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.
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.
Kyle Bell graduated from the State University of New York College at Plattsburgh in the spring of 2014. He has embarked on an accelerated B.A./M.A. TESOL from Stony Brook University. In "Multiliteracy Memes," Bell uses memes and PowerPoint to challenge common misconceptions about The Claude J. Clark Learning Center and about tutoring.
E. Marin Smith is a graduate student in the Department of English at California State Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo. Her interest in Eastern religious philosophy began while she was teaching English in Kathmandu, Nepal where she studied Hinduism, and later while teaching in Japan and studying Zen Buddhism.
Gabrielle Seeley
University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
From Praxis: "A writing center consultant explores strategies for empowering students writers. When I began training to work in the Writing Center at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS), I perceived it to be an inherently feminist learning space."
Chris LeCluyse - University of Texas at Austin "How can we balance training in writing center theory and practice without leaving our values at the door? Empowerment. Collaboration. Equality. More than many academic departments and services, writing centers are driven by their values. As writing center practitioners, we judge ourselves according to how we apply those values in working with writers."
Jay D Sloan - Kent State University - From Praxis: "Consultants in the Kent State University Stark Campus Writing Center enter the "contact zone" in order to help each other and the writers they work with wrestle with diversity. Like many universities, Kent State University's Stark campus has taken "embracing diversity" as one of its primary initiatives."
M. Blake Reichenbach is a writing consultant at Bellarmine University's Writing Center. He delivers a witty monologue about the connections between working at a trendy Mexican restaurant and consulting a fellow student during a tutoring session.
From Praxis: "Former university writing consultant Michael Erard has made a living as a writer and writing consultant outside the university. He shares his wisdom about the challenges and advantages of consulting in the wild. You don't need to be in a university-based writing center to do the writer-centered, process-positive, and culture-sensitive work of a writing consultant."
"Writing Across Borders" is a video resulting from a 3-year research project, the purpose of which is "to help faculty writing assistants, and other professionals work more productively with international students in writing environments." The video can be used for tutor training and costs $14.95, plua $6 shipping, and can be ordered from the Oregon State University bookstore.