To:Dr. Marjorie Chadwick
Executive Director, UH WritingCenter
From:Robert Askew
Program Manager of Research & Assessment, UH WritingCenter
Re:English / History Linked Courses, Fall 2004
Date:March 25, 2005
Survey Assessment Summary:
English History Linked Courses
Fall 2004
As part of the Weekend University program at the University of Houston, the UH Writing Center collaborated with faculty from the History Department and the College of Education on a linked course offered in the Fall semester of 2004. Students enrolled in the program attendeda History section followed by a English class session devoted to writing. Students who completed the program received credit for both HIST1377 and either ENGL1303, ENGL1304, or ENGL2321.
Academic goals for the program included recognition of the importance of collaboration, acquisition of technological skills necessary for university-level research and publication, and gaining a better understanding of personal writing issues. At the end of the semester, the participants were administered a survey to assess their attitudes and beliefs concerning items related to these goals. Of the 60 students that finished the course, 52 completed the survey.
An analysis of the survey responses suggests that students associated the items on the survey with one of three general orientations toward the course: mastery of academic skills, importance of collaboration, and their personal understanding of writing.
- By the end of the semester, the students agreed that they had mastered the academic skills emphasized in the course as reflected in a mean score of 1.67 on the five point scale (1 = Strongly Agree).
- The participants also recognized the importance of collaboration in the course and across disciplines. This is reflected in a mean score of 1.71 on the five point scale (1 = Strongly Agree).
- Concerning personal writing issues, the students agreed that they had an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and how to tailor their writing accordingly, as reflected in a mean score of 2.02 on a five point scale (1 = Strongly Agree).
Table 1 illustrates the mean score for the items that associated with each orientation and the reliability coefficients for each set of survey items.
Table 1: Orientations to Course Sorted by Strength of Agreement
(1=Strong Agreement,
5=Strong Disagreement) / Reliability Coefficient (Cronbach’s Alpha)
Mastery of Academic Skills / 1.67 / .84
I know how to effectively research a topic using the internet.
I am comfortable doing university level coursework.
I have good computing skills.
I know how to appropriately cite sources.
I understand how to publish information on the World Wide Web.
I do not understand how to cite information and images I have found on the internet.*
Importance of Collaboration / 1.71 / .79
I feel there was meaningful collaboration between the faculty and students in this class.
I am more comfortable engaging in class discussions in a linked class.
I do not see the curricular connections between these linked courses.*
Linking courses reinforces the information I learn.
I see links between subjects across academic disciplines
Personal Understanding of Writing / 2.02 / .90
I understand how presenting an argument visually can enhance its effectiveness.
I know how to emphasize the strengths of my writing.
I can identify errors made in my writing.
I know how to compensate for weaknesses in my writing.
* Responses to these negatively worded items were recoded before the mean response was calculated with 5 being recoded as 1 and 4 as 2.
Short Answer Analysis
Benefits of Linking Courses:
When prompted to elaborate on how linking the courses affected their learning, over 75 percentof the students stated that linking the courses enriched their understanding of both subjects. Some students elaborated further:
By linking courses I am allowed the opportunity to more effectively group together the things I learn to the way I can use them to better myself. Linking courses strengthens the curriculum of each course involved and helps me to retain and extract what I learn more effectively.
Another student commented,
[I]n regular English classes, the papers normally are just random topics. In this class, you learn something in history and then go visit a museum and then turn around and write about it. You get to experience your topic.
Other students statedthat linking the courses enhanced student collaboration and required a greater level of research.
Saturday Meetings:
Seventy percent of the students expressed that meeting once a week on Saturday was convenient. Many expressed that it helped them balance other demands with school. One student offered the following:
It has helped me to balance my work (professional) life and my school life. This Saturday class has allowed me to work normal hours and have my nights set aside for my family.
Another 12 percent stated that Saturdays were not their preferred day for class, but did prefer meeting for class once a week. Some mentioned other conveniences such as less traffic and more available parking.
Obstacles to Learning:
The students were prompted for the greatest obstacle to completing course assignments,and there was no consensus among the responses. Many mentioned technological difficulties as some of the students did not have computers at home or owned incompatible software. Others mentioned difficulty finding time during the week to complete assignments while trying to balance competing personal concerns.
Future Linked-Course Offerings:
Approximately80 percent of the students stated that they would consider taking a linked class again. Other students stated that they would as well if it were offered at a time other than the weekend. One student summarized, “I appreciated the one-on-one help, the weekly emails from professors; it just made things so much easier. This is one class I would recommend to others as well.”