College: Mays Business School
Department: Accounting
Type: W
Status: Approved
REPORT ON RECERTIFICATION OF W COURSE: ACCT 407
We recommend that ACCT 407 Auditing be certified as a writing (W) course for four academic years (9/20 to 9/24). We have reviewed a representative syllabus and have determined that the course meets or exceeds the following criteria: (1) 33% of the final grade is based on writing quality; (2) the total number of words is 4500; (3) the instructor to student ratio is 1:30; and (4) the assigned writing is appropriate to the major.
One assistant is assigned to most faculty teaching the course. Students write five professional emails, a paragraph on ethics, a description of an ethical issue, and an essay on an audit topic, all short assignments. They also write an essay about making an ethical decision. There are two collaborative assignments (grandfathered for this course), both case studies that comprise 5% of the final grade based on writing. Each student is responsible for at least one paragraph of the collaborative work. Feedback for the email is provided with each being graded and returned before the next is due. For the longer essays students get two early preparatory assignments and are also encouraged (but not required) to get instructor or peer feedback, either from the University Writing Center or the Mays Communication Lab. Instruction starts with a 30-minute lesson in the beginning of the semester and with frequent short lectures, especially before and after assignments are completed. Low-stakes assignments and examples are also used for instruction.