Written Communication Instruction Certificate
Written Communication Capstone
Your capstone is a writing-intensive syllabus redesign or curriculum plan that applies the frameworks from all three modules. Build it for use: a syllabus you will teach from, or a curriculum plan you intend to develop. Module 3 is the natural starting point: your DAPOE assignment from Activity 3 becomes Part B.
Part A. Course description and writing context
Describe the course (or curriculum) you are redesigning. Explain the writing demands of the course as it stands and where students tend to struggle. Draw on Module 1 here: transfer, metacognition, and the relationship between process and product.
Part B. Redesigned assignment sequence
Present at least one major writing assignment redesigned with the DAPOE framework, along with its scaffolding sequence. Start from your Activity 3 assignment and revise it. If you are redesigning a whole course, include 2–3 assignments and show how they build on each other.
Part C. Feedback and assessment plan
Describe how you will respond to student writing in this course. Which Module 2 strategies (minimal marking, screencast feedback, peer review protocols, revised rubrics) will you use, and how? Include any rubric or feedback protocol you have designed.
Part D. Reflective rationale
In 1–2 pages, explain the thinking behind your redesign. Which frameworks from the three modules helped most? What surprised you? What do you expect to be hardest to put into practice? Write in your own voice, as someone who now thinks about writing as a subject.
How CWSP reviews the capstone
A reviewer rates each part against the description below. A part earns its full weight when it meets the description, half its weight when one element is missing or underdeveloped, and none when it does not yet address the description. CWSP approves a capstone with a weighted total of 80 percent or more. A capstone below 80 percent comes back with comments on the parts to revise, and you resubmit those parts.
| Part | Weight | Full weight when it | Half weight when it |
|---|---|---|---|
| A. Course and writing context | 20% | Names the course, its students, and the writing it asks for, and locates where students struggle using at least one Module 1 concept (transfer, metacognition, or process and product). | Names the course and its writing but does not locate where students struggle through a Module 1 concept. |
| B. Assignment design | 30% | Presents at least one assignment with all five DAPOE elements stated for students, a scaffolding sequence of two or three dated stages, and criteria tied to the assignment’s objectives. | States the DAPOE elements but leaves out the scaffolding sequence or the criteria. |
| C. Feedback and assessment | 25% | Names the Module 2 practices you will use, the drafts or stages where each applies, and includes the rubric or feedback protocol itself. | Names the Module 2 practices but leaves out where each applies, or leaves out the rubric or protocol itself. |
| D. Reflective rationale | 25% | Explains, in your own voice, which frameworks shaped the redesign and why, and names one part you expect to be hard to put into practice and your plan for it. | Explains which frameworks shaped the redesign but names no hard part, or names one with no plan for it. |
Length: 5 to 8 pages, not counting appendices. Share a Google Doc link or paste each part below. A capstone template (Word, opens in Google Docs) sets out Parts A to D with this rubric as an appendix. To send a file instead, email kkcole2@ncsu.edu with the subject "C²TC Capstone Submission." If you share a Google Doc, set its sharing to “Anyone at NC State University with the link can comment,” or add kkcole2@ncsu.edu as a commenter. A Doc left on Restricted stalls the review.
Submit your capstone
CWSP reviews each capstone before issuing the certificate. Once your capstone is approved, your PDF certificate is emailed to your NC State address.