Jessica Merricks, associate professor of biology, and Kelsey Bitting, assistant professor of environmental studies, recently published the article 鈥溾�� in the听Journal of College Science Teaching.

Reflection as a process helps students better understand themselves with respect to content and experiences they encounter in required science courses taken to fulfill distribution requirements, making that content more meaningful and more likely to shape students鈥� thinking and engagement in science-related topics as citizens. However, students may not arrive in the science classroom with the skills and habits of mind that lead to transformative insights via the reflective process, and tracking that skill development can allow instructors to tailor instruction about reflection according to students鈥� current understanding and practice. Nonetheless, Merricks and Bitting discovered that existing reflective writing instruments lacked the nuance to detect subtle shifts in students鈥� development across units in a single semester.

Using a dataset of students鈥� end-of-unit reflections in an introductory-level environmental science course serving mostly non-majors, Merricks and Bitting developed a refined rubric that recognized and codified incremental differences in student reflective thinking along the path to reflective writing. This analysis revealed that students frequently expressed personal connections to content and noted shifts in their perspective, even as they were still working to master the details of related scientific concepts.

The authors believe this instrument can help science instructors communicate about the goals and levels of reflection to students and allow them to recognize and encourage increasing reflective depth in student work across the progress of a single semester.

Support was provided by 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Center for Writing Excellence via a CWE Pedagogy Grant to Merricks in 2021 and a writing residency completed by Merricks in 2023.

Each spring, the听(CEL), the听Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning听(CATL), the听Center for Research on Global Engagement听(CRGE) and the听Center for Writing Excellence听(CWE) co-sponsor this听annual showcase of faculty, staff, and student research on teaching and learning.听The presenters have all听participated听in or been supported by听SoTL听programming across these centers.听The event features a poster session and catered reception, offering the campus community an opportunity to engage with听studies of听innovative pedagogical work and reflect on the impact of听SoTL听on听scholarly听teaching practices across disciplines.

This year鈥檚听SoTL听showcase brings together interdisciplinary projects exploring topics such听as听students-as-partners collaborations, equity and belonging in STEM,听global approaches to intercultural learning and integrating GenAI into teaching and learning.

From CEL, the听听will present on their students’ experience co-leading CEL鈥檚.听They鈥檒l听highlight the multi-institutional inquiry at the heart of three multi-year research seminars, as well as the benefits of student-faculty/staff co-inquiry for both student and faculty/staff partners.

Representing听CATL,听Kelsey听Bitting, assistant professor of environmental studies,听and听Jessica Merricks, associate professor of biology,听will听present听their听2025-2027听CATL Scholar听research听on the impacts听of community-engaged courses on first-generation students, students of color and women in STEM disciplines. Additionally, Amanda听Chunco, associate professor of environmental students and 2024-2026 CATL Scholar, will present her work on grading practices and听student听belonging听in听STEM.

From the CRGE,听Bill Burress, director of assessment and accreditation for the Dr. Jo Watts Williams School of Education听and CRGE pre-doctoral scholar, will present research on international mobility in teacher preparation across the United States and Italy. Emily Moser,听program coordinator for CEL and CATL; Michael Carignan, professor of history; and Lynn Huber, professor of religious studies, recipients of a CRGE听faculty-staff research grant,听will present their听collaborative project听exploring visual inquiry methods as a tool to foster and assess intercultural competence in global听contexts.

搁别辫谤别蝉别苍迟颈苍驳听迟丑别听Center for Writing Excellence,听Shannon Duvall, professor of computer science and interim associate dean听for College of Arts and Sciences听will present听her project 鈥淓xploring Large Language Models for Teaching and Accessibility.鈥�

All faculty, staff and students are invited to attend and engage with presenters during this celebration of听the scholarship of听teaching and learning at 黑料不打烊.

