for two hours; they may be optional (in which case they have a
separate 21W subject number) or mandatory (in which case their
units are added to the units of the technical subject). Section
writing assignments are related – and in many cases identical
– to the technical assignments.
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