I am a writing center coordinator in Japan and we have a center that has limited hours: from about 5pm-8pm. We have decided on 15 minute sessions, to reach more students. However, the problem is we reach more students but only have 15 minutes, so can only focus on one or two elements of a student’s paper. I do not see financing increasing soon, so any ideas on how best to use the time? Also keep in mind this is all occuring through English, the students’ second language.
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We too have limits on our session time, and it is very difficult! My center allows for a maximum of 30 minutes sessions. However, when you are working with students in, really, two languages, the time moves by quickly. It may be easier for my center, because it is part of a learning-assistance program. The first time we meet with students, we decide what they want to work on for the semester, make a prioritized list, then we focus just on those points in future papers. Since students have to come in every week or every other week, they do not just come in when they have a paper, and we have longer conversations about their writing. Would a system where students commit to regular visits work for your center?
At our writing centre we have 45-minutes sessions – and we also get comments that this is too short. However, our system allows any student to book several consecutive sessions, if they’d like and there are available sessions. Still, several students say they would want longer sessions.
From my experience, 15 minutes is very short for an interactive session. Perhaps extending the time is an option and then when the line of students outside the centre is getting longer – perhaps that could work as a leverage for more funding?
All in all, I think that it is important to stress the fact that discussion and interaction are fundamental to a successful writing centre tutorial – and that this requires long enough sessions.
I was involved in a writing centre in Japan which had 15 minute sessions and students there mentioned that they wanted longer sessions. There are advantages to short sessions though:
Shorter sessions mean that students must choose just one area to focus on for the session. I think this encourages good critical thinking about their writing. (If this isn’t happening it may be a good idea to encourage students to do this in order to make the most of the short sessions.)
Shorter sessions also mean that the tutor doesn’t have time to correct every error. This means that time is better used giving the student an explanation and then working through the paper in a less thorough way. This encourages students to take the information they’ve learnt (through the explanation) and apply it themselves, thus increasing their autonomy.
I know that most students in Japan would like an editing service and that this could be given in a longer session (i.e. tutors extensively correcting writing). However, I do not believe that this is in the best interests of students.
Just a few thoughts.
Rachael