Andrew Whitacre
Congratulation to our three(!) winners of SHASS Education Innovation Fund Projects, just announced today. Way to go, Andreas Karatsolis, Michael Maune, and Seth Mnookin.
Details on the three projects…
Designing CI-M Curriculum for Public Science Communication by Understanding the Rhetorical Decision-Making of Experts
Awarded to Andreas Karatsolis, Director, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication (WRAP)
In recent years, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2022), NIH (Dunnwald, 2025) and even our own taskforce for undergraduate education have called for increased attention in teaching students how to effectively communicate with public, non-technical audiences. In this project, we draw on frameworks of metacognitive strategy knowledge (MSK) and self-regulated writing (Negretti et al., 2023) to investigate how experts (MIT faculty) in science and engineering disciplines make rhetorical decisions when communicating their research to non-technical audiences. Through structured interviews, we seek to identify the strategies experts employ when adapting disciplinary knowledge for public contexts in order for them to inform the design of genre-based curricular materials for Communication-Intensive in the Major (CI-M) subjects
GenreX: An Experimental Methods Research Program for Genre Studies
Awarded to Michal Maune, Lecturer, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication Program (WRAP)
Genre-based pedagogy is a useful tool for teaching students writing that accomplishes specific purposes. However, the models used to teach writing genres are primarily based on qualitative and correlational studies, limiting the confidence teachers can have in instructing students on writing that works. Our project aims to develop a framework for designing experiments to test hypotheses about what features of writing actually work on audiences to accomplish the goals of specific genres. We plan to design and pilot several experimental studies testing predictions about genre features to help improve writing pedagogy
Expanding Media Literacy, Training, and Communication Skills for MIT Students
Awarded to Seth Mnookin, Head of CMS/W and Professor of Science Writing, and Christina Couch, Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Science Writing
This planning grant aims to design a scalable media and communication literacy framework that can be adapted across SHASS and STEM curricula within the Institute. This initiative will leverage the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing’s internationally recognized faculty and alumni to facilitate collaborations and educational opportunities with MIT researchers, professors, departments, and student groups, with the goal of empowering the MIT community with tools and strategies to effectively communicate scientific research and ideas with grant making organizations and the general public.
Review of Generative AI Assistive and Resistant Communication Assignments and Supporting Workshops
Awarded to Michael Trice, Lecturer, Writing, Rhetoric, and Professional Communication (WRAP)
This project offers three elements to address Generative AI in the writing classroom at MIT. First, we will create a series of assignments addressing Generative AI in writing classes. The approach addresses both Generative AI resistive and assistive approaches, complete with assignment and activity descriptions, rubrics, and annotated samples. Second, the project will invite a series of expert speakers in Generative AI and Writing to address the MIT community in 2026. Finally, the project will begin a pilot corpus analysis of select writing classes to evaluate the impact of Generative AI on historical assignments over the last four years.
