Re: Peer Consultants/Adjunct Consultants

[Dee Baer <dbaer@odin.english.udel.edu>]

Our Writing Center employs roughly 7 part time (long term and very
experienced) faculty and 10 -12 first year English or Linguistics grad
students every year.  When our first years become second years and, they
teach freshman composition and frequently send their students to the
Writing Center.  While some do tend to overbook their students with the
experienced part timers, most recognize that each group--part timer or
grad TA--has its strengths and most encourage students to sign up, period. 
Of course, Tas who have spent a year here also know which part timer is
especially good with , say, ESL students or returning adults, and that
knowledge does influence their recommendations to their students. 

When we surveyed our client students last spring, we found that 98% of
those working with part time faculty would come back to the Writing Center
and that 99% would recommend us to others, while an identical 98% of
students working with TAs said they would come back and 97% would
recommend the Writing Center to others.  Additionally, close to 95% of
students--whether working with TAs or part time faculty--said that the
conference was either quite helpful or extremely helpful. 

Clearly, each group has much to offer.  

On Mon, 10 Nov 1997, bobbie silk wrote:

> Joel--
> 
> My sense of democracy tells me to suggest that you make no distinction
> between peer tutors and faculty.  I'm also inclined to think that "luck of
> the draw" helps demonstrate to clients that both trained peers and faculty
> can handle appointments with expertise.  Our own experience at Clarke
> emphasizes this point.
> 
> Although our staff consists entirely of peer tutors, Katie and I (as
> co-directors) also take appointments.  Last spring the two of us were
> innundated by a flood of appointments, mainly with seniors from two
> particular disciplines.  This caused us great difficulty since Katie and I
> no longer had time for other obligations--such as working with faculty,
> doing outreach, and taking care of administrative duties.  Part of this
> flood was caused by a staff member who was advising clients (and making
> appointments for them) to see Katie or me with any paper over 10 pages
> long. (Because this staff member--who both tutored and took care of
> clerical duties--didn't want to read long papers herself, she circulated
> the idea among tutors that only Katie and I should handle long papers as
> unofficial policy.) 
> 
> However, the flood was also--and more importantly--the result of
> particular faculty members telling certain clients they "had to" see one
> of the directors.  This isn't a large school, so before long none of the
> seniors in these classes were willing to entrust their papers to anyone
> other than a professional. This not only overwhelmed us as directors, it
> also erroded client confidence in the peer tutors and the tutors'
> confidence in themselves. Some clients actually told our peer staff that
> they couldn't work with someone who didn't "know what they're doing."
> 
> We took care of the errant tutor and re-educated the faculty members.  But
> re-building our staff's self-confidence was tough.
> 
>   --Bobbie
> 
> On Mon, 10 Nov 1997, JOEL NYDAHL wrote:
> 
> > Next semester I'll teach a credit-bearing course in which I'll train
> > undergraduates to work in the Writing Center.  NOt a new idea (I've done it
> > before), but I have a question that I didn't have to ask before.  Do those
> > of you who have both students and faculty working in a writing center make
> > sure that their hours are kept separate on the schedule?  Some people have
> > raised the concern that if students and faculty are scheduled at the same time
> > that students will almost always insist on seeing a faculty member.  I know
> > for a fact that sometimes students prefer seeing a peer tutor--but is the
> > concern justified?  Should I make an effort to keep the peer and faculty
> > schedules separate--or can I meld them?  Any experience out there that
> > can speak to this issue?
> > 
> > Joel Nydahl
> > Writing Coordinator
> > Norwalk Community-Technical College
> > Norwalk, CT 06854
> > 
> 
>