ABSTRACT
Writing to learn is a specific kind of writing assignment designed to help students think through a given topic or piece of course content. Purposes of this approach include helping students practice writing, helping students to deepen their understanding of content, helping students to think actively about material, and serving as a learning assessment. Types of writing to learn activities described in this chapter include summarizing the content, questioning the content, reacting to content, generating content, and reflecting on content. This chapter summarizes the research on the effectiveness of writing-to-learn activities: prework writing activities improves learning outcomes, teacher-assigned structure maximizes student experience in class, connecting writing to student experiences improves learning, and that feedback through graded writing improves student perceptions of learning. This chapter also includes specific strategies for using writing-to-learn activities in online courses and concludes with detailed descriptions of 15 active learning activities based on writing to learn.
