The College Writing Center 1
Eric Moberg
The College Writing Center:
Best Practices, Best Technologies
Eric Moberg
March 7, 2010
Introduction
Vitoria Matalon entered the fields of writing tutelage and World Wide Web
entrepreneurship in 2003 with her for-fee online writing tutoring center. Her brainchild
was born out of her own frustration at her alma mater, New York University, where she
had to make writing center appointments as much as two weeks in advance for assistance
when she was an undergraduate student. As Matalon put it: "no one thinks they need
help a week before; everyone needs help the night before" (Carlson A30).
Indeed there is a certain client/provider aspect to the writing center relationships
between students and tutors. Partly in response to the popularity of the internet, many
colleges and universities have added online writing laboratories to their services. Not
surprisingly, these ventures have met varying success. Some institutions, such as Walden
University and National University, have no brick and mortar centers whatever, but do
offer extensive online writing services (P. Prince, personal communication, March 2,
2010).
Whatever the service delivery model, though, the tutoring methods remain more
important than the technologies in the quality of the service. While there are some
technologies that are more accessible, useful, and inexpensive than a paper and pen, the
technology should be seen as a tool, not a magic wand. There is no replacement for a well
educated and well trained tutor managing and facilitating the tutelage in a well organized
writing center program aimed at the lifelong learning of each individual student (Griffiths
31).
Andragogy
The concept of lifelong learning requires a consideration of Alexander Kapp’s 1833
theory that adults respond better to methods designed for their maturity rather than
teaching methods typically used with children. While Kapp’s theory of “andragogy” as
opposed to “pedagogy” gained little currency in its day, Boston University professor,
Malcolm Knowles, elevated it to a new level of prominence in his teaching throughout
the 1990’s (Moberg 1). The construct of andragogy offers important lessons for how best
to design programs such as writing instruction or writing support at the college level.
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Eric Moberg
Several key components are common in most writing center designs. The most
important component in the success of a writing tutoring program is the methods
employed by the tutors in the sessions. With current technology, most any method
available in a face-to-face service delivery model is also available online Modeling,
Socratic dialogue, collaboration, presentation, and even lecture are all available options
online as well as in person. The online format is only a medium, not the curriculum itself.
The curriculum, the service delivery model, and the methods are most successful when
tailored to each individual student’s strengths and needs.
Keeping the person, or student, foremost in the tutoring process, many long time
tutors recommend beginning the relationship by allowing the student to set the agenda (S.
Grogan, personal communication, March 1, 2010). Reflection and goal setting are key
threshold activities for adult learners beginning a course of study (Merriam et al. 176).
This introspection is fundamental to improvement in the writing process. Tutors do well
to encourage students to consider their goals before during and after the tutoring session
and throughout the tutoring program (Jordan 53). The organization of a model tutoring
program should include at least the following: (a) organized tutoring sessions, (b)
understanding the complexity of the reading process, (c) development of reading and
writing, (d) oral reading by tutor and student, (e) ongoing assessment of competency and
comprehension, and (f) planning beyond the tutoring session and beyond the tutoring
series (Roller and Newark). Roller and Newark further stress that tutors of writing should
understand the process of reading and the teaching of reading to better understand the
process of writing and the teaching of writing (11).
Shared writing is a process of collaboration for adult literacy students in which
tutors and students each read their writing aloud to each other. This method is part of the
writing as a “life skill” school of thought that is currently popular with Canadian
educators (Fahy and Morgan). This oral presentation is not new, though; shared writing
harkens back millennia to the traditions of the bards and their oral presentations. Homer,
as a blind man, could neither read nor write, but composed several classic epics still
revered today. Sharing writing with a small and supportive audience is a safe way for
developing writers to gain confidence in their skills.
