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Communication in the Disciplines

Growing Students' Communication Skills Within Their Majors

What is CID?

The Communication in the Disciplines (CID) initiative at Rice University supports the teaching and learning of communication in courses across Rice's campus. We work with faculty and staff to help students become thoughtful, strategic communicators in their majors. From the introduction of an in-class workshop to TA training to wholesale curricular change, CID can help students master course content and develop discipline-specific communication expertise.

Our goal is to support instructors as they:

Incorporate Communication as a Tool for Learning

Writing to Learn (WtL) activities promote understanding of course content. These low-stakes, informal assignments help students think through difficult concepts from the course. Examples of WtL activities include minute-papers, annotations, note-taking, and other tasks that encourage students to articulate their understanding.

Design Assignments that Scaffold Student Learning

Students benefit from sequenced assignments that build on skills and existing knowledge, whether in one class or over the course of their major. Breaking down larger assignments into small pieces can help students build new communication skills as well as strengthen existing ones.

Develop Strategies for Feedback and Assessment

Feedback offers important guidance to students as they grow into successful communicators; however, providing useful feedback can be a time-consuming task for instructors. The PWC can offer strategies for providing efficient, quality feedback on student work. We also train TAs and peer coaches that can offer additional feedback to your students.

Promote Equitable and Inclusive Writing and Communication Practices

Our staff can help to develop instructional materials and assignments that invite all students to discuss expectations and engage in their own assessment through community rubrics, contract grading, and other reflection-based assessment models.


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Communication Pedagogy Network

Consulatations

Communication Pedagogy Network

The Communication Pedagogy Network connects faculty and staff who teach writing and communication across all disciplines on Rice University’s campus.

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Individual Teaching Support

Consultant Bios

Individual Teaching Support

The PWC can offer support as you create, assign, teach, and grade written, oral, and visual communication assignments.


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Department-wide Workshops and Curricular Planning

Workshops & Writing Groups

Department-wide Workshops and Curricular Planning

PWC staff members can lead a workshop or facilitate discussions in your department about a wide variety of communication related topics.

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Contact Us

FAQ

Contact Us

Stephanie D.C. Parker, PhD
Associate Director, Lecturer Program
in Writing and Communication
s.parker@rice.edu
713.348.4916

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Faculty Spotlight

The CAPC Director worked with me to design and then hone writing assignments for BIOC 300 over a period of years. The instruction and support system provided by the CAPC for the undergraduate TAs (and for me) was exceptional, and the TAs improved their own writing by being on the other side of the grading process. This partnership was a wonderful adventure!

PWC Consultant

Kathy Matthews
Stewart Memorial Professor, Biosciences