Small WID Courses (up to 12 students)

Course Context

Small WID courses offer conditions that make sustained attention to student writing feasible. At this scale, instructors often have greater flexibility to respond to individual students, adjust instruction in real time, and support writing as an ongoing process across the semester.

These courses are often discussion-driven and may resemble seminars or workshops, though they remain distinct from independent study or directed research models.

Role of Writing in the Course

In many small WID courses, writing can function as both a primary mode of learning and a central focus of instruction. Faculty often find that writing-to-learn and learning-to-write are closely intertwined at this scale.

Because instructors can engage more directly with student work, writing is often used to help students develop disciplinary thinking, practice genre conventions, and refine their ideas through multiple stages of drafting and revision. Writing in these courses may play a more prominent role in shaping both class discussion and course direction.

Writing Tasks and Projects

Faculty teaching small WID courses often have the flexibility to assign more sustained individual writing projects than is feasible in larger classes.

Common approaches include:

• frequent low-stakes writing (e.g., responses, short analyses, exploratory drafts) to support engagement and idea development)
• one or more medium- or high-stakes individual projects, such as papers, reports, or applied writing tasks
• opportunities for revision and feedback that allow students to rethink and refine their work over time

At this scale, instructors often find it possible to support more ambitious projects, particularly when assignments are sequenced, i.e., broken into connected stages that guide students through planning, drafting, feedback, and revision.

Support and Feedback

Small WID courses allow for a wider range of support and feedback practices, including more sustained instructor involvement.

Faculty may draw on strategies such as:

• instructor feedback at multiple points in the writing process, including on drafts and revisions
• conferences or small-group discussions focused on works in progress
• peer review, when appropriate, to support revision and develop students’ critical reading and response skills
• reflection, often built into low- or medium-stakes writing, to help students assess their learning and make connections across assignments
• AI-assisted feedback tools at early or exploratory stages, when appropriate, with clear instruction on responsible and effective use

Because of the smaller class size, instructors may also adapt instruction in response to patterns they notice in student writing and use class time flexibly for workshops or collaborative analysis of texts.

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 combine frequent low-stakes writing with one or two more developed assignments. For example:

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

If writing accounts for approximately 50% of the course grade, writing may play a more central role across the semester. For example:

• one or two substantial projects, often supported by sequenced writing tasks: ~25–30%
• frequent low-stakes and supporting writing: ~20–25%

If writing accounts for approximately 60% of the course grade, writing may serve as the primary mode through which students engage course content and demonstrate learning. For example:

• multiple sequenced projects or a major project with revision: ~30–40%
• frequent low-stakes and supporting writing, including reflection: ~20–30%

These examples illustrate different ways writing can be weighted and structured in small WID courses, depending on instructional priorities.

Design Takeaway

In small WID courses, writing often works best when instructors take advantage of the opportunity to support writing as a process. The scale of the course can make sustained feedback, sequencing, and revision more feasible, allowing writing to function as both a tool for learning and a site for developing more polished disciplinary work.