Re: faculty support

[Larry Nichols <lnichols@seattleu.edu>]

I've found that the best way to promote use of our center, both for
faculty and students, is to offer in-class demonstrations where I take
several consultants to a professor's class and each consultant does a
brief session with one student while others watch on. After this
session we discuss how what the students have seen or experienced is like
and unlike our normal hour-long sessions. We also explain how the
consultants are selected and trained, offer advice for making the 
best use of our services, and ask students in the class who have used
our center to talk about their experience. 

These sessions take a full class hour, but they get us beyond telling who
we are and how we operate to showing it. They are time
intensive in that they require extra scheduling for faculty and for
our staff, but they are becoming increasing more popular on our campus. 
I'd recommend you end your seminar by offering something like the
demonstration sessions I've just described. Good luck with your seminar.

Larry Nichols
Director of the Writing Center
Seattle University
On Fri, 9 Oct 1998, Jean-Paul Nadeau wrote:

> In a month or so I will be running a faculty development seminar called
> “Faculty Use of the Writing Center: What Really Happens When a Student
> Visits the Writing Center?”.  My purpose in doing so is to quell the
> fears of any faculty who suspect that strange and unnatural things are
> going on here.
> 
> The 90 minute seminar will begin with a re-enactment of a session -- two
> writing consultants will perform using the script from an actual
> session.  Discussion will follow.  I would like to end the seminar with
> some advice as to how to integrate the Writing Center into curricular
> plans.  In other words, I intend to offer suggestions as to how (and how
> not to) encourage students to benefit from the academic services we
> provide.
> 
> I have some ideas already: NOT mandating that students visit the Center,
> “advertising” the benefits of visiting the Center on syllabi, offering
> extensions on due dates or bonus points.  Of course, I would suggest
> that faculty emphasize to their students the value of having a “live”
> reader for their papers and what they can learn about themselves as
> writers.  I’ll also bring up the need for increased dialogue between
> Writing Center staff and faculty -- not about what happened with a
> particular student during a session but more “what we should do when”
> issues.
> 
> I’m looking for ideas for additional suggestions.   How else can faculty
> encourage their students to use the Writing Center?  Realizing that it
> would be helpful to understand our philosophy as a Center to answer this
> question, I’ve included our brochure blurb below.
> 
>      The Writing Center operates as a resource for all disciplines.  Our
> staff firmly believes in writing as a learning tool and is committed to
> helping Bryant students become better writers and learners.
> 
>      For this reason, we don’t work for students, but with them.
> Students seeking assistance are always encouraged to become active
> participants during consulting sessions.  It is up to the student to
> decide which changes s/he will make based on a consultation.  The extent
> to which they involve themselves will determine the success of that
> meeting.
> 
>      Our goal is to help students develop as writers by helping them to
> recognize their writing strengths and weaknesses.  Our staff emphasizes
> that writing is a process, and is prepared to assist students at any
> stage.  This could mean fine tuning a thesis/main idea, working on
> organization, assessing the effectiveness of evidence, adjusting format,
> identifying confusing/awkward phrasing, and/or working on grammar, among
> other things.  Our staff does not rewrite sentences or paragraphs but
> rather guides students to address her/his own concerns.  We help writers
> help themselves.
> 
> Thanks in advance for your help!
> 
> Jean-Paul (JP) Nadeau
> Writing Center
> Bryant College
> Smithfield, RI  02917
> (401) 232-6567
> 
>