What meaningful writing means for students

St. Johns University a private, urban Catholic university; Northeastern University a private, urban university known for experiential learning; and the University of Oklahoma, a public R1 flagship institution-students described the powerful roles that writing plays in their personal, academic, and p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPeer review : emerging trends and key debates in undergraduate education Vol. 19; no. 1; pp. 25 - 29
Main Authors Eodice, Michele, Geller, Anne Ellen, Lerner, Neal
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington Association of American Colleges and Universities 01.01.2017
Subjects
Beliefs, opinions and attitudes
Breast cancer
Cancer
College students
Curricula
Educational Practices
Elective Courses
Ethnography
Experiential Learning
Higher education
Hockey
Learning
Literature Reviews
Reflection
Students
Studies
Study and teaching
Tan, Amy
Undergraduate Students
Urban Schools
Urban Universities
Writing
Writing Assignments
Writing Exercises
Writing Instruction
United States
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Summary:St. Johns University a private, urban Catholic university; Northeastern University a private, urban university known for experiential learning; and the University of Oklahoma, a public R1 flagship institution-students described the powerful roles that writing plays in their personal, academic, and professional lives. [...]like others who deem writing to be a high-impact educational practice (Boquet and Lerner 2016; Anderson et al. 2015) and an opportunity for students to draw on and explore all dimensions of their lives (Guerra 2015), we found that students are writing across their undergraduate years, in their majors, in general education courses, in contexts without formal writing requirements, and outside of class, and they recognize that writing is meaningful. In this article and in our book based on this research, The Meaningful Writing Project: Learning, Teaching, and Writing in Higher Education (2016), we show that meaningful writing occurs when students are invited to * tap into the power of personal connection; * immerse themselves in what they are thinking, writing, and researching; * experience what they are writing as applicable and relevant to the real world; and * imagine their future selves. Because I'm Indian and I grew up in an Indian household, but I went to school in a very white town, and it was sort of like a very American thing. THE FUTURE FOR MEANINGFUL WRITING We have shown in this article that students find writing projects meaningful when they have opportunities to connect on a personal level, to find meaning beyond the specifics of...
ISSN:1541-1389