The Center For Writing Excellence鈥檚 annual Multimodal Writing Contest was created to celebrate the innovative multimodal writing students are producing across the university, in their classes or in their on-campus or professional experiences. Hosted annually, all 黑料不打烊 undergraduate and graduate students are invited to submit entries.

There are nine entry categories, divided according to the program, school, or experience in which the multimodal text was produced: arts and sciences, communications, business, education, health sciences, law, CORE curriculum, campus involvement, and internships. The contest welcomes any composition using two or more modes, such as text, images, video, and audio.

Winnters

Campus Involvement

Winner: Monika Jurevicius, for their Today at 黑料不打烊 article titled 鈥淧ower+Place Collaborative feeds both mind and body with new culinary collaborations,鈥� created in the Center for Design Thinking.

黑料不打烊 College, the College of Arts and Sciences

Winner: Maeve Draper, Hailey Youngman, Adelaide Malynn and Nina Doble for their infographic 鈥淭he Buzz on Longer Freeze-Free Seasons,鈥� produced in Kelsey Bitting鈥檚 ENS1710 class.

Runner-up: Zhikun Hao for the essay 鈥淔acing the Inner Upside Down: Trauma Psychology and Zen Meditation in Stranger Things,鈥� produced in Pamela Winfield鈥檚 REL1175 class.

School of Communications

Winner:听Anjolina Fantaroni for the multimedia story 鈥淗uman Trafficking in Alamance County and the Fight Led by CrossRoads,鈥� produced in Kelly Furnas鈥檚 Journalism 4970 class.

Runner-up: Landon Lepley for their short documentary and article 鈥淪avannah Ghost Tours,鈥� produced in Alex Luchsinger鈥檚 Journalism 3150 class. The winner is

School of Education

Winner: Mia O鈥橞rien for the advocacy brief 鈥淎ccess to After School Resources for At-Risk Youth,鈥� produced in Heidi Hollingsworth鈥檚 EDU4670 class.

School of Health Sciences

Winner:听Caroline Reich for the poster 鈥淒ifferences in Infants’ Hip and Knee Joint Angles in a Novice Versus Experienced Crawler,鈥� produced with.
Srikant Vallabhajosula as part of URP 4999 independent study.

Runner-Up: MacKenzie Dudley for the project 鈥淗and Under Hand,鈥� produced in Alys Giordano鈥檚 DPT 7150 class.

Internship

Winner: Paige Millard for the multimedia bulletin board created as part of an internship with Lavender Hill Farm Marketing.

CORE Curriculum

Winner:听Lily Mosbacher for the podcast 鈥淒egrees of Change: An Intergenerational Podcast,鈥� produced in Olivia Choplin鈥檚 COR 1100 class.

Runner-up: Julia Raynor, Louis Diamond, and Jay Johnson for the slideshow 鈥淢odern Day Redlining in North Carolina,鈥� produced in Heather Barker鈥檚 STS 1100 class.

Martha and Spencer Love School of Business听

Winner: Oskar Zimmer for the slideshow 鈥淎dobe Stock Valuation,鈥� produced in Andrew Schwartz鈥檚 FIN4130 course.

Runner-up: Isabella Heredia for the slideshow 鈥淒uke Energy Valuation Project,鈥� produced in Andrew Schwartz鈥檚 FIN4130 course.

Grand Prize

This year鈥檚 grand prize winners, selected from all category winners, are Anjolina Fantaroni for 鈥淗uman Trafficking in Alamance County and the Fight Led by CrossRoads鈥� and Lily Mosbacher for 鈥淒egrees of Change: An Intergenerational Podcast.鈥�

Catherine Bowlin, assistant teaching professor in English, presented 鈥淎 Liberating Way听to听Take a Course: Linguistically Just, Collaborative Feedback and Assessment in First-Year Writing,鈥澨齛 pedagogical intervention she began piloting in her Fall 2025 courses (ENG 1100 and COR 1100). This question-based feedback model requires students to听submit听specific questions about their drafts before receiving peer or instructor feedback.

