.Four principles for teaching critical thinking:
1. Identify critical thinking objectives (writing and critical thinking will reinforce, not take time away, from teaching course content)

2. Develop a repertoire of critical thinking tasks (writing tasks are suitable for any course because a professor can vary them infinitely for length and form)

3. Assign formal writing assignments as a multi-stage process (effective writing instruction focuses primarily on identifying ideas, developing ideas, and shaping ideas according to a discipline's formats/conventions)

4. Set up multiple assessment strategies(paper grading becomes much easier when a professor designs time-saving rubrics, provides a style sheet, trains students to respond to their own written work and each others',  and establishes course connections to the NIU Writing Center)

EXAMPLES: Student Learning Objectives
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1. To identify and describe the major problems, issues, concerns and successes that occur during projects and for project teams engaged in an industrial team project, including international and culturally diverse projects and teams.
2. To demonstrate effective project planning, initiation, execution and termination
3. To demonstrate effective use of project management techniques and tools in the management of a technical project
4. To integrate mathematics, the sciences, English, management, technical and technological knowledge and skills to accomplish team and project objectives
5. To demonstrate effective team performance while engaged in technical project planning, execution and termination of a technical project, and a community service project
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Repertoire of Writing Tasks
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Textbook Feedback Students read text, answer take-home questions, engage in a non-traditional, group process test.
Learning Papers At the end or beginning of class, all students individually, in pairs, or in teams produce a mini-paper on what was learned that day or the class before.
Pop Quizzes Students take unannounced quizzes on text, lecture, or video content.
Logs Students individually write log entries about how they feel their teams and projects are progressing.
Literature Research Students read 50 sources and set up tables that list and comment on information they gather.
Industrial Case Study Students conduct interviews with project manager/leader & team, process information.
Formal Paper Students write up a paper focused on some particular aspect of project management.
Individual Project Plan Students each write up a plan that references research, delineates personal contributions to anticipated semester project, features practice in technical writing.
Career Project Student interviews CEET Career Planning & Placement specialist, researches jobs available in project management, writes a resume.
Community Service
Project		 Student collaborates with a team to produce a team plan for a community service project, including goal, operational objectives, expected outcomes, benefits to the community group being served.
Team Manual Student collaborates with team to produce a manual that includes tables on team members' skills bank, charter, company & project organizational chart, assessment inventories, team project plan
Team Portfolio Culminating documentation that includes hard copy for every topic on the course rubric; includes pictures, mechanical drawings, and other items.
Team Website Same as team portfolio, but on CD and used during team's final presentation.
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Stages of Process for Formal Paper
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1. LITERATURE/INTERNET RESEARCH Students each search the Internet on project management, project teams, and project leadership; identify 45 quality sources, 15 each about industrial projects, teams, leadership. Develop a literature/source review table summarizing what the literature/sources revealed.
2. INTERNATIONAL & CULTURE RESEARCH Students each identify 5 Internet and/or literature sources that discuss problems, issues, and benefits of multicultural/international projects, teams, and leadership. Summarize the information learned by organizing it into a table identifying the source's author, title, problems, issues, benefits, and commentary.
3. INDUSTRIAL CASE STUDY Students each identify a company that allows them to visit and interview an industrial team. They must interview a project leader or manager and at least three team members, to discover problems, issues, concerns, or difficulties on the project, re: project, team, and leadership. Students must also find out successful strategies.
4. CASE STUDY TABLE Students must create a table of questions, responses, and what was learned as "real-time" research.
5. FORMAL PAPER Students must develop a paper about projects, teams, and or project leadership, noting issues and solutions in greater depth. They must identify strategies, techniques, processes that should be used to have a successful project and/or team. They must draw conclusions about effective project management & teams. They must end with specific recommendations to guide their own team in an assigned project. Paper must incorporate information from 45 sources.
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Assessment Strategies
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Team Participation Points Each team will determine how points are to be awarded to individual team members, assessing quality of work and participation; points will ascertain the team participation aspect of the grade. Professor will observe the distribution to validate that the points reflect the level of participation observed.
Writing Center Visits Each student must visit the Writing Center with developed drafts at various stages of written work and provide feedback forms as proof that revisions have taken place.
Individual Portfolio Individual portfolios include all course work completed by individuals. Each individual will participate in several personal assessment activities, including analysis and reflections about what his/her strengths and weaknesses are and what s/he can do to improve.
Career Project Each student must design a resume to be reviewed and approved by the CEET Career Planning & Placement specialist.
Team Project Plan Each team must produce a plan for the assigned technical project and use the plan to guide, monitor, assess, control, and evaluate the project.
Final Team Presentation Each team presents its project; an industrial panel will score the presentation and content presented
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Style Sheet
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1. Use the 3rd person impersonal. Avoid "I" and "we."
E.g., I think this situation calls for action ====>  This situation calls for action
2. Change expletives: "there is," "there are," "it is," "it was," etc.
E.g., There are five people coming to the meeting ====> Five people are coming to the meeting.
3. Use active, not passive, verbs.
E.g., The meeting was chaired by Dr. Smith ====> Dr. Smith chaired the meeting.
4. Whenever possible, avoid forms of "to be."
E.g., He is a lone worker ====> He works alone;
She was critical of the proposal ====> She criticized the proposal.
5. Avoid repetition, vagueness, and wordiness.
E.g., The subject of competition was something that was not an issue with these members ====> These members did not compete against each other.

Writing Rubric
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.Exemplary Benchmark .Good .Average (needs improvement) .Unacceptable
No revisions needed in writing

Accurate and well-developed
content

Style appropriate for document
(APA or technical)

Writing Center (2 visits)

 Several minor revisions in writing or content

Accurate and well-developed content

Style appropriate for document 
(APA or technical)

Writing Center (2 visits)

 A few major revisions, some 
minor revisions in writing

Content less well-developed and/
or content inaccurate

Style appropriate for document
(APA or technical)

Writing Center (2 visits)

 Major writing issues

Major content issues

Inappropriate style
(APA or technical)

Writing Center (less than 
2 visits)
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Excellent  Good (A) Adequate - (I) Inadequate Unacceptable Descriptors
. . . . CONTENT QUALITY - 50%
insight into the topic; point backed up
by literature, case studies, field experts,
etc.
. . . . literature/internet review
. . . . appropriate introduction leads into the
main topic of the paper
. . . . body of paper is a deeper exploration
of the main topic
. . . . conclusions are drawn based upon
learning more about the topic
. . . . a summary is presented with major
points and recommendations
. . . . well-selected use of technical
vocabulary specific to topic
. . . . paper contains Introduction, Main
Body, Summary, Conclusions,
Bibliography/References
. . . . Wording is appropriate for meaning
. . . . MECHANICS - 50%
overall quality of writing
. . . . written using appropriate style,
APA or technical
. . . . Content Organization - organization, 
logic of information flow, presentation
order of main points
. . . . sentence and paragraph structure- 
word order in sentences and
sequence of sentences in paragraphs
. . . . wording & phrases - appropriate wording
in English, restricted use of slang
. . . . English language - good choices of 
verbs, nouns, adverbs, adjectives, etc.;
avoiding repetitiousness
. . . . Punctuation - appropriate use of all
punctuation, e.g., quotation marks,
apostrophes, semi-colons, etc.
. . . . Grammar - verb tenses, verb agreement, 
pronoun reference, etc.
. . . . Spelling - no errors or misuse
of homonyms

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