WR 120
Remote Implementations of Essential Lesson Activities
The Writing Program’s set of Essential Lessons represent key elements of our classes; this page contains suggestions and tools for remote (synchronous and asynchronous) implementation of the suggested activities in the Essential Lessons.
Picture Prompts for Online Classes
Instructors may want to use visual prompts to foster discussion, help unify remote and on-campus students, and create a classroom community. Picture prompts can be varied to connect with the course theme. Activity Review the New York Times Learning Network’s “Picture Prompts” series, “144 Picture Prompts to Inspire Student Writing.” On the landing page, there’s […]
Remote Learning Expectations & Etiquette
Overview In our class this semester, we will be using various technologies, including the Zoom video-conferencing platform. Zoom is designed to enhance our educational experience and to help us meet our course goals. However, as with any other tool, technologies like Zoom can also be misused and become a distraction or even an obstacle to […]
Overview of Zoom for Students
Boston University utilizes the Zoom platform for synchronous class sessions. As a student, you may also decide to use Zoom for connecting with your peers or interacting on projects. The videos and resources below offer an overview on how to access your Zoom class session, and how to set up your own meeting with your […]
Active Learning Strategies in a Remote Environment
This “Quick Guide to Converting your Face-to-Face Pedagogical Approaches to the Online Environment” from BU’s CTL offers a comprehensive table with tips and suggestions for adapting your typical face-to-face classroom approach to an online synchronous or asynchronous modality Adapting Active Learning Strategies to Remote Environments Active learning strategies involve planning activities in which students are […]
Student Motivation in a Remote Environment
Keeping students motivated in a remote course is a common challenge not only in remote writing courses, but across various subject matters. Without in-person contact, it may often be more difficult for faculty to pick up on students’ nonverbal cues, which may often signal their disinterest or unenthusiasm. The resources below offer tips and suggestions […]
Community Building in a Remote Environment
Creating a sense of community is important for any course and in any modality; however, instructors often find it more challenging to build a strong online community in remote courses. The resources below offer some practical tips and suggestions for building a stronger community in your online courses.
Outdoor Class Meetings and Activities
We at BU know the value of connecting students to this campus and beyond, of making local-global connections. We at Boston Now, a curricular initiative in Boston University’s CAS Writing Program that focuses on outside-the-classroom experiences and place-based learning, see the whole university/city/world as a classroom. We need to expand the traditional classroom, emphasize the value of […]
Notes for Inclusive Syllabi: Diversity and Land Acknowledgment Statements
When trying to create a welcoming, inclusive classroom, instructors may want to include a diversity statement and a land acknowledgment statement on their syllabi. We provide examples of each here for your benefit. Instructors may also want to read more about universal design and accessible syllabi, and also about diversifying their reading lists. [/collapsible] Guide […]
Strategies for Engaging with Critics
In this exercise, students practice engaging with critics (argument and theory sources in the BEAM/BEAT framework). The templates provided scaffold students’ responses to the critics before students need to engage more deeply with critics in an essay. This exercise can be done individually or in pairs. Objective To use templates to practice different strategies for […]