At a glance:
Ways that
WAC supports faculty
New
UWC opens at Stevenson Towers
Online
sources for student writers (and faculty)
UWC services
The Writing Across the Curriculum Program, quietly growing at NIU, has supported faculty in many ways:
Writing Center Moves to Stevenson Towers (top)
Meeting NIU Needs. Earlier this semester, the University Writing Center opened at a new location—Stevenson Towers South, lower level. Students are finding the dormitory site convenient, while Student Housing and Dining administrators feel enthusiastic about this most recent effort to expand its commitment to the living-learning connection.
In the academic year 2001-02, 1,948 clients generated 5,602 visits. A Writing Center staff of 32 trained consultants helped the students in 467 different courses, taught by more than 500 faculty. 466 of the students were freshman, 331 sophomores, 478 juniors, 451 seniors, and 201 grads. 10 faculty members also sought consultations, and 11 people from the surrounding community visited. 75% of the student clientele came from cross-disciplinary courses, while 25% came from First-Year Composition.
At midterm, student visits reached 2,000, and the continued increase in use shows why the new facility is such a boost.
Assessing Impact. Since 2000, teams of senior Writing Center staff experienced in calibration have read over 4,883 drafts written by repeat visitors. They have discovered that students who visit the Writing Center at least three times a semester, producing multiple drafts of at least two written projects, demonstrate measurable improvement in their drafting skills. Research is under way to gauge the impact of regular Writing Center visits upon the final papers that regular visitors turn in to professors—and preliminary evidence suggests the improvement is often substantial.
Equipping the Facility. The new Writing Center has plenty of space for consulting with clientele. The tutoring area is also hardwired for technological expansion. The complex boasts a conference room for small-group projects, a tech room to support online development, a staff office, a social area, bathrooms, and a state-of-the-art smart classroom designed specifically for writing instruction, where courses will begin convening next spring (see the floor plan, below).
The smart classroom is also equipped to train GAs and faculty seeking to learn more about teaching writing with technology. It has a smart podium with an overhead (elmo), two projectors, a smart board, and hook-up for cable TV as well as video. The workstations in the classroom are linked, so that faculty can bring up websites and other images on students’ monitors. Faculty can use the linking system to cluster students’ work stations for small-group collaboration.
Internet Sources to Help Your Students and You (top)
NIU professors can find many useful sources listed on the Writing Center website at http://www.niu.engl.edu/writing_center/. They can tell students to click the link for “Online Sources” and ask students to hunt for various items that will help them improve their writing. Professors will find electronic sources that can also enable them work effectively with students who speak English as a second language. Below are a few items that many national writing centers, including NIU’s, widely recommend for providing supplemental writing instruction and assistance to students and professors alike:
A great deal of the Writing Center’s work takes place all over the NIU campus, because professors may contact the staff and request several different outreach activities. When students have the opportunity to meet and hear the staff explain how visits to the Writing Center can help them, they feel more comfortable about making their first visit. Writing Center staff can also help professors understand the range and nature of services available. Writing Center staff often get requests to: