摘要：many departments at Seattle University have adopted a “dis-
course approach” to outcomes assessment in which an instructor’s report on the results
of a course-embedded assignment leads to productive faculty discussion of student
performance (Bean, Carrithers, and Earenfght 2005). Using this approach, a depart-
ment typically identifes a senior-level assignment requiring “expert insider prose” (a
term we have adopted from MacDonald 1994). Te instructor grades the assignment
using a rubric and identifes patterns of strength and weakness in students’ work as
preparation for a departmental discussion aimed at backward design of the curricu-
lum. In that conversation faculty explore what might be done earlier in the curriculum,
such as better instruction or improved assignment design or sequencing, to help nov-
ices improve their skills of disciplinary writing and thinking. Tis paper reports the
results of this approach in the Department of Chemistry at Seattle University.
