BAEN 479 Biological and Agricultural Engineering Design I
College: Agriculture and Life Sciences
Department: Biological and Agricultural Engineering
Type: W
Status: Approved
REPORT ON CERTIFICATION OF W COURSE: BAEN 479
CERTIFICATION PERIOD: 1/1/25 to 1/1/29
We recommend that BAEN 479 Biological and Agricultural Engineering Design I be certified as a writing (W) course. We have reviewed a representative syllabus and have determined that the course meets or exceeds the following criteria: (1) 53% of the final grade is based on writing quality (33% individual); (2) the total number of words is 11,200 (3,200 individual); (3) the instructor to student ratio is 1:12; and (4) the assigned writing is appropriate to the major.
BAEN 479’s writing component consists of a resume reflection, a self-assessment, two reviews/assessments of a BAEN Capstone Final Report, three requests to join a Senior Design Project Team, Individual Professional Communications/Ongoing Assessment Memos, and a collaborative Written Engineering Designing Concept Report. Collaboration is monitored via weekly meetings with a BAEN faculty member who serves as the project manager, biweekly meetings with project clients, team memos, and in-class instruction on how to be a good team member. Formative feedback is provided on assignments via the following process: students submit them to a master’s level grad student in the English Dept. for a grade, and the student then has the chance to earn back 75% of the deducted points based on the written comments they receive. Writing instruction includes discussion of assignments with models of good and bad prior submissions, a compare/contrast assignment for two previously submitted reports, and a peer workshop for the request to join a senior design project assignment.
CERTIFICATION PERIOD: 1/1/25 to 1/1/29
We recommend that BAEN 479 Biological and Agricultural Engineering Design I be certified as a writing (W) course. We have reviewed a representative syllabus and have determined that the course meets or exceeds the following criteria: (1) 53% of the final grade is based on writing quality (33% individual); (2) the total number of words is 11,200 (3,200 individual); (3) the instructor to student ratio is 1:12; and (4) the assigned writing is appropriate to the major.
BAEN 479’s writing component consists of a resume reflection, a self-assessment, two reviews/assessments of a BAEN Capstone Final Report, three requests to join a Senior Design Project Team, Individual Professional Communications/Ongoing Assessment Memos, and a collaborative Written Engineering Designing Concept Report. Collaboration is monitored via weekly meetings with a BAEN faculty member who serves as the project manager, biweekly meetings with project clients, team memos, and in-class instruction on how to be a good team member. Formative feedback is provided on assignments via the following process: students submit them to a master’s level grad student in the English Dept. for a grade, and the student then has the chance to earn back 75% of the deducted points based on the written comments they receive. Writing instruction includes discussion of assignments with models of good and bad prior submissions, a compare/contrast assignment for two previously submitted reports, and a peer workshop for the request to join a senior design project assignment.