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Numerous studies have shown both anecdotal and formal evidence of the benefits students obtain from doing writing activities in classes. Little formal discussion exists about how student writing in geography classes professionally affects faculty. In this article, focus shifts from student-derived benefits of writing in classes to faculty challenges and rewards for implementing writing in their classes. Based on the experience of participating in a Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) Fellows program, the authors discuss how faculty overcame challenges and reaped the benefits of student writing in their teaching and scholarly pursuits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of two independent studies that assessed the impact of writing as a learning tool in introductory-level geography courses. Student attitudes toward writing and their performance on exams were analyzed to determine the impact of writing for comprehension and application of geographical concepts. Student perceptions were mostly positive; however, there was no significant improvement in grades. As both students and instructors view writing as valuable for learning, these results underscore the need to develop alternative methods of assessment and additional studies to quantitatively determine the impact of writing on learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author shares his views on the use of online journals and in-class note cards for reflective and responsive teaching and learning. He notes that an alternative for in-class formats were notecards distributed to students at the beginning of the class period. He explains how students were asked to record their thoughts about specific activities or topics, and to indicate which concepts they did not fully understand.