Re: wc's, faculty referral, student resposibility (fwd)

[Eric Crump <wleric@showme.missouri.edu>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 4 Nov 1996 12:24:41 -500
From: Mieke Koppen Tucker <mktucker.faculty.users.main.Bishops@ubishops.ca>
Reply-To: "Moderated Writing Center forum." <WCENTR-L@MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list WCENTR-L <WCENTR-L@MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU>
Subject: Re: wc's, faculty referral, student resposibility (fwd)

I've been following this discussion with some interest, and am very
curious about the diverse staff model recommended with such
enthusiasm below.  What about pay rates?  Are they various?  Are
volunteers seen as threatening the number of hours that the original
tutors would want to work?  Or is your demand so great (and your
budget so generous) that everyone gets the hours they want?

These are some of the problems I would have to deal with if I followed
Twila's very interesting - and I must admit exciting - suggestions.

Mieke


>      I suggest in your own case that the solution is simple--hire some real
> peer tutors: undergraduates.  Your Center dynamics would change dramatically
 if
> you varied your staff.  At Rollins our first peer writing consultants were
> day program (usually age 20-22).  Later I got to hire a few Holt School peer
> consultants (older, "nontraditional"), then 3 graduate students; now we also
> have "community volunteers," some being retired professionals.  This has given
> us a very diverse staff.  They all take the same training course,
> discovering how much they have to learn from their clients--and each other.
>      So all groups benefit from exchanging information--and clients still
> seem to sign up for the most convenient times, rather than checking the
> credentials of the peer consultant.
>
> Twila Papay