Chapter 6. A Hybrid Mega-Course with Optional Studio: Responding Responsibly to an Administrative Mandate

Abstract

What can ethically-minded writing instructors do when their administration mandates innovation at the level of delivery mode? This essay offers a responsible response to this question. It provides data and observations from the study of a two-semester, small-scale first-year composition (FYC) studio pilot program at the Tempe campus of Arizona State University (ASU). Studio courses for the pilot were populated by approximately 50 students per section. These mega-courses were both hybrid, requiring students to complete weekly asynchronous online assignments, and attached to optional Studios that students could choose to attend. This chapter details the design of this ASU program; investigates how problems with large composition class sizes can be mitigated by smaller, optional Studios taught by the same team of instructors who shared a curriculum; and explores the consequences of giving students the choice to attend Studios in the face of the truism that “academically optional” can mean “not important” in the minds of first-year students. Although our pilot program did not continue beyond two semesters, it did succeed in shedding light on the intersection of self-placement and required attendance in the context of studio courses and FYC.