Teaching Writing Intensive Online Courses Microcredential Overview

Partnering with the Department of Writing Studies, eCampus Center offers a microcredential to help faculty who teach writing-intensive online courses learn about strategies to help students write more strategically and effectively.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the microcredential requirements, faculty will be able to:

Identify the functions of writing in online courses (writing to learn, writing to engage, etc.).
Identify effective strategies for teaching writing online, including asynchronous and synchronous methods.
Recognize the importance of building a supportive and engaging online learning community for writers.
Assess student writing and provide constructive and meaningful feedback on student writing in an online environment.
Utilize online tools, technologies, and design methods to enhance writing instruction.
Recognize writing as a series of processes.

Below you will learn more about how to enroll in the microcredential activities.

Microcredential Requirements

The Teaching Writing Intensive Online Courses Microcredential requires completion of the following:

Why are They Writing? Defining Goals for Student Writing in Your Online Course Seminar
Teaching Writing as a Process Webinar
Helping Students to Become Flexible Writers Webinar
Effective Feedback Strategies for Writing Assignments Webinar
One of the following electives:
- AI “Proofing” Your Writing Assignments Webinar
- Designing Effective Online Writing Assignments Webinar
Microcredential reflection activity

All microcredential requirements are offered at least once a year. Check CampusGroups for upcoming offerings (please be logged in to access).

Enrolling, Tracking, and Completing Microcredentials

To enroll in this microcredential, go to the eCampus group page in CampusGroups (be sure to log in) and locate the Join Sub-Groups area at the bottom-right corner of the page. Click the relevant checkbox for this microcredential to enroll in it. You can then view the requirements for the microcredential (as described above) by clicking on Home, then My Activity, then My Checklists.

Image showing how to enroll in the writing microcredential — Enroll in the Teaching Writing Intensive Courses Microcredential

You can enroll in currently scheduled offerings for this microcredential, as described above, on our eCampus Faculty Development Event page in CampusGroups. Go to the Event Page, locate the required offerings, and click register. Make sure you are logged in to CampusGroups to see all events.

If a required course for the microcredential is not listed, that means it has already been offered this semester. You can contact onlinefacultydevelopment@boisestate.edu to learn when the next offering will be.

Image showing how to register in the writing seminar — Example of Registration Page

After you complete a seminar or elective activities for a microcredential, your progress will be reflected in CampusGroups. You can view your progress by clicking on the Home button in CampusGroups, and then in the main menu selecting My Activity, then My Checklists.

Updates to the progress can take up to one week to be reflected after completing an activity. If you have a question about your progress, please reach out to onlinefacultydevelopment@boisestate.edu.

Example of a Checklist Page for Tracking Progress Towards Certificate

Once you complete the final activity for a microcredential, you will be notified by the eCampus Faculty Development team. You will then receive a badge recognizing that you completed the certificate which you can save to your computer and upload to LinkedIn. Your achievement of the microcredential will be announced in an upcoming eCampus Update Newsletter. Prior to announcing it in the newsletter, you will be offered the opportunity to opt-out of the announcement.

In addition to your achievement being recognized with a badge and the announcement in the eCampus Update newsletter, your completion of the seminar and elective activities will also be reported to Faculty 180, where appropriate, a tool at Boise State for faculty to collect, organize, and display their research, teaching and service data for the purposes of annual reviews, promotion and tenure.

Learn more about Faculty 180