Memo

TO: Patrick Nelson

FROM: Thomas Geisler, Kevin Shaughnessy, and Abraham Vega
SUBJECT: English 393G Proposal
DATE: 5/16/2018

Goals of The Project

Our goal for this project was to find options for your class that would make it easier for

students to register with better knowledge of class expectations. This was done through

research conducted in three parts: an interview with the director of the Professional

Writing Program, a survey for students in professional writing courses at the university,

and reading books and articles on the topic of service learning.

Primary research

Interview Results

Interviewing Dr. Scott Wible was extremely helpful because any changes to course

designations or titles in the Professional Writing Program would need to be approved by

Dr. Wible himself. We approached Dr. Wible with the idea of adding a designator that

would distinguish your course as one that included a service learning aspect. Dr Wible,

who has had some previous experience with service learning, explained his expectations

for a course mainly focusing on the need for any service learning projects to both benefit

the community and help students learning. He especially stressed the need for reflective

writings to help impact learning.

Survey Results
 To gain knowledge of students’ preferences as well as how they would respond to a new

professional writing course, we created a short survey. This survey was posted online to

ELMS and a few UMD Reddit groups. The survey was useful in proving the need for a

new course designation because nearly three-quarters of the responses said they would

not have taken your class had they known about the gardening project while registering.

Despite this, the majority said they would be interested in a professional writing course

that was based in service learning.

Secondary Research

Reading Results

From our interview with Dr. Wible it appeared that we needed to do more research on

service learning to find out what makes a successful service learning course. We found

service learning articles and books which introduced the idea of the five stages of service

learning. These stages were important in crafting our recommendations for the course

because it laid out what it takes to have a successful service learning environment.

1
ENGL393G Proposal

Thomas Geisler, Kevin Shaughnessy, and Abraham Vega

University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
May 16, 2018

Dear Dr. Scott Wible:

We are writing to you about a proposal for Patrick Nelson’s ENGL393 Technical Writing

course. In this recommendation, we suggest that the designation of this course be altered to better

suit the course and its involvement with the GoEco project. We are a group of students in his

Spring 2018 semester and we have taken part in many aspects of the GoEco project while also

learning about technical writing. The experience from the project and the course gives us the

chance to recommend a designation for the course since it is unique and different from the

typical technical writing course.

The recommendation itself will serve as a guide to further differentiate the course from a

standard technical writing course. From interviewing you, we learned that we would have to

change aspects of the course in order to get its own letter designation. To do that, we drew

inspiration from our research that could set the foundation for an excellent service-learning based

curriculum, that would distinguish this course from the rest. There is already service in the form

of the gardening in the GoEco project, all we need is to change the learning to reflect the service.

We hope that this recommendation assists your decision for the proposal to add the letter

designation.

Sincerely,

Thomas Geisler, Kevin Shaughnessy, and Abraham Vega

2
 ENGL393G Proposal

Thomas Geisler, Kevin Shaughnessy, Abraham Vega

3
 Table of Contents

Executive summary -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1

Introduction ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2

Research, Methodology, & Findings ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4

 Implementation -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5
 The Five Stages of Service Learning ------------------------------------------------------- 5
 Attracting the Right Student ----------------------------------------------------------------- 7

Recommendations ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8
 Implementing the Five Stages of Service Learning -------------------------------------- 8
 Unique Designation -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11

Conclusion ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 11

Works Cited -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 13

Transcript for Dr. Wible Interview ------------------------------------------------------------------ 14

Results from Student Survey ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 19

4
 Executive Summary

Service-learning is increasingly being used in post-secondary education as a means to

educate students through participation in their communities and to foster an understanding of the

benefits of civic engagement. Increasingly, colleges and universities are using service learning to

have students model democratic behavior through collective planning, action, and reflection

(Jacoby, 2003). Because students are more likely than ever to encounter service learning in

higher education, it is important that educators model their service-learning program for students

to receive the most benefit.

