Scientific Writing in the Classroom
Scientific Writing in the Classroom
Academic Year:
2013 - 2014 (June 1, 2013 through May 31, 2014)
Funding Requested:
$500.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
Overview of the Project:
Upper level writing skills are essential to every field that students will pursue after graduation. As instructors it is our job to teach our students these required skills. Scientific writing can be particularly challenging to teach, as many science classes commonly range in size from 30 students to 150. Effective teaching will involve not only grading primary pieces, but also revision after revision. Ultimately this can add up to thousands of pages that must be not only graded but analyzed for meaningful feedback. This is on top of the traditional teaching load, which involves conveying the science material that students need as subject matter for their papers. Technology has the potential to eliminate many of these mechanical issues. With the proper software, tablet PCs have the potential to revolutionize the grading procedure for writing assignments. Rather than carrying around thousands of pages of paper, digital drafts can be critiqued, revised, and sent back for another round of work from the student. I am requesting funds to purchase a Tablet, with Windows Pro and Microsoft Office (with OneNote). Specifically, I want to construct a method to be able to download papers from CTools in batch, pull the papers into individual folders to Microsoft OneNote, and spend the grading time giving feedback on the papers rather than the mechanics. Ideally, if this does help to streamline the process of critiquing and giving feedback this information could be shared with other Biology faculty who may incorporate additional writing assignments into their curriculum.