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The Writing Program is excited to be able to share updates to the Student Writing Anthology (SWA) created, edited, and published by UMass Amherst students, instructors, and administrators originally for use in the Fall 2021 semester. Updates in this version include voiceovers for all essays, a newly added physical multimodal project, and the ability to download the textbook as a printable PDF.

Student writing is at the core of the Writing Program (WP) curriculum, therefore keeping the SWA up-to-date and accessible to the roughly 4,800 students taking ENGLWRIT 112: College Writing (112) every academic year is a primary goal for the program. Using an open access, digital textbook in collaboration with the UMass Amherst Libraries enabled this project to develop as one way to meet the Writing Program’s commitment to equity and inclusion as well as aligning with the overall university commitment to open access textbooks.

Not only does the use of an open access SWA provide a cost savings to our students, but this also allows the use of multimodal projects as a core assignment in the 112 sequence. The use of multimodal projects (defined here as: using more than just typed alphabetic text and limited visual arrangement) began during fully remote pandemic teaching in 2020. This combination of more digital teaching, the focus of updating 112 curriculum to reflect current composing situations in social, academic, and professional contexts all lead to shifting the SWA from a print, for purchase textbook to a free, open-access digital text as a natural part of the WP mission.

As with all large-scale changes, this project was successful due to the collaboration and work of many people. The process begins with the 112 students and instructors who work to create and submit assignments, then passes on to the graduate teaching associates who serve on the Best Text and SWA selection committees, and ultimately to the publication process guided by Associate Director, Dr. Elkie Burnside. The start up of this project was funded by and Open Education Initiative grant provided by the UMass Libraries.

Revising the SWA is an on-going process and the campus community can get involved by continuing to encourage students to submit to the Charles Moran Best Text contest, which is where SWA entries are selected from. This project would not be possible without the generosity of our 112 students and instructors, so please encourage submissions!