Writing to Learn, Learning to Write: Improving Medical Students’ Writing Competence

2. Writing to Learn, Learning to Write:Improving Medical Students’ Writing Competence

3. Presented by:Virginia A. Brown, MAHU College of MedicineC&FM – Program in Health Care Ethics

4. OBJECTIVE • To Improve Students’ Professional Writing Abilities Via: • Demonstration of Mastery of Relevant Ethical Theory, • Utilization of Parenthetical Citation (APA), and • Execution of Format and Mechanics Conventions.

5. BACKGROUND • History of Ethics Program • Fall 1993 Inaugural Class • Prerequisite - Clinical Experience • Established as Required Course • Course Delivery • 2 Credit Hours • Large Lecture, Small Group • Quiz, Midterm, Research Paper w/o WAC Curriculum, and Practicum • Fall 2005 Incorporated WAC Curriculum

6. Background, cont’d • Multidisciplinary Faculty • Faculty Compliment/semester, 20-24 • Health Science, Law, Philosophy, and Divinity • Interdisciplinary Health Science • Allied Health - Jr/Sr, Graduate • Dental - 3rd year • Medicine - 3rd year • Nursing - Jr/Sr, Graduate • Pharmacy - 4th year • Average enrollment, 400/year

7. PROCEDURE • Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Established for over 30 years • Features of WAC Include: • Fostering Critical Thinking, • Utilizing “Learning to Write” and “Writing to Learn” Techniques, • Incorporating Discipline Specific Vocabulary and Conventions (Professionalism in Writing), • Responding and Adapting to Student Needs, and • Linking Writing, Listening, and Speaking (Active Learning).

8. IMPLEMENTATION • Development of Getting Ready To Write (GRTW) Activities • Identification of “Bad” vs “Good” Papers • Selection of Interventions • Development of Course Material

9. GRTW • Prepare, Pre/Re-write, and Submit • Part 1. • 500 Word Statement of Problem • Annotated Bibliography (APA format) • Part 2. • Sentence Outline • Peer Review Draft • Part 3. • Final Submission

10. PARTICIPANTS Allied Health N=46 Clinical Health Science Students N=251 Fall 2005 Dental N=71 Medicine N=57 Nursing N=46 Pharmacy N=46

11. ASSESSMENT • End of Semester Survey by Discipline • Medical Student Survey Responses • 28 multiple choice questions in total • 4 WAC specific questions • Standard Likert Scale • Optional Essay • Administered via Blackboard • 39 of 57 students responded

12. WAC SURVEY QUESTIONS • Q1. The WAC techniques were helpful. • Q2. WAC techniques introduced and utilized for this course were useful in preparing to research and write the research paper. • Q3. I would recommend the WAC instruction to other students. • Q4. The assignments regarding the bibliography and proper citation techniques were well outlined in the Concise Rules.

13. RESPONSES

14. CONCLUSION • The combined average of strongly agreed and agreed respondents revealed that, on average, 56% of the medical students found WAC strategies useful. • Faculty noted that performance on WAC strategies correlated to final paper grades.

15. NEXT STEPS • Develop pre/post assessments of professional writing knowledge • Incorporate collection of “grade forecast” correlation • Expand survey questions re: • Attendance at writing lecture • 1st language as English/ESL • Frequency of paper submissions