Ideal Dance Partners: Requiring Personal and Reflective Writing in an Upper Level Online Writing Course for Undergraduates
Abstract: Writing skills of college undergraduates need to be reinforced and learned well beyond the first year of instruction. This paper argues that an entirely online upper level writing course required of juniors and seniors is a flexible and empowering first step in making students confident writers no matter their discipline. Informed with expressivist theory and pedagogy from the field of Rhetoric and Composition, this proposed writing course focuses on personal and reflective writing that will foster the genuine growth of a student’s writing voice in and out of their academic discipline. Key points in designing such a course as well as theoretical and practical considerations involving instructor feedback and managing the course are also discussed.