Group items tagged

"Measurable Outcomes for Writing Centers--An Eclectic Bibliography"

a helpful discussion that defines and explains goals and outcomes (for assessment, SLOs, strategic plans, etc.) see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=18981151

discussing outcomes for tutor/consultant staff

a discussion of the goals/SLOs WCs develop see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=19619346 see also: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=22074331

"The Citation Project is a multi-institution research project responding to educators' concerns about plagiarism and the teaching of writing. Although much has been written on this topic and many have expressed concerns, little empirical data is available to describe what students are actually doing with their sources. At present, therefore, educators must make policy decisions and pedagogy based on anecdote, personal observation, media reports, and the claims of corporations that sell "solutions." The Citation Project begins the process of providing descriptive data. Our research team systematically studies randomly selected, source-based student papers from a range of different institutions. Our purpose is to describe how student writers use the sources they cite in their papers. With this information, educators will be able to make informed decisions about best practices for formulating plagiarism policies and for teaching rhetorically effective and ethically responsible methods of writing from sources. Preventing plagiarism is a desired outcome of our research, as the subtitle above indicates, but the Citation Project research suggests that students' knowing how to understand and synthesize complex, lengthy sources is essential to effective plagiarism prevention. If instructors know how shallowly students are engaging with their research source-and that is what the Citation Project research reveals-then they know what responsible pedagogy needs to address."

Marin Smith's "Karma-Yoga and Non-Attachment to the Fruits of Work: Tutoring in the University Writing Center" was published in the Fall 2014 issue of the student journal Tutors.

following the death of Tyler Clementi, important discussion of the role of the writing center in providing a safe space/space of action for LGBTQ students

a discussion of the difficulty of assessing the effect of writing center intervention when considered among other variables (instructor, class dynamics, student health, etc.)

discussing the challenges posed by Quality Enhancement Plans, and how to meet them

crowdsourcing a list of resources on WCs and student learning/retention; research on cost-effectiveness; individual reports from directors that demonstrate value of WCs see also a discussion on writing centers and grade improvement: http://lyris.ttu.edu/read/messages?id=18268126

From Neal Lerner's July 2011 message to WCenter: Folks, the latest issue (July 2011) of the Journal of Writing Research includes a very impressive study by James Williams and Seiji Takaku of the relationship between college students' self-efficacy, help-seeking behaviors, writing center visits, and writing performance. Here's a link to a pdf of the study: http://www.jowr.org/articles/vol3_1/JoWR_2011_vol3_nr1_Williams_Takaku.pdf Here's a snippet to take to your dean: "The analysis showed that those students who frequently obtained writing center tutoring received higher grades in composition than those who did not, regardless of their ESL or native-English-speaker status. The frequency of writing center tutoring seemed to be especially valuable for the ESL students, who outperform their domestic cohorts, receiving significantly higher grades in composition."