Students and tutors can develop as writers by sharing their works online as well as
in person, or both. The use of both online and brick and mortar service delivery models
allows programs and institutions to accentuate the advantages of each and accommodate
for the weaknesses. This “blended” approach achieves better outcomes for a wide range
of students in various stages, situations, or locations (MacDonald). The advantages of
online tutoring with respect to cost and convenience are obvious. Some students,
however, still prefer or require at least initial face-to-face consultation in writing
instruction. Writing centers that can offer both in person and online services can
capitalize on the opportunities and qualities of each to provide a comprehensive and
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Eric Moberg
effective program to develop the competency of each individual student writer (Donnely
351).
Programs that teach writing as a competency rather than a set of discrete skills
help students grow faster and further as writers and scholars (Smits et al. 496). The
ultimate goal of the tutoring session series should be the overall competency of the
student to communicate in a written medium. Learning grammar, spelling, format, or
research methods as individual skills are only means to the end. Tutors should interact
with students as writers, as opposed to viewing their tutees as grammar students or
spelling students or formatting students. Interestingly, students with more education tend
to reject lower level criticisms on grammar and format, even when well-founded (Waring
142). Negotiating such issues with aplomb requires solid orientation training as well as
ongoing in-service training.
Training
Many writing center tutors feel underprepared to teach all of the skills necessary to help
students with their writing (Griswold 67). Roller and Newark recommend extensive
training for tutors and introductory training for students (12). Untrained or poorly trained
tutors can cause as many problems in an online model as they can in a brick and mortar
model (Martinovic 165). One key to the success of an online tutoring program is not the
distance between tutor and student, but in the training each receives. Students and tutors
with moderate computer skills can quickly learn enough about Adobe Connect or
Elluminate to master the programs to a degree that allows most or all of the same
opportunities of in-person interaction at a brick and mortar center.
UMUC’s Effective Writing Center has no bricks or mortar, but exists strictly
online. The Effective Writing Center actively recruites a cadre of well trained English
teachers as tutors. UMUC conducts extensive initial training and ongoing in-service
training for its tutors. Part of the practice at the Effective Writing Center is to replace
“track changes” type of correction editing with “positive feedback” comments (Online
Writing Tutorials 41). Similarly, National University’s Writing Center conducts monthly
in-service training stressing a student-centered philosophy. The National University
Writing Center staff share methods and collaborate on how best to maintain and improve
the success of the organization (S. Grogan, personal communication, February 4, 2010).
Organization
Another key to the success of the writing tutelage is in the organization of the service.
Writing center services that are well organized and well managed offer better and more
reliable outcomes for students than poorly organized or poorly managed centers
do. Student ease of access and predictability are important to success of a tutoring
program and are as easy to facilitate online as in person with proper organization.
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Organization requires clear establishment of mission, goals, responsibilities, and roles.
Many college and university administrators, however, complain about the lack of clarity
in their roles in campus leadership (Anderson et al. 1).
Leadership is required to run any organization, especially those with large
numbers of human resources, such as institutions or higher learning. Tutors and students
each need to know the basics of who, what, where, and when from the management.
National University uses an online scheduling portal that the administration, tutors, and
students all can access. The tutor’s schedules are set by the director on the portal;
students use the portal to seek open appointments and select them online. Tutors then
receive an e-mail each time a student sets an appointment with them. This system allows
for each interested party to know the who, what, where, and when of the writing tutelage.
The information is available to any of the parties day and night, so long as they have
internet access (S. Grogan, personal communication, March 3, 2010).
A recent internet redesign of the Purdue Online Writing lab employed a highly
collaborative process from start to finish. Faculty, technical writers, graduate students,
and administrators all participated in the program improvement project. The goal was to
facilitate optimal experiences for each interested party in the collaboration. This
collaborative model encouraged discursive interaction between the various interested
parties and related technologies (Salvo).
Technologies
Older, but still widely used, technologies such as spell check and grammar check, have
saved countless gallons of red ink from professors’ still older technology of correcting
pens. The advent of word processing has likely done more to encourage writing as a
multi-step process than the eraser or white-out could ever do. Researching, re-writing,
revising, and re-formatting are now relatively fast an easy as compared to the heyday of
the typewriter, carbon paper, and the card catalog (Badge and Badge).
