John Vigna

During the transition of Introduction to Writing Fiction (CRWR 209) a large face-to-face lecture to a blended model and now to a fully online class, John Vigna’s assessment strategies have been guided by both the student experience and modeling the practice and craft of professional writers. Writers learn by doing, by writing. His aim is to help students build confidence in their own writing skills through frequent, low-stakes writing exercises, which are opportunities to apply foundational concepts of craft and technique, and ways to generate material for their major assignments. This process also allows him to gauge student progress with in-the-moment assessment through these minor writing exercises. When students complete low-stakes writing exercises, the course TAs and himself can offer immediate feedback, help students work through technical problems and build their skills.