Writing to learn

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Writing to Learn (WTL) is an educational approach that dates back to educational research starting in the 1970's which uses writing as a way for students to critically think about the content which they are learning.^[1] Unlike formal writing assignments that focus on grading and evaluating a student's writing skill, WTL serves to help students process and truly understand what they are learning.^[2]

Writing to Learn practices are designed to help students:

• Reflect on their understanding of key concepts
• Retain course material
• Engage actively in the learning process
• Think about their learning process

Educators can use students' responses to WTL assignments to gauge how they are interacting with course material and modify their teaching methods accordingly.^[3]

WTL activities are generally brief and not graded. Common strategies include:

• Admit/exit slips: Short prompts given at the beginning or end of class sessions which prompt students to reflect and/or ask questions^[4]
• Reading journals: Keeps an ongoing collection of reflections on assigned readings^[2]
• Response papers: Brief papers designed to collect responses on what has been learned
• Project notebooks: Logs containing documented stages of learning and research

Writing to Learn can be used in virtually any field of study. It is most commonly used in humanities courses but can also be used in STEM courses to further grasp understanding of concepts.^[5]