Literacies Development & Implementation Model

Defining the Arts & Sciences Literacies

The Literacies for Life and Career (LLC) initiative at Washington University in St. Louis has evolved organically out of the curriculum and academic culture of Arts & Sciences (A&S). Rather than relying on a pre-existing list of career competencies or recommendations from outside consultants, the LLC initiative has taken a unique bottom-up approach through deep faculty involvement and collaboration, extensive benchmarking, and thorough review of a representative sample of undergraduate courses in Arts & Sciences. The initiative’s development process has been comprehensive, inclusive, and iterative.

Literacies Fellows

In Fall 2022, ten faculty Literacies Fellows, selected from the natural sciences, the social sciences, the humanities, and College Writing collaborated with the LLC implementation team to examine their own courses as well as courses taught by faculty across Arts & Sciences. This collaborative process sought to reveal the skills, knowledges, and fluencies embedded in the Arts & Sciences curriculum and led to the creation of a provisional list of literacies for the initiative.

Literacies Validation Process

After gathering data from the Literacies Fellows on over one hundred A&S courses, the LLC team employed qualitative research tools to code and interpret the collected data. Their analysis led to the creation of a preliminary list of fourteen literacies that cut across academic disciplines, majors, and instructional levels.

Faculty involvement by the numbers:

  • 10 Faculty Literacies Fellows
  • 3 Task Force Members
  • 24 Early Adopters, Cohort I
  • 30 Early Adopters, Cohort II
  • 42 Directors of Undergraduate Studies

Piloting the Initial List of Literacies in Courses

In 2023-2024, twenty-four faculty across Arts & Sciences received teaching innovation grants to test the initial list of literacies in their undergraduate courses and to employ associated pedagogical approaches, such as increased transparency around skill acquisition and opportunities for student metacognitive reflection about their learning. These early adopters received training in evidence-based pedagogies, developed literacy integration plans in consultation with the LLC team, and shared experiences and ideas in formal faculty learning communities that met throughout the semester.

  • 50 A&S courses
    • 18 humanities, 9 social sciences, 9 natural sciences and math, 14 writing
    • 4 first-year programs
    • 23 intro-level, 27 upper-level
    • 6 language courses
  • 2320 students enrolled in pilot courses

Refinement and Final List 

During the first year of the pilot, the LLC team sought comprehensive oral and written feedback about the initial list of literacies from multiple constituencies, including Early Adopters, Directors of Undergraduate Studies, and student focus groups. Further, a concept mapping survey developed by initiative co-lead Brian Carpenter gathered input from both faculty and students, providing valuable insight into how faculty viewed each literacy in terms of its importance and interrelationship with other literacies. 

In the summer of 2024, a task force from disciplinary areas across Arts & Sciences reviewed the collective feedback and made recommendations for refining the list. Following their efforts, a final review was conducted by the LLC steering committee, the LLC co-leads, and Feng Sheng Hu, the Richard G. Engelsmann Dean of Arts & Sciences, culminating in a final list of 11 literacies.

Second Round of Early Adoption

In 2024-2025, the second year of the pilot, the number of new Early Adopters increased to 30. This cohort of Early Adopters is integrating the final list of literacies into their courses.