This approach is part of Bowlin鈥檚 broader commitment to linguistically just assessment practices that center student agency and challenge traditional grading structures that often reinforce linguistic hierarchies. Bowlin shared preliminary findings from three courses and received valuable feedback from scholars in writing studies. Early data suggests that structuring feedback around student-generated questions can increase students鈥� confidence, sense of ownership over their writing, and engagement with the revision process.

Paula Patch, associate teaching professor in English and associate director of the Common Reading and First-Year Foundations in the 黑料不打烊 Core Curriculum,听participated听in a roundtable discussion on career options after a faculty member has served as a Writing Program Administrator. Titled “‘Learning on the Bones’: Life After Writing Program Administration,” the roundtable featured five mid- to late-career faculty who spoke about their experiences as administrators, what they decided to do next in their careers, and advice they have for others. Patch spoke about the unique opportunities听and听sense of belonging that program and campus leadership offers for non-tenure track faculty.鈥� The presenters also debuted a call for proposals for an edited collection on the same topic. Patch was the Coordinator of the College Writing Program at 黑料不打烊 from 2012 to 2019.

Associate Professors听of English听Heather Lindenman, first-year Writing coordinator, and听Julia Bleakney, director of The Writing Center, and听Associate Teaching Professor听Greg Hlavaty presented the findings of a Spring 2025 study that piloted two versions of AI-integrated first-year writing courses (ENG 1100). This presentation, 鈥淣avigating Control and Trust: A Study of Two Pedagogical Approaches to Teaching First-Year Writing with Generative AI,鈥� detailed two pedagogical models for engaging AI in the FYW classroom; shared an overview of the study鈥檚 findings from both survey and focus group data; and discussed pedagogical and curricular interventions being currently piloted in 黑料不打烊鈥檚 first-year writing courses as a result of this study鈥檚 findings and implications.

黑料不打烊 and ENG1100 have been leaders in research surrounding听generative AI and听writing pedagogy. These presentations contributed to听conversations听among Writing Studies scholars听regarding听pedagogical adaptations to support student and faculty engagement.

This national celebration is hosted on or around Oct. 20 every year, and this year, the Center for Writing Excellence, as in previous years, sponsored various campus-wide events. This year鈥檚 events were coordinated by Writing Center Lead Consultant Grey Carr ’27. Hosts included The Writing Center in the Center for Writing Excellence, the Curriculum Resources Center in the School of Education, Live Oak Communications, Student Professional Development Center and Koenigsberger Learning Center, Undergraduate Research Program and The School of Law. The full list of events is below, and more details about the School of Law event are in this Today at 黑料不打烊 article.

Students attending the events were entered into a drawing to win one of several gift cards. Congratulations to all the winners who joined us on the National Day on Writing to celebrate the power of words!

Full list of events:

The Curriculum Resources Center,听 鈥淭hank a Professor鈥� Gratitude Card Writing

The Writing Center,听 “Words, Words, Words!” Magnetic Poetry drop-in

Student Professional Development Center & Koenigsberger Learning Center, “Peer Educators Cover Letter Workshop”

The Undergraduate Research Office,听“Reflecting on your Research Journey Using the Fire Toolkit” drop-in event

Live Oak Communications, Tagline Tournament

黑料不打烊 Law-Greensboro campus, “黑料不打烊 Law Poetry Slam”

Charlotte Flex Law program, “Poetry Slam”

Myers is a freelance health writer and content strategist. While at 黑料不打烊, she studied professional writing and rhetoric, worked in the writing center, and conducted a rheotrical analysis of sexual violence prevention communication on campus. Since graduating, her writing has been published in outlets like Forbes,听AARP and Healthline. She also consults for leading healthcare startups, helping them craft content strategies that get their brands featured in Google searches, on social media, and in AI-powered search. While most of her clients are US-based companies, she currently lives in London and spent three years traveling to over 20 countries as a digital nomad.

