Physical Space and Collaboration: Comparing the Two Locations of the Texas A&M University Writing Center
Recently, I had the opportunity to partake in a unique consultation at the West Campus Library University Writing Center. This location is a converted small group study room. As such, it is a small but open space that boasts just three separate desks equipped for consultations. There are no walls separating the desks, and individual consultations are visible and audible to all inside the room. That day, two of us had finished our consultations but a fellow consultant seemed to be having a difficult session. She turned her head around and asked us for our opinion on the issue. The client’s prompt really was difficult to decode, and we each had our own take on it. We were unsure of what her professor wanted her to analyze from a website: the pictures? Rhetorical devices? The advertising? But we sat there, huddled together (three consultants to one client) discussing and exchanging ideas. The client reacted favorably to this environment, becoming more animated about the paper and proces...