To best foster community service and civic engagement, we will propose a list of

recommendations for Professor Patrick Nelson’s technical writing course, ENGL393. These

recommendations will be based on a model developed by Cathryn Berger Kaye (2013). In this

model, Kaye outlines five stages of service learning which provide a framework through which

educators can ensure that students learn from community service and engagement rather than

blindly complete course requirements. Given the structure of Professor Nelson’s class, these

stages can be implemented as special writing assignments that will allow students not just to

engage with the community through the various garden projects associated with the class, but be

able to learn through that engagement and develop the skills of technical writing through

preparation, action, and reflection.

Additionally, we will propose that Professor Nelson apply for a unique letter designation

to be added to his section of technical writing. This designation will encourage students with an

interest in service-learning in general, and gardening specifically, to register for his class. As a

result, a larger portion of Professor Nelson’s students will be motivated to participate fully in the

5
management and maintenance of the gardens as well as meet the unique learning requirements of

the course.

Introduction

As universities compete against each other to increase student enrollment and

institutional prestige, many administrators are using service-learning programs to diversify their

school’s educational methodologies and better prepare their students for transition into the labor

market. While the adoption of service-learning programs can improve the standing of a school in

the arena of competitive post-secondary education, the benefits of such programs are much more

directly felt by the educators that direct them and the students that take part in them.

Jane Kendall (1990) has found more than 147 distinct definitions of service-learning

throughout academic literature. However, most definitions seem to agree that the two main goals

of service-learning are to promote civic engagement among students and to make use of non-

traditional pedagogical methods. Additionally, according to Scott Wible (2018), each goal has to

feed into the other. That is, while students use education as an opportunity to participate in

community engagement, the engagement has to feed back into the classroom and contribute to

meeting the learning outcomes of the class itself.

The importance of service-learning cannot be overstated. Service-learning promotes

outside-of-the-box problem solving and encourages students to approach their education in a

unique way. As Berman (2006) notes, because the learning is done within the context of real-

world problems, students are better able to construct meaning from their interactions with the

community. Students can also recall the learning easier and apply it to future problem-solving.

Additionally, as students interact within their community, working on projects that can have

tangible effects on those living in that community, they develop important skills, such as inter-

6
organizational communication and cooperation, that they can eventually use in future

employment. In an age where employers are increasing placing greater value on a potential

employee’s experience than on their education, the type of experience offered by service learning

can better prepare students for their eventual transition into the workforce.

Service-learning also promotes civic engagement, which is a vital part of participation in

a democratic society. Students become better, and more useful, members of their communities by

independently identifying problems, constructing solutions, and executing a plan. Through this

process, students develop understanding of their community and empathy for its members. At the

macro level, service-learning allows universities to become more involved with their surrounding

communities, build trust and mutual understanding with those communities, and establish

networks and connections that can benefit the school in the future.

Based on the importance of service-learning in modern university curricula, and the vast

benefits to students, educators, and institutions, we are proposing several modifications to

Professor Nelson’s ENGL393 class to maximize the benefit of its service-learning component.

These modifications are based on The Five Stages of Service Learning as outlined by Cathryn

Kaye. In brief, these stages are investigation, preparation, action, reflection, and demonstration.

As Kaye notes, these five stages are instrumental for students to learn and retain the transferable

skills associated with service-learning. They also provide a simple, easy-to-follow template for

educators to develop, manage, and modify service-learning programs.

These stages can be incorporated into Professor Nelson’s class through a variety of

activities and assignments. Except for the action stage, the stages can be accomplished through

in-class assignments and discussions or outside the classroom through writing assignments and

projects. However, we feel that given the structure of the assignments required for technical

7
writing at the University of Maryland, these stages are best accomplished through the special

writing assignments. These assignments are short 1-3 page writing pieces through which students

can investigate an issue, prepare a plan of action to tackle a problem, reflect on their actions, and

demonstrate an understanding of the totality of the process.

Through the use of special writing assignments to accomplish the specific goals of the

service-learning process, Professor Nelson can still use the major writing assignments to

accomplish the specific goals of the Professional Writing Program (PWP). Therefore, students

can still learn about technical writing through both traditional and non-traditional methods. This

combined approach will be effective in teaching technical writing to a much more diverse group

of students.

Research, Methodology, & Findings

Our research was largely based on two questions. First, how is service-learning best

implemented at the university level? Since university courses typically have strict learning

outcomes that must be accomplished in a limited amount of time, it is important that any service-

learning components be implemented to maximum effect. Additionally, simply interacting with

the community is not enough for students to gain valuable experience through service. Students

have to be active participants in the process both before and after any service-oriented action.

