Abstract

Creating experiential learning assignments is a unique task of finding the balance between clarity and ambiguity—clarity helps to guide student engagement with tasks while ambiguity allows for autonomy whereby students have to “figure it out on their own.” This article examines how scaffolding assignments through the incorporation of Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) theory can support new ways of learning and making while engaging in experiential assignments. To examine this issue, I have created a framework to analyze and assess both the scaffolding methods used in a first-year undergraduate graphic design course assignment and the outcomes of the work done by students. The results of the analysis demonstrate that experiential assignments bolstered by WAC techniques that scaffold learning helps students with time management, focus, engagement in risk-taking, recognition of design processes, self-reflection, and critical thinking skills.