Online databases and file depositories such as the Education Resource and
Information Clearinghouse have replaced card catalogs to make research for writing
projects easier, faster, and more convenient. Students can now do all of their research,
writing, and revising from the comfort of their homes. The cost of a netbook computer to
access most of this free software and web content is as low as $299 in 2010. Many
databases and journal subscriptions are free or included in tuition and student fees at most
colleges and universities. Educators are promoting these technologies across the
curriculum and across the globe. There are even a host of sites catering especially to
developmental writers (Calfee 78) and developmental students in all subjects (Broderick
and Caverly 39). Other uses of newer technologies as means to promote older teaching
methods include a project at Michigan Technology University that recruits historically
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Eric Moberg
under-represented students to write and share personal narratives in an online forum
(Valentine).
Current online technologies, such as Elluminate Live or Adobe Acrobat Connect
Pro, allow for file and document sharing in real time. A student and a tutor can
collaborate on the same paper on two different computers miles away (Vallance et al.
20). This collaboration can be done on a synchronous basis as well as an asynchronous
basis. Each of these online presentation and collaboration platforms is available on a fee
for use basis, but is typically paid by the colleges or universities hosting the online
writing center. Many college writing center employ more than one platform as well as
multiple systems at the same time in their online writing labs (Byrne 459).
Online Writing Labs
The majority of online writing centers are outgrowths of the brick and mortar facility on
campus. Some online writing centers do little more than act as electronic billboards to
usher students into the campus physical center itself (Anderson-Inman 650). Most,
however, offer at least web links, answers to frequently asked questions, and documents
for download, such as Modern Language Association or American Psychological
Association templates for research papers. Many online writing labs also offer virtual
tutoring sessions via internet, e-mail, phone, or instant messaging (Harris 21).
The Purdue Online Writing Lab purports to be the first of its kind to offer writing
tutelage on the internet. The founder of the Purdue Writing Lab, Dr. Murial Harris, and a
colleague from Purdue Educational Computing launched the site in 1994 with a specially
designed e-mail server, gopher, and web site. Their intent was to provide services for
students who found it inconvenient to visit the brick and mortar center during its normal
hours. The Purdue site has evolved into a state of the art stand-alone reference center and
clearinghouse for countless students and writers worldwide. Purdue claims that their site
received over 31 million visits from students and writers in more than 125 countries
during 2005 and 2006, in which time, the staff tutors report having answered over 3000
writing queries strictly online (Mayer).
The University of Maryland University College (UMUC) is an online institution
only and serves students from around the globe. UMUC’s Effective Writing Center offers
writing assistance in the form of reviewing papers, general writing advice, writing related
lectures, and writing related workshops for faculty development. As with the Purdue
online writing lab, UMUC also posts general writing information, tips, and resources on
its site (Online Writing Tutorials 41).
Online writing lab sites continue the movement toward more education offerings
being based online. This movement is often a strategic decision for institutions wanting to
offer services and reduce costs so as to stay competitive (Fullmer 54). The online format
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reduces overhead such as rent, insurance, and energy costs. Tutors, too, reduce their
commuting and parking costs while enjoying the advantages of working from home,
which saves time and allows for tutors to accomplish more in the event of a cancelled
appointment (Calvani 214).
Conclusion
Lifelong learning is a must in our information age, especially in the worldwide recession
that began in 2008. In order to gain the most from their education, adult learners in any
subject, major, program, or school must master the basics of academic reading and
academic writing. Towards this end, writing tutors and writing centers offer
individualized attention to students who need more direction than their professors have
time to share in class or during office hours. The training of these tutors, organization of
their services, and management of the quality of the tutoring program stand out as key
considerations in establishing and maintaining a quality writing support program.
Whether writing centers stay within their bricks and mortar, move online, or blend their
service delivery, the quality of their services will remain an essential part of the success
of their students and their host school.
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