Writing comes in various forms and is used throughout all college courses. According to Wilbert J. McKeachie and Marilla Svinicki, authors ofMcKeachie’s Teaching Tips, high-stakes writing is a graded writing assignment that is required of students. In type of writing, students showcase their understanding of what they are learning. Alternatively, McKeachie and Svinicki state that low-stakes writing is not graded, and its purpose is to explore content students are learning. Since students already experience high-stakes writing in college, McKeachie and Svinicki encourage low-stakes writing because:
- It involves students in what they are learning.
- Multiple opportunities for low-stakes writing increases writing skills.
- It helps student assign their own language and understanding to the content they are learning.
- Low-stakes writing helps the professor learn students’ perspective, questions students have, and what the students understood.