tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3790062.post111288863883764066..comments2024-03-27T08:11:29.257-06:00Comments on PeerCentered: Reflections of an assistant director/tutorClint Gardnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07671508034667904543noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3790062.post-1112974595394498822005-04-08T09:36:00.000-06:002005-04-08T09:36:00.000-06:00I have also been mulling over the "bigger is bette...I have also been mulling over the "bigger is better" business approach to the writing center recently. When asked how I measure the success of the writing center, the administrator in me wants to discuss number of visits, students tutored, comparative gpa's, and all of the other quantitative assessment-driven measures we grapple with each academic cycle. The tutor in me, though, would rather talk about how the writing center is part of the campus culture, and, I like to think, helps to change that culture in some little way.<BR/><BR/>For a variety of reasons, I'm becoming more and more cynical. I'm convinced that we can increase those quantitative measures positively through a variety of policies--encouraging faculty to require more visits, spending time identifying at-risk students, collaborating with disability services and other offices on campus, etc.--, but I'm not sure doing so will position the writing center such that it can effect the campus culture in the positive manner that I know a writing center can. I prefer to think of the students who wander in with a cup of coffee, chat a bit with their peers, work on a draft on their own, call over a tutor to discuss an idea, go to the computer and slap together a quick draft, print it out, and talk about it a bit more with other folks (maybe a tutor or two, maybe not), etc. The problem is that those experiences, as many as there are, are reduced to the information on our summary form, cranked into our database template, and come out in an annual report as:<BR/><BR/><B>Smith, John<BR/>Western Civ 101</B><BR/>John and I talked about thesis development.<BR/><BR/>Then, of course, I'm talking about the numbers all over again.Karl Forneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09831460188570356220noreply@blogger.com