The Spring 2027 inquiry redesign (ENGL 1301 and 1302)

For Spring 2027, I'm rebuilding Composition I and II around a single course-long inquiry, designed backward from the five course outcomes.

One locked question. Students choose a topic (folklore, history, or tradition in ENGL 1301, or a literary reading in ENGL 1302) and lock one how or why question about one named detail. The Question Lock is a short practice page where they write the topic, the detail, and a question that starts with How or Why.

Staged practice. Each stage produces one named document that builds on the one before it, and practice items carry no points toward the Final Packet, so students can try, miss, and revise without penalty. Every stage sheet names the document, the short rule, what "needs revision" looks like, and one next move.

A Final Packet with a Process Record. The course ends with a Final Packet: a revised section of the student's writing plus a Process Record in which they explain the decisions they made along the way. The Packet has to show evidence for all five course outcomes.

Early support. A planned midpoint check, an early revision conference for students whose question needs work, and support from the Writing Center and Structured Learning Assistance are built into the calendar instead of offering them only after a student is already struggling.

Why this design? Research on writing and learning supports this design: clear expectations, meaning-making tasks, and interaction around drafts predict deeper learning (Anderson et al., 2015), feedback works best when it tells students where to go next (Hattie and Timperley, 2007), and low-stakes practice helps skills last (Dunlosky et al., 2013).