The preparation and reflective phases are very important for students to retain transferable skills

learned through service.

Second, how can courses with service-learning components best attract students that are

willing and motivated to participate in service as a part of their education? For a service-learning

program to be successful, students have to actively participate to accomplish the specific-service

oriented goals. However, active participation alone is not enough. Students unwilling to put

8
effort into the investigation and preparation stages are unlikely to put effort into the service

component. Thus, students have to be motivated at all stages of the process.

Implementation

To answer the first question, we conducted research into the different methods of

implementing service-learning in university courses. While all of the methods differed in style

and in scope, they all agreed on one thing: service-learning is a process and is not simply a single

community activity. As Eyler and Giles (1999) have indicated, service-learning is a type of

problem solving in which the participants must be actively engaged in research, planning, and

reflection on top of the execution of a particular plan of action.

While many authors and organizations have published plans for the implementation of

service-learning within universities, one particular plan stood out to us. Kaye’s Five Stages of

Service Learning is superior to other implementation process due to its simplicity and flexibility.

Kaye’s two-page paper identifies the five key components to a service-learning program and

gives brief details regarding the goals of each stage. However, Kaye leaves a lot of room for

individual educators to tailor their programs to their classes’ unique learning outcomes and their

students’ unique learning needs. While countless academic volumes have been published

detailing everything an educator must do to manage one of these programs and introducing

abstract concepts that have little to do with the real world, Kaye introduces a loose framework

for service-learning while leaving education in the hands of the educator.

The Five Stages of Service Learning

Kaye’s framework introduces five stages for a successful service-learning program:

investigation, preparation, action, reflection, and demonstration. In the investigation phase,

students identify a problem in their community that they wish to solve. Given that Professor

9
Nelson has acquired grant money for a specific community project, namely the management of

two on-campus garden areas, students are somewhat limited to which problems they wish to

solve. However, the investigation phase also encourages students to inventory their skills, talents,

and motivations in an effort to better be able to develop an approach to problem solving in the

next phase: preparation.

Having identified a problem and having inventoried personal skills which can be

involved in its solution, students move on to the preparation phase. In this phase, students

continue to research their selected problem but also begin to formulate their intended solution.

Students should also begin to identify groups that have already addressed the problem or similar

problems and can potential reach out to those groups to gain different perspectives. Students

should use this information, together with ongoing research, to organize a specific solution and

plan of action to address their problem. Afterwards, students should develop any skills or seek

out potential resources needed to execute their plan.

After preparations have been completed, students are ready to move into the action phase

of the framework. This stage involves the actual implementation of the plan developed in the

preparation stage and constitutes the actual service component of the course. Importantly, as

Kaye mentions, service can take one of four forms: direct service, indirect service, advocacy, or

research. In the context of the community gardens associated with Professor Nelson’s class, this

means that students do not have to physically participate in the direct management of the

gardens. They do, however, have to be active in one of the other three areas. Therefore, a student

may opt out of the gardening, but must indirectly support those that do participate, advocate for

community service or the gardens specifically, or contribute further research that can aid in the

future management of the gardens.

10
 Following the actual service-oriented action, students move into the reflection phase.

Reflection is a common component of much of the literature on service-learning. It is an

important method by which students can analyze the preparations made before the action phase,

identify elements of their action which went well and those that need improvement, and reinforce

the learning achieved through the action for use in future problem solving (Bonar et al., 1996).

Reflection also serves as the connector between each of the other phases and allows the students

to use a top-down approach to identify how the service-learning process developed over time. As

Dr. Wible indicated during our interview, reflection is a key way through which students achieve

the learning outcomes of the course. It also provides a path for the service component to feed

back into the classroom.

The final stage proposed by Kaye is demonstration. This stage is closely linked to

reflection and presents students with an opportunity to exhibit what they have learned throughout

the course. It requires students to have analyzed the service-learning process and to propose

modifications to their own work in order to streamline future work. In some contexts,

demonstration can simply mean crafting a narrative which includes criticism and analysis.

