[note: I wrote this 2 days ago on this rapidly moving thread, and it's
taken since then to figure out why it didn't get posted. Apologies.]
Kim Boal wrote:
> Dear Tim, what about us who can spell but can't type?
>
> Kim
>
> At 02:10 PM 3/1/99 -0500, you wrote:
> >Beyond that, this problem is exacerbated by faculty who can't spell,
> who
> >don't use spell-checking, let alone construct a reasonable sentence;
> and
> >who also don't use the resources available to improve their writing.
> The
> >first step must be to heal ourselves. I'll spell check this e-mail
> before
> >sending it. When we ourselves write poorly, how can we expect our
> >students to do better?
> >
> >I find Strunk & White to be the best guide - and very inexpensive one
> at
> >that.
> >
> >Check Loyola College here in Baltimore - they do have an extensive
> writing
> >across the curriculum program. Also, check the writing component in
> >Boston University's 12 credit hour introductory course for Freshmen
> in
> >their School of Management.
> >
> >Tim Edlund, Morgan State University
> >
> >On Mon, 1 Mar 1999, Ruth H. Axelrod wrote:
> >
> >> Colleagues--
> >>
> >> I am chairing a task force charged with addressing the complex
> problem of
> >> poor writing skills of our business school undergrads. It's not
> just our
> >> students, of course; the problem is university-wide and extends to
> the
> >> grad students as well. It is also multi-layered, ranging from
> problems
> >> with grammer and usage to structure and style. The problem is
> >> exascerbated by, but by no means confined to, the large number of
> >> international students we have here. Faculty from our English
> Department
> >> and staff from the Writing Center, which offers peer tutoring, are
> joining
> >> us in the effort--they have already been looking into it.
> >>
> >> Have any of your schools taken steps, apart from the traditional
> Freshmen
> >> English courses, to deal with this problem such as
> discipline-specific
> >> advanced courses ("writing across the curriculum") or competency
> exams?
> >> Do you know of any model programs or other resources out there
> including
> >> ways of evaluating the problem or the interventions?
> >>
> >> Any insights or referrals would be most welcome. My apologies for
> any
> >> cross-postings.
> >>
> >> Ruth
If you promise not to flame me, or check my grammar, may I jump into
the middle?
As I read the comments following the one above, I realized that my case
was
very specific - I could deal with 10 people per lab, max. of 60
reports/week.
Enough load in itself, but certainly not 500 students to deal with. But
it
seems almost self-evident, that if you do not have students write
something
which is reviewed for effectiveness, they won't learn how to do it. The
closer the review, and the student desire for accomplishment, the less
effective the effort. More comments at the end of the personal
experience below:
Having aided engineering UG's to learn (something?) for a decade +, and
listened to many business people tell me what they want in a recent
grad, I am aware that writing is not the strong suit of many students.
I've also been told that they (collectively) can't make a public
presentation, either. But writing is not the core issue, I think.
The complaint is not restricted by education level (UG vs. Grad), nor
national origin. My students were mostly middle class, American born.
Any technically trained individual has the problem of communicating
their 'neat stuff' to others, even when most of the speakers aren't
totally sure what is
being said. Students have a doubly hard time, because they start
assuming they don't know much of anything (using their instructor as a
standard), and are just figuring it out for themselves. They don't know
what parts of their technology (which could be finance, for ex.) are
obvious, and what parts are not. They hardly know what parts are
central, and what are secondary, to the results they wish to discuss.
So let's give them some practice. For my students' lab reports, which
they need to write about 1/week at first, they must learn how to write a
decent abstract, aimed at themselves/their roommate as of the previous
Sept. I have a short format abstract which proved itself in a number of
firms over the years. A student who can fit that format can write a
decent, understood, communicative report for management. Well, the
first 3 sentences will be understood, which is enough at this point.
The hard part, for many of them, was to get the logic down - the
sequence from 'problem' to 'solutions.' And that in a prepared lab! If
the logic is missing, a more complex problem will remain just that - for
everyone.
If they write a project report, they should use the abstract format to
open with. Helps the whole report's organization, too. If they had to
do this for every class, it would make the instructors' lives easier, as
well.
When they make a verbal presentation, I had my students use the same
format to open their talk. They could get practice in keeping a 2
minute spiel in their heads, ready to let fly when visiting firemen come
around. Feedback and in-situ (on-the-job?) observations indicated that
such preparation was a major plus for them.
I think all students can manage this level of organization, with
practice. Without typing, which is an issue for many. If given
verbally, without spelling checks, too.
I once heard a school President urge that all students in all upper
classes have at least one required opportunity to speak in front of each
class for 3 minutes. This way he could claim to employers that our
students were capable of speaking in public. The irony was that I never
saw a student with difficulties on this assignment (with 2 exceptions)
on a topic of concern to themselves (like a project). My students, in
the main, acquitted themselves well.
So if the students get a little practice, then they do well at what we
are
told they need more of, because they are so poor at 'communicating.'
Come again?
The thread in the last 2 days suggests that the issue is one of personal
experience - practice. I can't imagine what it would be like handling
500 students in a single lecture. My hat is off to those of you who do
this. Strictly 1-way communication, surely.
What I think future employers want is graduates who can communicate. By
which may be meant transmit information to managers, and perhaps to
co-workers and subordinates. It could mean transmit information the
boss wants to hear, in ways the boss wants to hear it, but I leave that
to the organizational psychologists.
We can agree that listening to a lecture, even with notes, will not
instill the skills necessary to communicate, no? then the student must
practice it, with feedback on the trials. Whether we have them write a
great deal of material (1/week for 10 weeks for each lab, 30 weeks/year
for each class), with relatively little feedback, or have them write a
few papers, with close discussion of the results, as sometimes happens
at Alverno College in Milwaukee, may be an interesting research question
in effectiveness and efficiency. But either one is likely to produce
decent writers, if they have something to write about.
I found that doing a detailed dry run of an oral presentation, in
preparation for a senior project report, worked wonders for the student
with a weak organization. Some of them should have written the report
first, to figure out how to do the work to find the result. [Heresy!
but it helped clarify jumbled heads.]
Whether a computer review of a written paper, as some have suggested in
this thread, would provide the close feedback, I can't say. At least it
is some feedback. Can it detect and point out errors in presentation
logic? I hope so, else reliance upon the computer will produce
grammatically correct, well spelled mish-mash. Maybe the professor
could have the computer review the spelling & grammar, etc., then look
at what is left. But don't students check these things anyway? Oh.
Enough,
Jay
--
Jay Warner
Principal Scientist
Warner Consulting, Inc.
4444 North Green Bay Road
Racine, WI 53404-1216
USA
Ph: (414) 634-9100
FAX: (414) 681-1133
email:
quality@a2q.com
web:
http://www.a2q.com
Power to the data!