Special Features: Resources to Support Student Learning
Last Updated: July 2007
Campus Writing Center
The Campus Writing Center has been in existence, in various forms, since 1978. The Director has a faculty contract, one-half time with the Writing Center and one-half time with the English Department.
The mission of the Writing Center is to provide a collaborative, supportive, and instructional environment where students work closely with peer tutors to strengthen their college-level writing skills. The Center is committed to fostering growth and understanding in the writer, not just in the paper. The focus of the Writing Center is on the student body as a whole, rather than the developmental needs of a few students. Twenty-five percent of the students seen are seniors and graduate students. Faculty and staff also take advantage of the Center’s services. Writers seeking help with the conception, research, drafting, or revising stages of their paper are welcome.
The Writing Center offers scheduled and drop-in tutoring services for students. In addition, it provides the following programs and resources:
- "Learning Strategies for Success Seminars," a joint venture between the Writing Center and the ARC
- instructor and student-specific writing resources
- assistance for understanding and avoiding plagiarism
- reference and style manuals and research tools
- resources for English as a Second Language writers
The Writing Center conducted student, faculty, and tutor assessment for the first time during the 2003-04 academic year. While the student and tutor assessment data provided useful insight into an individual tutoring session, the data were not quantifiable. Assessment instruments allowing for easier quantification were developed for use in 2004-05. The faculty assessment yielded more meaningful results. Survey responses on a five-point scale (1=strongly agree, 5=strongly disagree) revealed:
- The faculty are familiar with the mission of the Campus Writing Center (1.6).
- Faculty feel peer-tutoring practices promote the development of student writing (1.7).
- Faculty feel comfortable referring students to the Campus Writing Center (1.3) and actively encourage students to make use of the resource (1.5).
- Faculty perceive that students who participate in a Campus Writing Center tutorial show improvement in the quality of their final draft (1.4).