Attracting the Right Student

Student attitudes toward service-learning vary greatly. According to our own survey data,

over a third of students would be interested in taking a service-learning based technical writing

course (Geisler et al., 2018). More importantly however, one out of four students would not be

interested at all. In order for service-learning to be effective, the students involved must be

interested in taking part in the service itself. Students who are unwilling to put effort into the

course will be less willing to participate in the service component, support those who do

11
participate, or otherwise contribute to the goals of the class. As a result, students who are active

participants will have to work disproportionally harder for their efforts to be a success.

Our research has found that, in order for classes with a service learning component to attract the

right kind of student, students must know and understand the goals and requirements of a

service-based class prior to registering for it. Students must be willing to take part in the service

itself or otherwise contribute to one of the other three alternatives outlined in the action phase:

indirect support, advocacy, or research.

Recommendations

As a result of our extensive research, we have prepared a list of recommendations for

Professor Nelson’s course. These recommendations are designed so that students in the course

can received the maximum benefit that service learning offers. Our first recommendation will be

that Professor Nelson implement the five-stage process outlined by Kaye. With this

recommendation, students will be more likely to learn the unique problem-solving approaches

required by service-learning and, more importantly, will be able to retain those skills for future

use. Our second recommendation is for Professor Nelson to acquire a unique letter designation

for his course. The aim of this recommendation is for the course to attract students interested and

motivated to take part in its service-learning component.

Implementing the Five-Stages of Service Learning

We have previously outlined the goals of each stage in the five-stage process. These five

stages are focused on the service-learning component and use service-learning to achieve

particular goals. Since the actual service portion is represented in the action stage, four remaining

stages are left to be implemented inside the classroom. Additionally, for students who are unable

12
or unwilling to participate in the service portion, the five-stage framework allows for alternative

action to be taken which supports the project as a whole.

The four main stages not directly involved in the action piece, namely, investigation,

preparation, reflection, and demonstration, should be represented in the classroom through the

special writing assignments that are already part of the course. Even the action stage offers an

opportunity for a special writing assignment for students that do not want to take part in the

service component. This method of implementation has two main benefits. First, this method

adds no extra content to the course but instead shifts the focus of existing content to the garden

projects. This ensures that students are not burdened with extra work simply for wanting to take

part in service-learning.

Second, tailored special writing assignments provide an appropriate method for the

implementation of the five-stage framework in a technical writing course. As Deans (1998)

suggests, writing as a part of a service-learning course prepares students well for writing for an

agency. The goals of each stage can be easily met by technical writing assignments. The

following examples demonstrate how special writing assignments can be tailored to each stage of

the framework:

 Investigative Stage: During investigation, through which students inventory their skills,

interests, and talents, students can be given writing assignments related to résumés and

cover letters. Thus, this special writing assignment can fulfill two goals: prepare the

student for writing résumés and cover letters as part of a major assignment and prepare

the students for planning their service-based solutions around their own skills.

 Preparation Stage: The preparation stage would allow students to conduct rudimentary

research and craft proposals to solve a particular problem regarding the two gardens

13
 managed by the class. These do not have to be major problems and can be something as

simple as moving potted plants in order to get more sunlight. This type of writing could

also be a stepping stone to the more formal proposals assigned in the course.

 Action Stage: For students that do not want to take part in the service component of the

course, the instructor can provide them with special writing assignments that indirectly

support the students that do take part. For example, students could write proposals

suggesting way in which to better market the class and its service component to other

students at the university.

 Reflection Stage: Reflection allows the students an opportunity to analyze previous steps

in the process. More importantly, it helps students recognize faults in their planning and

identify improvements that can be implemented in future problem-solving. While many

academics suggest journal writing as a means of reflection, and some, such as Robin

Jones (n.d.) have enumerated many different kinds of journal writing to be used in

reflection, reflection writing can take many forms. In the context of a technical writing

class with a focus on service-learning, reflective writing can take the form of students

analyzing the investigative and preparative stages and crafting a formal report on what

went well, what did not go well, and what changes can be made for the future.

 Demonstration Stage: As Kaye indicates, demonstrations “captures or contains the

totality of the experience.” This stage can be executed in the classroom as a type of

reflection writing. However, it should give students the opportunity to recognize the

technical writing skills they learned throughout the semester and identify how they will

use them in the future.

