OER university/Planning/OERu 2012 Prototype/College Composition/Design blueprint

Metadata summary

 * Level: Entry level - Undergraduate - Associate's degree - intended for first year students
 * Discipline: English (language) 120
 * Notional learning hours: This course will be competency-based so any seat time figure is somewhat nominal, but it will be a version of a course that would equate to approximately 100-120 hours of study for an undergraduate student
 * Credits 3
 * Local credential at your institution: 3 credits towards an associate's or bachelor's degree

Intended target audience
ENG 120 is a college-level writing course that introduces students to various forms of academic discourse. Students are required to prepare essays in a variety of rhetorical modes, including exposition, description and argumentation. ENG 120 introduces students to process-writing techniques, library research and MLA documentation procedures. The primary focus of ENG 120 is to help students acquire the writing skills they need to succeed in an academic environment.


 * This is an entry-level course to get students familiar with the expectations and communication standards needed to succeed academically at college.
 * We accommodate a large percentage of non-native speakers in our programs at SNHU and this experience, built into this course, makes it viable for a multinational audience within OERu

Delivery model
This course currently exists in the SNHU Blackboard environment but with our transition to more open studies and greater use of OER, we will look to host the materials openly on WikiEducator.

The course materials will include:


 * open web-based resources - many sourced from The Saylor foundation
 * SNHU-developed resources and activities providing guidance and support for student work
 * some form of community-based peer-to-peer support (we are working with OpenStudy.com for pilots currently)
 * (proposed) open blog/journal for student work - WordPress or similar (perhaps left to student's preference rather than prescribed)
 * multiple self-check quizzes to check comprehension
 * a number of key deliverables demonstrating competence

Assessment model
Competencies will be reviewed through journal / blog submissions and 4 main essays:
 * 1) A Narrative essay
 * 2) An Analysis essay
 * 3) An Argument essay and
 * 4) A Research essay

Assessment weighting

Essays - 80% Journal / blog - 20%

Authentication  An initial sample of writing will be collected on entry. We may implement other means of verification prior to course launch.

Skills focus

In line with other developmental work that we are undertaking at SNHU, we will be looking to encourage and reward the following critical skills (as defined by LEAP, Lumina, Institute of the Future, and other recent reports)


 * 1) Inquiry and Analysis
 * 2) Communication
 * 3) Creativity
 * 4) Critical Thinking / Problem Solving
 * 5) Information / ICT Literacy
 * 6) Quantitative Literacy

We may acknowledge these skills with some form of badging or other motivational rewards

Credentialing successful students will receive 3 credits that will be reflected on an official SNHU transcript.

Student-content interactions

 * Students will be provided with rich content in the form of OER
 * Transitional / narrative / context-setting text provided by SNHU instructors / Instructional Designers to help them navigate the content
 * Self-check resources to ascertain (self-)learning prior to high(er) stakes testing

Student-student interactions

 * Contemplating an instal of OpenStudy.com for near-synchronous student-student / peer support
 * an asynchronous discussion board to log longer term concerns and to share work for peer feedback an commentary

Student-support interactions

 * Academic Volunteers
 * SNHU Program Director / mentor

Learning outcomes / Graduate profile
On completion of this course students will be able to:

✦ Write grammatically correct sentences demonstrating control over punctuation, syntax, and word choice.

✦ Produce writing whose form, organization, syntax, diction, style, and tone are appropriate for a given audience, subject, and purpose.

✦ Read critically with an eye toward identifying main ideas, supporting evidence, and conclusions so that they can utilize these components in their own writing.

✦ Use process writing for generating ideas, drafting, and revising.

✦ Locate, evaluate, and integrate information purposefully from electronic and print sources and to document them correctly using MLA style.

✦ Write captivating introductions, coherent theses, well developed, organized, and supported text, and conclusions that lead the reader to the bigger picture.

✦ Demonstrate personal and collaborative editing skills developed through workshops and peer feedback.