My Journey into Writing Centre Work
As writing center people, our focus is on our students' diverse backgrounds and how they come to the center. But how do we the writing center directors, managers, and consultants find our way to the center? What motivates us to remain in the field and make a career out of it? Dr. Natashia Muna (University of Cape Town Writing Centre), scientist and Director of the UCT Faculty of Heatlh Sciences Writing Lab, shares how she found her way to the writing center. If you want to share your literacy story, email wlnblog.editors@gmail.com.
Centering the South African Writing Centre through Research and Collaboration
I came into the writing centre quite by chance – an offer by my then Head of Department to ‘investigate’ the possibility of establishing a writing centre, saw me not just investigate, but rather immerse myself in the possibility – and our small faculty-specific writing centre opened just a few months later. Today, we are just a few months short of our eleventh birthday.
Journeying Through the Birth and Development of the Peer Tutoring Scheme (PTS) @ CUHK
In the funding proposal, I made it clear that it would be a learner-centred project to provide additional support to both undergraduate and postgraduate students in need of personalized assistance in their academic literacy, especially in speaking and writing domains. It would also be a platform for internationalization to happen at home due to the diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds of our tutors. The leap of faith paid off beyond our imagination. We experienced showers of blessings on all fronts. The Peer Tutoring Scheme (PTS) was officially launched in 2016 with a handsome fund for three years.
Rewind & Reset: Laura Greenfield on Writing Center as a Space of Resistance
For this month's Rewind & Reset, we're bringing back our interview with Dr. Laura Greenfield back in Spring 2021. In this conversation, we asked Dr. Laura Greenfield to help us understand radicalism in the writing center space and how the writing center can be a space for resisting power, privilege, and standard language ideology. Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/799Cpk7BwlxLBb4vs8Tk9E?si=ar7qWcA2TrShdJAUAIJKlw
From WLN: Insourcing and Identity: A Writing Center’s Claim to Relevance
Hello blog readers! This month, we want to draw your attention to an article titled "Insourcing and Identity: A Writing Center’s Claim to Relevance" from the Summer 2024 issue of WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship. The authors, Michael Albright and Lori B. Baker, shared their reflection and action in response to the rollout of an online tutoring resource in their university's learning management system. Check out the rest of the issue: https://wac.colostate.edu/wln/
Finding People Power at the 2024 Mid-Atlantic Writing Centers Association Conference
Grounded in antiracist and decolonial writing center scholarship, as well as the work of community organizers and activists, the conference invited tutors and administrators to consider how we can build life-affirming writing centers in spite of current conditions and in light of the institutional power we hold as university employees.
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Tutor’s Perspectives
Over time, I learned that, as tutors, our role is not to perfect every paper or provide the ‘right’ answers. Rather, it’s to foster the tutee’s ability to think independently and develop their voice. By framing my advice in a way that gave them the freedom to interpret and apply it as they saw fit, I empowered them to take ownership of their learning process.
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