14
Unique Designation

To best market this course to the students who are most interested in taking it, Professor

Nelson should work closely with the director of the Professional Writing Program in order to

have a unique letter designation applied to his section of ENGL393: Technical Writing.

Additionally, a distinct course description which identifies the service-learning component of the

course, and its unique requirements, should be available for students to read on the websites for

both the Department of English and the university’s schedule of classes. We are less able to

provide specific recommendations regarding the letter designation since that process will rely

heavily on the syllable and sample assignments which Professor Nelson will have to provide to

the Faculty Writing Board as part of the application process.

However, it is important to reiterate the importance of a unique letter designation for this

course. A designator will attract student registrants who are interested in service-learning. These

students will be more motivated to complete the service-related assignments and put into them

the effort required to meet the unique learning goals of the course. Conversely, a unique

designation will deter students who are uninterested in service learning. This is especially

important because these students, through their unwillingness to participate fully in the course,

will shift undue burden onto other students.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we believe that a course designator should be added to Professor Nelson’s

section of English 393. As stated before, students are signing up for his class but are not aware of

the expectations. Having a service learning designator would help to ensure that the right

students are being placed in his class: creating an optimal learning environment. However,

15
before the designator is assigned Professor Nelson will need to modify some of his assignments

to provide some focus on parts of the five stages of service learning. This can be done without

adding extra content to the course, but instead through modifying the small special writing

assignments that are already in place. This will both enhance the student’s learning, but also

make his section a true-service learning course.

Before the course designator is applied, we recommend that you meet with Professor

Nelson to discuss his goals and methods for instructing his students. Since a good deal of

students that responded to our survey suggested that they were not that interested in gardening

you may want to discuss other project options with him

16
 Works Cited
Berman, S. (2006), Service Learning: A Guide to Planning, Implementing, and Assessing Student
Projects. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Bonar, L., Buchanan, R., Fisher, I., and Wechsler., A. (1996). Service-Learning in the
Curriculum: A Faculty Guide to Course Development. Lowell Bennion Community
Service Center, University of Utah. 1996.

Deans, T., Meyer-Goncalves, Z. (1998) Service-Learning Projects in Composition and Beyond.

Amherst, Massachusetts: University of Massachusetts. Retrieved from
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1071&context=slcehig
hered.

Eyler, J. and Giles, D. (1999). Where's the Learning in Service-Learning? San Francisco,
California: Jossey-Bass.

Geisler, T., Shaughnessy K., and Vega, A. (2018, May 4). ENGL 393(G) Survey [Survey].
Retrieved from
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfk80Sj4Bh2Bv2yBPpG3ZrMlRvkBCWtA5
u7e3y-KRxhjyuh5A/viewform.

Jacoby, B. (2003). Building Partnerships for Service-Learning. San Francisco, California:

Jossey-Bass.

Jones, R. (n.d.) Service-Learning Reflection Activities. University of Southern Florida. Retrieved

from https://www.servicelearning.msstate.edu/files/SL-Reflection%20Activities.pdf.

Kaye, C. B. (2013, June 26). The Five Stages of Service Learning [Blog post]. Retrieved from
http://www.cbkassociates.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/The-Five-Stages-of-Service-
Learning-Asia-Society.pdf

Kendall, J. C. (1990). Combining Service and Learning. Raleigh, North Carolina: National
Society for Internships and Experiential Education.

Wible, S. (2018, April 16). Personal Interview.

17
 Transcript for Dr. Wible Interview
Thomas: Just to give you a little bit a background on what we are doing, two other students and I
are members of Professor Patrick Nelson’s 393 class. And, as you probably already know,
Professor Nelson has acquired grant money for the managing and maintenance of a couple of
gardens on campus and we felt that the gardens and the community service portions of the class
were sufficient enough that we wanted to investigate whether or not it was possible to have his
class given a particular letter designation, sort of in the vein of Professor Alexandra Calloway’s
class. Were just beginning the research now. You’re actually the first interview we’ve had so far.
We do plan on interviewing Professor Calloway. I do think your recommendation over at Stamp
is another line of research that we’re taking seriously now. At this point, we’re trying to gather
information as to what the requirements would be to have that designation made and what you
expect, as the director of the program, from his class before you would lend your approval to that
sort of decision. So, that’s the gist of it so far. We’re really in the beginning of the research. I
have a few questions that I’d like to ask you. If you have any questions of me, either right now
about anything I’ve just said, feel free. Otherwise, we can just…

