I've always integrated overall core ideas about composition and learning into my courses. Below are the concepts I used in my courses before adopting SLCC's Threshold Concepts as an integral philosophy to my teaching. I designed the Threshold Concepts posters using SLCC's style guide as an OER project. These posters are hanging in the Online Plus lab as a reminder of the "big main ideas about writing" that inform our teaching in Online Plus.
Course Concepts / Threshold Concepts
From my training in Composition Pedagogy and Rhetoric I've learned to integrate overall core ideas about composition and learning into my courses. Every course I've taught is based on what I tell my students are "big main ideas" about the writing process and learning to learn. Directly below are the concepts I used in my courses before adopting the Salt Lake Community College Department of English Threshold Concepts.
I made this hand out below about fifteen years ago and gave it to all my classes. If I only had twelve sentences to sum up what is essential to learning writing composition, these are the sentences I would choose.
I made this hand out below about fifteen years ago and gave it to all my classes. If I only had twelve sentences to sum up what is essential to learning writing composition, these are the sentences I would choose.
As the English Department at Salt Lake Community College started to focus on Course Outcomes, I incorporated those into my classes. Today, SLCC's English Department promotes Threshold Concepts. As part of the English 1010 Online Plus team, I've helped revise our curriculum for each assignment to include specific connections to the Threshold Concepts. I also received a grant to design instructive posters featuring the Threshold Concepts to put in the Online Plus lab. I designed the Threshold Concepts posters (in yellow and blue) using SLCC's design and style guide as an OER project. These posters are hanging in the Online Plus lab as a reminder of the "big main ideas about writing" that inform every assignment in Online Plus: