Group items tagged

This open-access book by Steven J. Corbett, Beyond Dichotomy: Synergizing Writing Center and Classroom Pegagogies, is available to be downloaded free. it is described as follows: How closely can or should writing centers and writing classrooms collaborate? Beyond Dichotomy explores how research on peer tutoring one-to-one and in small groups can inform our work with students in writing centers and other tutoring programs, as well as in writing courses and classrooms. These multi-method (including rhetorical and discourse analyses and ethnographic and case-study) investigations center on several course-based tutoring (CBT) partnerships at two universities. Rather than practice separately in the center or in the classroom, rather than seeing teacher here and tutor there and student over there, CBT asks all participants in the dynamic drama of teaching and learning to consider the many possible means of connecting synergistically. This book offers the "more-is-more" value of designing more peer-to-peer learning situations for developmental and multicultural writers, and a more elaborate view of what happens in these peer-centered learning environments. It offers important implications-especially of directive and nondirective tutoring strategies and methods-for peer-to-peer learning and one-to-one tutoring and conferencing for all teachers and learners of writing.

Links to all of the WAC Bibliographies on the following topics: Writing in the Disciplines Writing to Learn Program Design Faculty Concerns WAC in Two-Year Colleges WAC in the Schools WAC in the Disciplines WAC Assessment Pedagogy Writing Processes Writing Conventions Genre Research WAC and Writing Centers/Learning Centers Writing Fellows Programs WAC and Second-Language Writing Service and Experiential Learning Literacy Community Inquiry Technology Discourse Analysis Graduate Students

An overview of one learning commons, at Lyndon State College, and how the writing center fits in

University of Washington Bothell Writing and Communication Center's extensive list of ESL Instructional resources, Young-Kyung Min who wrote all the resources offers the following: "Over the last four decades, the demographics in US institutions of higher education have rapidly changed with an ever-increasing enrollment of non-native English speaking students. The enrollment of non-native English speaking students on our campus has greatly increased since its establishment. Creating a global learning environment is one of the main learning goals for our campus; thus, it is very important for faculty to continue learning about the particular needs and concerns of our non-native English speaking students and the campus resources available to assist faculty in helping students with their needs and concerns. Please continue to visit this website as more resources will be added to this section."

An Inside Higher Ed article about being in a learning commons where the Writing Center shares space with a Qualitative Learning Center.

"This statement responds to the growing educational concerns about plagiarism in four ways: by defining plagiarism; by suggesting some of the causes of plagiarism; by proposing a set of responsibilities (for students, teachers, and administrators) to address the problem of plagiarism; and by recommending a set of practices for teaching and learning that can significantly reduce the likelihood of plagiarism. The statement is intended to provide helpful suggestions and clarifications so that instructors, administrators, and students can work together more effectively in support of excellence in teaching and learning."

A toolkit to help plan the space for a learning commons. There are photos of various spaces including the Penn Libraries Weigle Information Commons, the Utah Knowledge Commons, suggestions for group study, media production, open area work, etc.

Jude Carroll reflects on her 2005 recommendations on managing student plagiarism and on lessons learned since then.

Key issues: Focus on learning Make procedures user-friendly Criteria for decisions about plagiarism

discussing (the lack of) research on learning commons

Basic Writing e-Journal (BWe) is a peer-reviewed, online, open-access journal. BWe publishes scholarship on teaching and learning in various basic writing contexts. Since basic writing programs often enroll economically disadvantaged students from diverse backgrounds, these students, their teachers, and the policies that influence their access to higher education are often the focus of this journal. Other key topics of concern to BWe readers include curriculum, instructional practice, teacher preparation, program evaluation, and student learning. Additionally, reviews of current scholarly books and textbooks appear regularly in BWe. Currently based at the City College of New York, BWe was founded in 1999 by the Council on Basic Writing (CBW) and continues to be sponsored by CBW.

a discussion of a move from a stand-alone WC model to a learning commons

Faculty and writing center tutors bring expertise to writing as practice and pro-cess. Yet at many institutions, the two groups work in relative isolation, missing opportunities to learn from each other. In this article, I describe a faculty de-velopment initiative in a multidisciplinary writing program that brings together new faculty and experienced undergraduate tutors to workshop instructors' com-ments on first-year writing. The purpose of these workshops is to assist faculty in crafting inquiry-driven written responses that pave the way for collaborative faculty-student conferences. By bringing together scholarly conversations on tu-tor expertise and the role of faculty comments in student learning, I argue for the value of extending partnerships between writing centers and programs. Such ac-counts are important to the field for challenging what Grutsch McKinney (2013) calls the "writing center grand narrative," which limits the scope of writing center work by imagining centers primarily as "comfortable, iconoclastic places where all students go to get one-to-one tutoring on their writing" to the exclusion of lived realities (p. 3). In this case, I describe a writing center where tutors bring their expertise outside the center and into the faculty office, consulting in small groups with faculty with the aim of enriching the quality of instructor feedback in first-year seminars.