Dr. Wible [01:47]: Go ahead. I’ve got things to say, but we’ll let your questions unfold. I guess
what I would say at the outset is, I’ve directed this program for seven years, but I have
experience in service-learning and teaching myself going back to when I was a graduate student
at Penn State in the early 2000s. I taught service-learning based courses with the department of…
or maybe it was the extension office. It was a land-grant university. So, students did writing
projects for the land-grant extension office. I then taught at West Virginia University. I taught
similarly; I had students do projects with land-grant… with the extension office there. And then,
here at Maryland, I haven’t necessarily taught service-learning courses in the same way that I
conceived of those, but I have presented with Barbara Jacoby, who used to be in Stamp. I was
trying to look it up for you the other day, but I not quite sure where she is… she’s around, I’m
just not sure where she is specifically. She, in her previous capacity… if it’s previous – I’m not
sure if it still continues. She used to run a… I think there was both one that was compressed into
one winter term and there was a semester long workshop that she would run for faculty to learn
how to create a service-learning style course. She and I then did a two hour presentation here for
English department faculty about what that means. She really focused on what service-learning
means for the University and for her office. And then, I talked about how I’ve integrated writing,
and in particular reflective writing, prompts. We can talk more about that. One of the main
pieces of her presentation was, and these are things that inform my own teaching when I was
designing classes, that service-learning, in a way Barbara Jacoby articulated it, involves… both
of those words are important. That the service is valuable work and creates engaged students.
They see how the course material is engaging them and the community around them. But, then,
the work that they do has to be folded back into the learning of the course. There have to be
moments in course, whether it’s a writing assignment, focused discussion, reading paired with
discussion, or whatever, that have student then describe, analyze and reflect on the learning that
happened through the service. And particularly learning in the context of the class, not “oh, I
learned about being a good citizen in the world.” That’s an important thing to learn, but when
you’re doing it, just to take your example, in the context of technical writing, and the service-
learning courses that I’ve taught have been in technical writing, it’s “what did we learn from this
service project that helps us understand either how to write this genre, how to be a technical

18
writer who works with organizations, how to collaborate, or whatever”, so that service and
learning both have to be present in a project.

[05:35] The one other thing I’d say, again, that’s kind of informed my approach, and I’ve always
taught service-learning in the context of a writing course… This comes from another writing
studies scholar, Thomas Deans, he’s at University of Connecticut. He talks about three types of
service-learning projects. There’s writing about the community. Maybe you pick an issue like
poverty or hunger and you do research and you write a paper that examines how that issue plays
out in the community. But, it’s a bit at a distance. That’s “writing about”. Then there’s “writing
for”. And to be honest, those are probably the projects that I’ve had students do. Which is, they
have a client, they work with… they do some meetings with that client to understand the project
and need, but then the students take on almost all of the writing themselves. And then there’s
“writing with”. That is actually a more truly collaborative type of service-learning project where
students are working with community, organization, or office. Deans tends to prefer the last,
because you’re learning a lot about the organization and how to collaborate, but he really sees
either of those last two, writing for… working for the community and working with the
community as more truer service-learning projects than just writing about it at a distance.

Thomas [07:10]: As I mentioned, we are planning to interview with Professor Calloway in the
near future. But just from the brief description I’ve seen of her class, would it be fair to say that
her class is focused on those… one of those latter two?

Dr. Wible [07:31]: Yea, yea. And I would know, too, and it would be useful to know when you
talk with her, she went through one of those workshops that Barbara Jacoby led. She had done
versions of service-learning projects before. Students were working with an online organization
that created manuals called iFixit. Students would go in and help to create manuals that iFixit’s
customers wanted to learn how to do, like how to fix a broken cell phone, or something. Her
students would do the research and write a manual about how to do that. But then, she went
through that workshop with Barbara Jacoby and conceptualized this more engaged type of
project, which they’re now working with NASA-Goddard on a range of communicational and
educational activities.

