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It examines institutional context after abolishing basic writing remediation, showing high pass rates and distributing labor and expertise across students and mentors.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/epic-learning-in-a-jumbo-writing-course/599154/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/epic-learning-in-a-jumbo-writing-course/599154.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"kopisore","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-29","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",8,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is the “jumbo” model in English 130’s academic writing course?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"It is a large-enrollment first-year composition course with embedded writing mentors. A small workshop runs “outside but alongside” the jumbo class to enable peer learning and mentorship.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"Why did the program abolish basic writing courses, and what effect did it have?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"After low scores on the CSU English Placement Test, students were routed to a corequisite workshop instead of remedial courses. The change recognized students’ literate experience and labor as having real value.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"How are writing mentors trained and supported in the jumbo design?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Nine mentors participate in every large-class section and also run additional two-hour weekly small-group workshops. They help create a culture of inquiry and provide more frequent, direct feedback than the instructor alone.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},599154,1792191350,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,101,106,111,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":97,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":98,"show_sort_weight":99,"slug":100},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":102,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":107,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":108,"show_sort_weight":109,"slug":110},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":55,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":144,"read_time":112},962090880963,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_6f874abed73319feea01a86fa6f0fab8","Epic Learning in a “Jumbo” Writing Course  \nKim Jaxon, Laura Sparks, Chris Fosen  \nCourse Description: English 130: Academic Writing  \nThe first year writing “jumbo” is a large enrollment composition course with ninety students and nine embedded writing mentors. The “jumbo” structure“emerged from an ‘entanglement’ of the institutional environment and intentional innovation” (Jaxon) . Currently taught with a human rights focus, but with other iterations including a focus on digital culture, the “jumbo” model offers a provocation to the field’s focus on class size, including preferences for smaller student-teacher ratios and the assumption that only the writing instructor can give valuable feedback. Three key structures support the jumbo design: a small workshop (ten students led by a mentor) that meets “outside but alongside” the jumbo class, writing mentors who participate in the large course, and an intentional design focused on community-building and various forms of participation that distribute labor and expertise among class members (Grego and Thompson 69) . All of these structures emerged from a complex history on our campus of supporting students’ literacies alongside a commitment to honoring student labor. Importantly, remediation, as an identity or pedagogical practice, is absent from the design.  \nInstitutional Context: Corequisite Courses in Response to “Basic” Writing In 1991, English faculty at our institution abolished basic writing courses for students who scored low on a California State University (CSU) system-wide English Placement Test (EPT) . Students scoring low on the EPT began attending a one-credit adjunct workshop in conjunction with our credit-bearing first year course (FYC) . It was a radical move at the time, coming against the backdrop of increased attention to basic writing courses and other remedial programs as colleges and universities took steps to deal with what was seen asa growing problem (see Rodby and Fox; Stanley) . For EPT students who had previously taken one or two “remedial” classes before having a chance to take composition for baccalaureate credit, abolishing remediation was a move that recognized their literate experience and labor as having real value.  \nThis ten-person writing workshop operates on principles and practices similar to the Studio model developed by Grego and Thompson and is in many ways functionally analogous to it. Drawn from Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger’s theories of situated learning and participation within communities of practice, the workshop facilitates peer-and near-peer learning and is led by  \nComposition Studies 48.2 (2020): 116–127  \ntrained undergraduate and graduate student mentors, who work to create a culture of inquiry among students about all aspects of literate practice.  \nThirty years later, and through changes in placement mechanisms in the CSU system, students still meet in groups often and use the workshop space to work on readings and assignments, as well as peer-critique drafts from their different sections of first year writing. In the intervening time, this workshop space, first described in Rodby and again in Rodby and Fox, has been very successful: over the past 30 years, the average rate at which so-called remedial students pass the for-credit writing course (with a C-or better) hoversat around 90%, which is as high as—sometimes higher than—that of their nonremedial peers.  \nCreating Space for the “Jumbo” FYC Course  \nThese principles—situated learning and communities of practice—were arguably the most important elements in developing a new model for composition classes on our campus, called (ominously enough)“the jumbo.” For the past ten years, our writing program has offered, with great success, a largeenrollment writing course that extends what has been learned from this rich history of supported and supportive writing mentors who lead the corequisite workshop. We know, for example, that it is possible to distribute writing expertise","cbCaieHVWjPzjynd","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaieHVWjPzjynd","pdf",114085,12,"English","# Epic Learning in a “Jumbo” Writing Course\n## Institutional Context: Corequisite Courses in Response to “Basic” Writing\n## Creating Space for the “Jumbo” FYC Course\n## Support for Writing Mentors","[{\"question\":\"What is the “jumbo” model in English 130’s academic writing course?\",\"answer\":\"It is a large-enrollment first-year composition course with embedded writing mentors. A small workshop runs “outside but alongside” the jumbo class to enable peer learning and mentorship.\"},{\"question\":\"Why did the program abolish basic writing courses, and what effect did it have?\",\"answer\":\"After low scores on the CSU English Placement Test, students were routed to a corequisite workshop instead of remedial courses. The change recognized students’ literate experience and labor as having real value.\"},{\"question\":\"How are writing mentors trained and supported in the jumbo design?\",\"answer\":\"Nine mentors participate in every large-class section and also run additional two-hour weekly small-group workshops. They help create a culture of inquiry and provide more frequent, direct feedback than the instructor alone.\"}]","Epic Learning in a “Jumbo” Writing Course | PDF",1792088261]