Writing Skills Transfer Initiative

LEEF's mission is to ensure all UNT educators’ well-being by supporting their growth as they support our students. As part of this, one of our current focuses of assistance is helping students transfer their writing skills to a variety of contexts.

Many university courses above the freshman level include at least one writing assignment. However, some students struggle to transfer their writing skills to new contexts. Consequently, including writing instruction in a class is not the solution — it is the beginning of the solution. We must do more than teach our students how to write well for our particular class. Instead, we must help them transfer their writing skills across different courses, education levels, disciplines, settings, and needs.

Initiative participants can engage in the following activities throughout the fall 2026-spring 2027 school year.

The goal of these workshops is to introduce the concept of writing transfer and begin a conversation about how to implement strategies into individual courses. They will continue into the spring with a focus on developing activities and assignments and learning how to assess them effectively. Lunch is provided at every session. Register here.

Join us for a book club discussion of Understanding Writing Transfer: Implications for Transformative Student Learning in Higher Education by Jessie L. Moore and Randall Bass. Together, we’ll explore how students transfer writing knowledge and skills across courses, disciplines, and real-world contexts — and what educators can do to better support that process. This discussion provides an opportunity to reflect on how writing is taught and understood across higher education, share experiences and perspectives, and consider practical approaches for helping students develop writing skills that extend beyond a single assignment or classroom. Light refreshments provided. Register here.