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"UDL: In-Class Writing" Case

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Case Description

(Courtesy of Anne Herzog, West Chester University of Pennsylvania)

Mark and Abbey are friends who signed up for a Philosophy course together. Both are troubled after the first class meeting to find that the faculty member will require the class to write a response to a particular philosophical prompt for twenty minutes each Friday. As they head to lunch together, both are wondering if this is the best section/instructor given what they know about their own strengths and weaknesses as students.

Mark says, "I don't know, Abbey. I think I'll be sunk if I stay in this class. You know I have a learning disability that really makes writing hard for me. In-class writing is particularly problematic. I'll probably only have two sentences down before Prof. Jones tells us to turn them in. I just need more time than that to show what I do know in writing."

Abbey replies, "Yeh, and I'm dreading it for a different reason, Mark. I don't have any kind of disability. In fact, you know I'm a good writer. I generally pull A's on my papers. But revision is key to the quality of my writing. If I'm just forced to push something out that quickly, it'll definitely not be my best work."

From a UDL perspective, what would be the best way for the faculty member to ensure that each of these two students has the opportunity to achieve his/her best work on this type of assignment?

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Case Responses

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Response 1.
Neither the student with a learning disability nor the skilled writer will benefit from this type of assignment unless timed writing is essential to course objectives and meeting the instructional goal. If the timed writing is being implemented for convenience and not tied to a specific objective, it isn't an optimal strategy. All of the most current writing research agrees that allowing students the opportunity to revise, and to revise multiple times, is the ideal way to help them achieve the best final piece of writing. Not only is the quality of writing better, but additional reflection time allows them to refine their thinking on a given question. A UDL approach would be to give students opportunities to practice with supports (time to revise, word processors, spell checkers, etc.). These allow students to make mistakes and to try again when attempting to master a particular skill. This assignment asks for a type of mastery in a tight timeframe (twenty minutes) that few students will have.
Response 2.
Students who have a documented disability that makes in-class writing overly difficult for them should schedule an appointment with Disability Support Services to arrange for accommodations. They may complete their prompts with double time in a controlled setting. All other students should be able to complete this assignment during the designated class time.
Response 3.
The Professor teaching this course noted that this weekly writing assignment was a requirement placed on him when he was an undergraduate, and he remembers that it was a part of the best philosophy course he ever had. In fact, he saved his old papers from that course, and sometimes uses the same prompts when he is teaching. All he needed was pencil and paper, and he intends to give his students a high quality educational experience comparable to what he received as an undergraduate.