At first glance, college courses with names like “The Neurobiology of Alzheimer’s,” “Managerial Marketing” and “Modern Latin America” may not seem like they have anything in common with each other. However, there is one important thing that ties these three courses, as well as many others, together.

Other than the fact that these courses are all offered by Pace University, all three are Writing-Enhanced Courses (WECs).

In order to graduate, every Pace student, regardless of their school or major, must take two WECs during their tenure.

According to English professor and the Director of the WEC Program on the Pleasantville campus Dr. Travis Webster, something that separates WECs from non-WECs is the course’s content and the way that they are graded. Unlike non-WE courses, around 50 percent of the overall final grade for these courses is based upon writing activities and tasks. Depending on the course and professor, these tasks can vary greatly.

“Between the two campuses, there tends to be around 70 WEC offerings each academic year,” Webster said.

He and the WEC Program director at the New York City Campus Dr. Meaghan Brewer, help the Pace faculty to develop 10-15 new courses each year. In order to teach these kinds of courses, professors have to undergo specific training and workshops.

“In [both] one-on-one consultations and group training workshops, I  [and Dr. Webster] help faculty learn about and develop courses that focus on the Rhetoric and Composition field’s best practices for teaching writing,” Webster said.

According to Webster, the best practices within the field tend to value writing-as-process and writing-to-learn pedagogies.

Since becoming director of the program in fall of 2018, Webster has guided and trained over 20 faculty members how to teach WECs and many others were trained under previous directors.

Unlike the mandatory writing courses within Pleasantville’s English department that has recently changed its overall grading system to make it more uniform, no real changes are planned to be made on either campus with how these classes are taught and graded. Both Webster and Brewer yield to each WEC professor’s individual grading techniques.

Webster, who teaches WECs himself, found that his students like when the writing assignments that they are given either help explain a certain concept or reflect what they had already learned in the course.

“Students and faculty also appreciate writing tasks that include feedback and drafts, where students’ writing processes can be extensively supported,” he said.

Currently, students can take any WEC that is offered, regardless of whether or not it fits their major or field of study, to fulfill the core requirement. According to Webster, there is an increasing desire from both faculty and students to only take WECs that fit within their major or minor, not just any WEC that is offered. Webster agrees with this approach, since this reflects most national trends.