Myers will share strategies for freelancing, how she built her business while exploring the globe, and how professional writing & rhetoric prepared her for what she’s doing now.

The event is co-sponsored by the professional writing & rhetoric major, the professional writing studies interdisciplinary minor, the AI and professional writing Badge, and the Center for Writing Excellence (黑料不打烊 Alumni Writers Grant).

The event features a poster session and a catered reception, providing an opportunity for faculty to share their SoTL projects and reflect on their research journeys. It is co-sponsored by the Center for Engaged Learning (CEL), the Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE), the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) and the Center for Writing Excellence (CWE).
Faculty members who have participated in programming from these centers will present their research on innovative teaching practices. This year鈥檚 presenters include:

From the (CEL):

• Aaron Trocki, associate professor of mathematics, presenting his 2023-2025 CEL Scholar work.
• Olivia Choplin, associate professor of French, presenting her multi-institutional team鈥檚 project from the 2023-2025 research seminar on Mentoring Meaningful Learning Experiences.

From the Center for Writing Excellence (CWE) and the Writing Across the University (WAU) program:

• Travis Maynard, assistant professor of English/professional writing & rhetoric, presenting on his WAU-supported work.
• Cheng Chen, assistant professor of communication design, and Qian Xu, professor of Strategic Communications, presenting on their WAU-supported work.

From the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL):

• Elizabeth von Briesen, assistant professor of computer science.
• Courtney Liu, assistant professor of music theatre.

From the Center for Research on Global Engagement (CRGE):

• Sandy Marshall, associate professor of geography and CRGE Intercultural Learning Scholar, presenting his work on Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL).
• Bill Burress, director of assessment and accreditation; Heidi Hollingsworth, associate professor of education and director of Master of Education; Mark Enfield, associate professor of education and chair of the Department of Education and Wellness; and Jeffrey Carpenter, William S. Long Professor and professor of Education, presenting their research on the benefits of international field experiences for pre-service teachers.

The Center For Writing Excellence鈥檚 annual Multimodal Writing Contest was created to celebrate the innovative multimodal writing students are producing across the university, in their classes or in their on-campus or professional experiences. Hosted annually, all 黑料不打烊 undergraduate and graduate students are invited to submit entries.

There are nine categories in which to enter, divided by program, school or experience in which the multimodal text was produced: Arts and Sciences, Communications, Business, Education, Health Sciences, Law, CORE Curriculum, Campus Involvement and Internships. Any multimodal project could be submitted: any composition using two or more modes, such as text, images, video and audio.

In the School of Communications category, Ryan Kupperman won for his multimodal project 鈥淒etaining Futures.” Kupperman also won the contest鈥檚 Grand Prize for this entry. The runner-up in this category is the entire Journalism 3200 class, with “Out of State Vote Guide.”

In the Campus Involvement category, Aaron Chan won for his video project titled 鈥淭he Legacy We Leave.鈥� Aaron created this multimodal project while working with the Center for Design Thinking.

In the School of Arts and Sciences category, Brianna Sowell won for “Calmness of Water,” a story map produced in an ENG1100 course. The runner-up is Hannah Peterson, with “The Dress: A Media History,” an article produced in an ENG1100 course.

In the School of Education category, Janeeta Smith won with “Are We Protecting Young Girls in Our Schools From Entering Into Prison?”

In the School of Health Sciences category, the winners are Syndie Fearrin, Molly Boda and Kiera Oyen, with “Effects of Age and Dual-Tasking on Endurance Performance While Walking.” The runners-up are Sixela Caballero and Clarke Oliver with “Blood Flow of the Body.”

In the the School of Law category, the winners are Jennifer Benavides and Ayo Onasanya, with “Los Derechos de Trabajadores H-2A.鈥� The runner-up in this category is Melanie Dutel, with “Demand for Damages.”

Monday, Feb. 10, 12:30-1:40 p.m., Belk Library 113. Lunch will be served. Please
This workshop begins with an overview of a functional, critical and rhetorical approach to integrating GenAI-supported writing processes into your writing instruction. This framework gives us a way to understand different approaches to writing with GenAI, helping faculty decide if and how to incorporate GenAI into their writing pedagogy in an assignment, class or across the curriculum. The rest of the workshop will be spent brainstorming together how faculty might integrate this approach into their existing writing assignments and courses, and we鈥檒l experiment with using GenAI to generate possibilities.

Enhancing Student Learning through Collaborative Writing & Research Posters
Kim Epting, professor of psychology and Srikant Vallabhajosula, professor of physical therapy education

Thursday, Feb. 20, 12:30-1:40 p.m., Belk Library 205. Please 听
Join us for this session featuring two faculty members who received the Center for Writing Excellence’s Writing Pedagogy Grant to design innovative assignments that enhance student learning through writing. They will explain the best practices in writing instruction embedded in each of their assignments鈥攐ne focused on improving collaborative writing and assessment, the other on scaffolding research poster writing and design. Each presenter will deliver a 10-minute talk, followed by 20 minutes of interactive discussion, providing practical insights and takeaways for your own courses.

Developing & Sustaining A Scholarly Writing Agenda
Jessica Merricks, assistant professor of biology; Jessie Moore, director of the Center for Engaged Learning and professor of English; and John Su, associate professor of engineering

Thursday, March 6, 4:15-5:15 p.m., Belk Library 102. Snacks will be served. Please
In this informal panel discussion, three faculty from different disciplines will share their insights into maintaining a successful scholarly writing agenda. Panelists will discuss their writing routines; strategies for developing new projects, selecting publication outlets, responding to editor feedback and sustaining long-term productivity. Whether you seek to refine your writing habits or gain inspiration from experienced scholars, this discussion will provide practical insights into building a sustainable academic writing practice.

Speed-Teaching: AI-Enhanced Writing Assignments
Hwayeon Ryu, associate professor of mathematics; Lina Kuhn, lecturer in English; and Bob Frigo, assistant dean of Campus Life and director of the Kernodle Center for Civic Life

Tuesday, March 11, 2:30-3:30 p.m., Belk Library 113. Snacks will be served. Please
Explore innovative, AI-enhanced writing assignments in this interactive speed-teaching session. Three presenters will share assignments they developed for a writing and math class after participating in the Center for Writing Excellence鈥檚 Designing AI-Enhanced Writing Assignments and Developing Students鈥� AI Critical Literacies summer 2024 institute. Participants will rotate to each of the three presenters who will give a 10-minute overview of their assignment followed by a 10-minute discussion on how participants might adapt the activity to their own classrooms and contexts.

AI & Scholarship Panel Discussion
Tim Peeples, professor of humanities and senior associate provost emeritus; Amanda Sturgill, associate professor of journalism; Aaron Trocki, associate professor of mathematics; and Keshia Wall, assistant professor of dance.

Monday, April 14, 4:30-6 p.m., Innovation Atrium; Snacks will be served. Please
Panelists will first share their perspectives on integrating AI into scholarship in five minute prepared statements before opening the floor for discussion and questions. They will examine issues such as the ethical use of AI in scholarship, the impact of AI on their fields and the implications for their professions. Co-sponsored by Data Nexus, the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and the Center for Writing Excellence.

Disciplinary Writing Consultant Program for 2025-26 (Due: April 24, 2025)
The Disciplinary听Writing听Consultant听Program pairs an experienced Writing Center consultant听with a faculty member’s undergraduate disciplinary course to collaboratively support student听writing. Faculty receive a stipend for participation.

Further details about the DWC Program can be found on the听CWE website.听听for Fall 2025听and/or Spring 2026听are due听April 24, 2025.