Long introduction to the speaker (you could fast forward to about 12 minutes). Outlines different perspectives on grammar, with links to models of learning/acquisition. Could be useful for tutor-training: traditional focus on prescriptive grammar balanced by context/texture, collocation and emergent phenomenon; some practical ideas could be used by tutors.

PeerCentered is a space for peer writing tutors/consultants or anyone interested in collaborative learning in writing centers to blog with their colleagues from around the world. Bloggers here will share their ideas, experiences, or insight. Related conversation on WCenter (links to archived "Meet the Author" sessions): http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=19608359

PeerCentered is a space for peer writing tutors/consultants or anyone interested in collaborative learning in writing centers to blog with their colleagues from around the world. Bloggers here will share their ideas, experiences, or insight. Has a search engine to search for topics discussed in blog entries.

The U. of Wisconsin-Madison's "Case Scenario/Crtiical Reader Builder is a desktop tool for creating a variety of web-based learning materials. You can combine text, images, video and audio along with embedded quiz questions and scoring to create compelling interactive critical readings, scenarios with decision branching, simulated dialogues, story-like narratives, media rich case studies and much more. The CSCR tool provides a framework for integrating multiple media elements and web resources to make your content come alive with interactivity. Learners can interact with and explore course content, make decisions and receive corrective feedback. For use for Tutors, click the link "Concept Tutor Plus" at the left of the page.

Via CompPile: "This review-essay of Lee-Ann Kastman Breuch's Virtual Peer Review: Teaching and Learning about Writing in Online Environments focuses on virtual peer review (VPR) and its place in composition pedagogy. Breuch's two main points of interest are what is gained by immersing students in online learning, and what could the composition community lose during the transition. In six chapters, Breuch discusses these ideas respectively: 1) how to distinguish the differences between VPR and face-to-face peer review through the use of remediation, specifically with reference to three characteristics of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC): time, space and interaction; 2) how these dimensions play out in virtual communication and instruction; 3) a more focused analysis of the 'tension' that arises when peer review is placed in the virtual world; 4) the challenges of the ownership of ideas in VPR; 5) other concerns raised about VPR; and 6) how VP can be used in the classroom and other writing contexts, the university Writing Center being one example. [Jennifer Maness] "

This study examined the perspectives of both tutors at university writing centers and the Non-Native English Speaking (NNES) students who use the centers. Using qualitative methods, this study looked at perceptions of the academic writing needs of the NNES students, along with characteristics of tutoring sessions which made the sessions successful in the eyes of tutors and students. The study used interviews, observations, a survey, and artifacts to look at these topics and then compared the perceptions of tutors and students. Additionally, the study compared writing centers at two universities, one of which employs an ESL specialist, in order to learn if employing this specialist affects success for the tutors and NNES students. Results indicate that student and tutor perceptions of student needs were similar in that they expressed consistent need for grammar assistance and help with low-order concerns (LOCs). Sessions at both universities were successful, according to tutors and students, if sessions focused on these grammar and LOC needs. Employing an ESL specialist did not affect the perceptions of students or tutors nor did it seem to effect the success of sessions for either students or tutors.

This open-access book, available on the WAC Clearninghouse, can be downloaded. Authors are Brock Haussamen with Amy Benjamin, Martha Kolln, Rebecca S. Wheeler, and members of NCTE's Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar. The book is described as follows: NCTE's Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar provides this much-needed resource for Kâ€"college teachers who wonder what to do about grammar-how to teach it, how to apply it, how to learn what they themselves were never taught. Grammar Alive! offers teachers ways to negotiate the often conflicting goals of testing, confident writing, the culturally inclusive classroom, and the teaching of Standard English while also honoring other varieties of English. This hands-on approach to grammar in the classroom includes numerous examples and practical vignettes describing real teachers' real classroom experiences with specific grammar lessons-including ESL issues-as well as a review of grammar basics.

discussing strategies for training tutors to better support writers with LDs

see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=19088200