Matsumoto teaches each student according to their specific needs and has been successful at making writing relevant to their lives. She co-founded the Mid-Semester Classroom Assessment Program and the Teaching Squares Program that provide students and colleagues in other disciplines useful feedback in order to increase their performance levels. In 2005, her writing expository course was recognized as one of six WebCT Exemplary Course Project awards given to higher education institutions across the nation. A colleague wrote, "Students learn more than how to write in Donna‘s classes; they learn how to take responsibility for their own actions."