Directed Self-Placement, or DSP, is the University of Michigan’s way of helping incoming students decide whether they are ready to enter their First-Year Writing Requirement (FYWR) course immediately, whether they would benefit from first taking WRITING 100, an ungraded transition to college writing course taught by experienced Sweetland faculty, or whether they would like to enroll in ELI 120, an international undergraduate student course through The University of Michigan English Language Institute.
While dozens of colleges and universities use some version of DSP for writing placement, the University of Michigan has emerged as a national leader in DSP development and research. Connecting DSP to the classroom is a distinguishing feature of the Michigan model. Instructors are an integral part of the success of DSP at the University of Michigan, so it is important that all FYWR, ELI and Sweetland instructors understand the DSP process. In order to fully understand what DSP is, however, it is important to understand what DSP is not.
Rather, DSP is an alternative to the mandatory writing placement assessments used at many other colleges and universities, which typically rely on standardized test scores or timed impromptu essays. Sweetland believes that these kinds of assessments send students the wrong message about the expectations of college-level writing. Instead, the University of Michigan’s DSP process is designed to help students understand the kinds of thinking and writing that are valued at the University by engaging in a more authentic college writing task. Students then assess their own readiness for college-level writing based this experience. Learn more about the rationale for DSP as it is structured at the University of Michigan.
Instead, DSP helps students place themselves. The online DSP process generates a writing course recommendation based on students’ responses to the self-assessment questions they complete after submitting their essay, and advisors discuss this recommendation with students during orientation. However, students are ultimately responsible for making their own decision about whether to begin with ELI 120, WRITING 100 or enroll directly into their FYWR course. Learn more about the DSP process from the student perspective.
Instead, the essays are made available to students’ FYWR, WRITING 100 and ELI 120 instructors, who use them:
to get a sense of students’ writing abilities;
as the basis for class activities and assignments; and
as a way to help students reflect on how their writing has grown over the course of the semester.
When students begin the DSP process, they are informed that their instructors will be reading the essays they write. This is part of what motivates students to take DSP seriously, and they are often disappointed or frustrated if their instructor never discusses or makes use of their DSP essay in class. Learn more about how to use students’ DSP essays in your class.
The article that students read for DSP and the essay prompt that they respond to changes every year, and FYWR, ELI 120 and WRITING 100 instructors are always invited to participate in the selection of the reading and the development of the prompt. Sweetland also regularly surveys instructors to gather their impressions and suggestions about how the DSP process is working. In this way, DSP becomes a better reflection of college-level writing at the University of Michigan and more integrated into classroom instruction each year. To learn more about how instructors shape DSP, click here.
