Writing-to-learn activities are low-stakes writing prompts that help students engage with content knowledge, think critically, and practice applying their learning. Use the resources below to learn more about writing-to-learn and how it might play a role in your course.  

Materials designed by Christopher Basgier, Alyssa Pratt, and Djibo Zanzot 

This worksheet is designed to help you understand some of the features of an effective writing-to-learn (WTL) prompt. Remember that these features are not necessarily a checklist: some prompts will include and exclude different features depending on what is appropriate for your course and field 

• Features of Effective Writing-to-Learn Prompts Worksheet Word Document 

• Features of Effective Writing-to-Learn Prompts Worksheet PDF 

This handout includes a range of writing assignments and activities you can ask students to complete in your course in order to promote their learning. Many of these assignments can have high stakes or low stakes versions 

• 20 Writing Activities to Enhance Learning Handout Word Document 

• 20 Writing Activities to Enhance Learning Handout PDF 

This worksheet will help you identify and define a difficult concept, and then map different levels of understanding for that concept. You can use these definitions as a basis for crafting your writing-to-learn assignments 

• Difficult Concepts and Levels of Understanding Word Document 

• Difficult Concepts and Levels of Understanding PDF