Re: wc adverts

[96BANDY@wmich.edu]

Kathy-
	Our wc is under the umbrella of the Academic Skills Center, and our
ASC coordinator is already after me to make some sort of a video.  I may be
back in touch with you for insight into that later.
	As long as we're on the subject of videos, our wc sends me (the
graduate assistant) out to classrooms with a series of travelling workshops
on MLA documentation and another on proffreading techniques.  We only do
these on request and the demand is not tremendous, so I have not had a lot of
experience presenting these.  The MLA series was originally designed to be
three separate, 50 minute long segments with exercises and interactive
activities.  The previous GA told me she hated doing these because the
students didn't feel like she had any authority and so felt no compunction to
pay attention and participate (I imagine repeated first days in the
classroom).  I have shortened the only presentation I have been asked to do
this semester into a 20 minute introductory lecture and left the instructors
to follow up.  The proofreading workshop is just the opposite; it is not much
more than an outline of strategies and is crying for some sort of support
materials, something like a sample paper that can be worked over and modeled
with, which I am trying to develop currently. 
	In the mean time, I have had faculty requests/suggestions that if
these are to be non-interactive lectures, with support materials or execises
that the classroom instructor can use to follow up later, that I might put
these presentations on video so that it is more convenient for them to
schedule class-time.
	In your collective experience, are such video presentations effective
in the classroom?  Or, should I go back to working on ways to make the
workshop more truly a workshop, and spend the time and effort to get them
participating, because we all know that no student learns without doing.
	Thanks in advance for your insights.

James Bandy, GA
WMU Writing Center
Western Michigan University
1044 Moore Hall
Kalamazoo, MI 49008