Brainstorm what challenges faculty face when writing (1-2 minutes dialogue):

For instance,

procastination
full schedules
habits
life and external duties
isolation
funding issues

Overarching goals of the writing groups responded to institutional mandates to develop cross-disciplinary teams that can more effectively compete for grants and respond to global challenges. Yet most academics write alone as they squeeze writing in between teaching and a growing load of administrative tasks (Ziker, 2014). Research indicates that faculty who have good research networks are generally more productive across teaching, research and service. So how do we connect people across programs and disciplines, yet also address writing and research production? Goals included:

Actively engaging faculty in writing and sharing each others’ work
Actively engage faculty in cross-disciplinary collaboration
Assisting faculty in developing an accountability system for their summer writing
Socializing junior faculty into cross disciplinary collaboration

We will also share the development timeline of the formation of the writing groups as well as the resources used to allow for on-campus and virtual participation:

Three groups were chosen by the majority of faculty respondents polled during the preceding spring semester. Procrastinators’ Group interested in time-management; Academic Parents group composed of faculty and ABDs with children under 5; Grant Writing Group. Syllabi prepared for each group focused on: developing a summer work plan with clear goals, projects and very specific tasks; adding tasks to summer calendar to allow for tracking of progress; identifying mentors and support system; establishing new writing habits and accountability.

Weekly Structure that was included in the syllabus:

1) Mini-lesson that relates to the group: advice, locating mentor, databases for grant-seeking

2) Accountability check-in: Share-out and update to the group of individual

3) Homework/Task to complete and bring next time and upload to Blackboard

Examples of in-group tasks

Identification of mentors and support systems

Identification of hurdles/roadblocks/resistance points

Software tools for productivity (Asana, Google calendar) and writing (e.g., Scrivener http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php)

Prompt: What does resistance to writing look like for me?”

Connected to the website National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity’s tool “Every Semester Needs a Plan” by Kerry Ann Roquemore (we have an institutional membership for the university so all our faculty had access to the site’s resources).

Discussion of SMART Goals

Ways to save time with teaching to manage overall time in the week

Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes of writing; 5-minutes break, e.g., http://tomato-timer.com/

Weekly Structure that was included in the syllabus:

1) Mini-lesson that relates to the group: advice, locating mentor, databases for grant-seeking

2) Accountability check-in: Share-out and update to the group of individual

3) Homework/Task to complete and bring next time and upload to Blackboard

Examples of in-group tasks

Identification of mentors and support systems

Identification of hurdles/roadblocks/resistance points

Software tools for productivity (Asana, Google calendar) and writing (e.g., Scrivener http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php)

Prompt: What does resistance to writing look like for me?”

Connected to the website National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity’s tool “Every Semester Needs a Plan” by Kerry Ann Roquemore (we have an institutional membership for the university so all our faculty had access to the site’s resources).

Discussion of SMART Goals

Ways to save time with teaching to manage overall time in the week

Pomodoro Technique (25 minutes of writing; 5-minutes break, e.g., http://tomato-timer.com/

An overarching goal for all of the groups was to write daily rather than in large doses. This was meant to foster habits.

Groups retained 90% of their members through the eight weeks. The parents’ writing group pulled in faculty that were initially the most resistant at joining but appeared to have bonded most strongly although they represent very disparate disciplines: Earth and Environmental Science, Education, Urban Planning, and English. One of the faculty members of this group was in California for the summer and successfully participated virtually. This group would complete its work within an hour and share child-rearing for at least 15 minutes afterwards building an extended community.

The procrastinators’ group included faculty from Political Science, Business, Physics, Nursing, Social Work and Urban Planning. Two faculty participated virtually.

The grant writing group was composed of faculty from education, History, Linguistics, Social Work, Education and Urban Planning.

Examples of homework:

Semester goals and “roadmap”
Goals: academic, teaching, and personal
Weekly goals and calendar
Example: http://popplet.com/app/#/1993204
Read selected articles from Chronicle of Higher Education or Inside Higher Ed.

Examples of homework:

Semester goals and “roadmap”
Goals: academic, teaching, and personal
Weekly goals and calendar
Discussion Prompts and topics
Read selected articles from Chronicle of Higher Education or Inside Higher Ed.

mention tomato-timer
Scrivener, etc. (see handout)

We shared writing tools and software as well as productivity tools (like Asana) that might be of use.