Thomas [08:28]: Was the concept for her course, if I understand correctly, something that she
developed through her interactions with Barbara Jacoby? And did she bring that concept to the
department to, essentially, ask for permission or authority to execute that concept?

Dr. Wible [08:50]: Yes. So, I’m the director and she worked through me. We created… we came
up with the idea for that designation. The alternatives in front of us were to create a wholly new
course – which actually required… So she’s English 393, which is technical writing with Q – to
create a whole new course like – we’ll make up a number – English 397. That’s a really
substantive, detailed process. Even more importantly, the department has to commit to teaching
it semester after semester after semester when you create a new course. The designation of the Q
showcases to students that this is a different course; it has unique demands. But, if there are
times where Alexandra steps away from it, the course can sunset, in a way, easily, because it has
that letter. If she would be teaching 397, she would leave… no one else would want to step up…
we would have to train someone to step up and take it or go through the rigmarole, the whole

19
procedure, to get it taken off the books which it equally quite a lot of work. It’s a technical
writing course… that designation… we can give a course a letter pretty easily if we have a solid
rationale. We’ve done that with others. For a long time, we only had an honors section of
technical writing. Two years ago, we started to offer an honors section of science writing. It
required conceptualizing the course, but it didn’t require a lot in terms of having to create a new
course or anything. It just was honors. It just require x, y, and z to be an honors course and then
we’re good to go.

Thomas [10:54]: In terms of actually having a class given a specific designation, such as a letter
at the end of the course descriptor, there are a few questions here. One, what is the hierarchy of
authority that I have to get? I imagine that eventually it would probably go through you as the
director of the Professional Writing Program. Does that then have to go through the English
Department as a whole or not?

Dr. Wible [11:25]: No, it stays here because it doesn’t involve creating a new course. It’s just a
letter designation. The one thing that is a minor detail down the road that’s required is that all of
our professional writing courses, because they’re a GenEd course, which is fundamental
studies/professional writing… there’s a board on campus call the Faculty Writing Board – I’m a
member of it, I help run it – anytime we create a professional writing course, even if it’s just a
letter, we have to submit a syllabus and assignments to that board just to approve it and say that
it meets the learning outcomes for the PWP. That’s a key thing that a course has to meet the
learning outcomes of the PWP. The fact that it’s a technical writing course is not a problem.

Thomas [12:34]: My next question, I think you’ve already hit on this a bit, but in your own
words, could you describe how you see the advantages of a course with unique requirements, and
maybe unique service-learning requirements, of having that course separate by means of having
a distinct designator. Because when registrants go on the schedule of classes, they’re going to
see… they’re going to recognize it immediately. What do you think the advantages are of having
that distinction for a class that warrants it?

Dr. Wible [13:08]: Just to go to the example of the Q course, I haven’t done interviews with
students to understand how they went through the actual registration process. I know it’s not
100% that everyone who signed up for it… that was the main reason they signed up for it. But,
the advantage is that more students will come to the class with an understanding of what is
involved in it. I can’t remember the specific language that we came up with for that course but
I’m pretty certain that it involved something like “there will be an off-campus component to it”
in some draft for so that students will enter the class knowing the expectations and won’t be
caught off-guard about it. That’s certainly an advantage to it. And I think, too, we work hard –
again, it’s not a 100% success rate, but we work hard – every semester, particularly our program
coordinator, to communicate with all of the advisors across campus. We remind them, I mean,
sometimes the same advisors work there for 15 years, but every semester they here from us:
“here are the courses we offer, here are new courses we’re developing, you might want to
consider directing students into them”. So having those special designation can help us in talking
with the advisors and can help them theoretically get students into the right courses.

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Thomas [14:52]: If I may take a little bit of a turn, how do you see the specific goals of the
Professional Writing Program from your vantage point as the director?

