Les Perelman, the Director of Writing Across the Curriculum in the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies at MIT, has been hired to conduct the ongoing assessment. He declined to comment about his role in the review.
Jehn says that the evaluation, which is currently collecting and processing data, may not be complete for a number of months.
He adds that Perelman will divulge his findings to Harris, who will then communicate those results to the College.
THE EXPOS 10 EXPERIENCE
Like many of her peers, Regan voluntarily enrolled in Expos 10 in the fall of her freshman year, feeling inadequately prepared for the challenges of college writing.
“I never felt like I was a really strong writer,” she says. “And that can really show in your writing down the road.”
Expos 10 preceptor Zachary C. Sifuentes ’97 says he thinks Expos 10 is successful for students like Regan, as the course allows students to make an active decision to dedicate themselves to improving their writing.
“I think everyone who chooses to take Expos 10 is demonstrating a kind of awareness that is at the heart of an educational institution,” he wrote in an e-mail.
When first beginning the art unit, Regan says she was skeptical about the value of the assignments, but she ended up surprised by her appreciation of the material.
“In a subject where I would have never cared about art, I actually found it extremely enjoyable,” she says.
Regan said that the two-essay structure of the course—instead of the three essays assigned in Expos 20—allowed her the time to more fully develop her ideas.
Other students similarly praised the program, but questioned the transferability of the skills they learned in the course.
“In Expos 10, I got more of the ideas of how to craft an essay,” Nancy Chen ’13 says. “I don’t know how much I applied them to other classes.”
But the course still sets up students to perform well in Expos 20, instructors say.
Joaquín S. Terrones, who is a preceptor for the “HIV Aids and Culture” section of Expos 20, called Expos 10 an “excellent course,” saying that students who have completed Expos 10 are better prepared to succeed in his spring Expos 20 course.
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