Medium WID Courses (13-24 students)

Course Context

Medium-sized WID courses occupy a flexible middle ground. At this scale, instructors often have more room to support student writing than in large courses, while still needing to make intentional choices about workload, feedback, and assignment design.

These courses can accommodate a wider range of writing practices, but course size continues to shape what kinds of writing and support are realistic over the semester.

Role of Writing in the Course

In many medium-sized WID courses, writing can function both as a learning tool and as a way for students to practice producing disciplinary forms of writing. Faculty often find that writing-to-learn and learning-to-write work best in combination at this scale.

Frequent low-stakes writing can help students engage with course concepts, test ideas, and make their thinking visible. At the same time, medium-sized courses often allow space for more developed writing tasks that ask students to practice disciplinary genres, conventions, and expectations.

Writing in these courses often supports learning across the semester while also culminating in one or more more substantial pieces of work.

Writing Tasks and Projects

Faculty teaching medium-sized WID courses often design writing around a small number of medium- or high-stakes projects, supported by lower-stakes writing.

Common approaches include:

• frequent low-stakes writing (e.g., responses, short analyses, informal reflections) to support learning and engagement)
• one or two medium- or high-stakes projects, such as papers, reports, case studies, or applied writing tasks
• occasional group or collaborative writing projects, which some faculty use to support peer learning or manage instructional workload

At this scale, individual projects are often more feasible than in large courses. Even so, instructors frequently find that more substantial assignments benefit from sequencing—breaking the work into connected stages—and from intermediate writing tasks that help students plan, draft, and revise over time.

Support and Feedback

Medium-sized courses often allow for a broader range of support and feedback practices, while still benefiting from strategic distribution of instructional labor.

Faculty may draw on strategies such as:

• instructor feedback at multiple points in a project, particularly at moments that shape direction or revision
• peer review, used selectively and with clear guidance, to support revision and help students develop disciplinary judgment
• reflection, often built into low- or medium-stakes writing, to help students assess their progress and make sense of feedback
• AI-assisted feedback tools at early or exploratory stages, when appropriate, with explicit instruction on effective and responsible use and clear boundaries around their role

Because class size is more manageable, instructors may also use class time for workshops, discussion of drafts, or close attention to models of disciplinary writing.

Assessment and Writing Weight

In WID courses at Rhode Island College, writing assignments should account for 40–60% of the final course grade, depending on course goals and disciplinary expectations. The examples below are offered as illustrative shorthand, not as models that must be replicated.

If writing accounts for approximately 40% of the course grade, instructors often emphasize frequent low-stakes writing alongside one more developed project. For example:

• one medium- or high-stakes projects: ~15–20%
• ongoing low-stakes writing, including reflective work: ~20–25%

If writing accounts for approximately 50% of the course grade, some instructors balance multiple forms of writing across the semester. For example:

• one or two medium- or high-stakes projects: ~20–30%
• a mix of low-stakes and supporting writing tasks: ~20–30%

If writing accounts for approximately 60% of the course grade, writing may function as a central mode of learning and assessment. For example:

• one or two substantial projects, often supported by sequenced writing tasks: ~30–35%
• frequent low-stakes and supporting writing, including reflection: ~25–30%

These examples illustrate different ways writing can be weighted and structured in medium-sized courses, depending on instructional priorities.

Design Takeaway

In medium-sized WID courses, writing often works best when instructors combine frequent low-stakes writing with carefully sequenced projects that give students space to practice disciplinary forms. This course size can support a balance of shared structures and targeted instructor feedback, allowing writing to function both as a tool for learning and as a means for developing more polished disciplinary work.