Dr. Wible [15:05]: I see them being broader than just “students need to learn how to write these
five types of documents”. I’m more interested, in general, in students seeing how writing gets
things done in the workplace or in the broader civic… like how to get things done in their
communities. When I teach science writing, for example, I teach four units. The units aren’t
named by the genre. It’s not “instruction sets” and “definitions”. It’s like, and I’m forgetting the
specifics, “communicating complex information to multiple audiences”. So, it’s focused on that
goal. “How do I do that? I have to do that in a range of professional contexts”. One way to do it
is learning how to define precisely and define for multiple audiences. Another way is teaching
people how to carry out process. Those, for me, are the broader goals. Students learn the types of
communication-oriented goals they have to achieve and then they learn how to use writing to do
that. And then, in understanding those goals, they’re always attuned to “who’s my audience?”
and “what’s my specific purpose here?” and “how do I adapt writing, whether through language
or document design, to achieve those goals?”
Thomas [16:43]: Would you say that engagement and interaction with a broader community
than just the students in the class and the professor is an integral part of the program?

Dr. Wible [16:57]: Yes, I think so. I don’t think it’s required that students go outside the
classroom. I teach a lot of professional writing classes like that. I’m also a scholar of professional
writing studies as a researcher and that’s one thing that is… you know, the stereotypical
perception of a professional writer is that they’re just the person with all of the grammar
knowledge. A much better way, a way in which it actually works in the world, is that they’re an
advocate between multiple groups of people. Say, they’re writing for a company that does a lot
of technical manuals. They’re sort of, maybe not an advocate, but they’re in between the users
and the company and they have to learn how to negotiate. The company demands that I do x, y,
and z. Or the law demands that x, y, and z have to happen in this document too for liability’s
sake. But I can’t ignore the users. I need to have them have a good experience. How to negotiate
those competing demands is an important part of professional writing and I think service learning
puts students in the position where they’re thinking through those issues a lot more.

Thomas [18:21]: I really only have one other point that I’d like to get at and you’ve already
touched on it a little bit. As the director of the program, how to you envision service-learning
incorporated into either specific classes or the program as a whole in the future? Do you have
any sort of vision as to how you would like to see particular programs incorporated into
professional writing classes?

Dr. Wible [18:50]: The way it’s grown up, it’s been individual instructors either through
particular interests or connections they already have or bring. Two me, there are two or three
promising things happening at the university level that we could tap into more actively, for lack
of a better word. One example is the former mayor of College Park, Andrew Fellows. He’s now
either working for UMD or is a consultant. He’s trying to build on a lot of the contacts he had as
mayor with community organizations and he’s really interested in sustainability and
environmental issues. He’s trying to help those, particularly non-profits, which are short-staffed
and under-resourced, connect with courses and students on campus who a have a particular

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environmental sustainability issue they’d like to pursue. Particularly organizations that aren’t
specifically environmental. Maybe it’s a women’s shelter or something, but they have a
sustainability issue that they want to try to address. He’s trying to connect them with courses and
professors on campus to develop some more service-learning style courses. Now, that’s
something that came up two years ago when I met with him and I’d had other projects that I’d
been trying to build in the PWP. But I think, looking ahead at the future, I think professional
writing in the program, and we’ve developed a professional writing minor in the past two years, I
think there’s more work to be done in connecting with that. There’s one other… there’s already
and established program that the University of Maryland does where they go out and they
identify… it’s kind of oriented around technical issues, but they’ll work with a local community.
I know they worked with Frederick one semester. Frederick puts a proposal together: “Here’s a
problem we’re trying to address.” Say, develop the downtown business core. They put together a
proposal and then Maryland accepts it and they pull together researchers and, again, courses on
campus that for a whole semester are devoted to addressing some aspect of the problem in
Frederick. I think PWP could be involved in that project more explicitly. But, there’s a lot going
in the PWP. I think we’ve invested our time and energy in some other great projects but I want to
try and keep that in my mind as something we can try to continue to return to develop. One other
thing I’d say, and I’ve touched on this in the beginning when I talked about service and learning,
that the learning component is really important. The work that’s being done in the community or
on campus feeds back into the work that the students do in achieving the learning outcomes of
the course and one of the key ways that happens is our course, or any service-learning course, is
through guided reflective writing. So, students are describing the work they do and then
analyzing and reflecting on the learning that’s happening there. The teacher provide explicit
opportunities for that to happen, whether it’s through writing or through discussion. [23:18]

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