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About Feature Pieces
We welcome pieces from all over the world, but encourage pieces from colleagues outside of the North American context that explore how their local writing center work or scholarship are “negotiating and modifying” the writing center model and local literacy practices within the push-pull of globalization and transnational mobility. Check out our submission guidelines for more information.
Past Features
The First Writing Centers in Mexico / Los Primeros Centros de Escritura en México
The proliferation of writing centers in Mexico over the past twenty years has taught us that collaborative learning of writing, in a more welcoming, close, and human context, is much more accessible and comprehensible for students, in addition to becoming more relevant in the practice and use of writing in their daily lives. La proliferación de los centros de escritura en México, en estos veinte años, nos ha enseñado que el aprendizaje de la escritura mediante procesos colaborativos, de igual a igual, en un contexto más acogedor, cercano y humano, sea mucho más asequible y aprehensible para el estudiante, además de cobrar una mayor relevancia en la práctica y en el uso de la escritura en su día a día.
Report from the Field: Tracking the Movements at the 2024 Southeastern (USA) Writing Center Association Conference
This year’s Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA), a US-based affiliate of the International Writing Center Association, was hosted by Emory University in Decatur, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. The SWCA and other regional affiliates offer opportunities for US writing center professionals to share their work and learn from others in their region, though attendees and presenters are not required to work in the region. The conference focused on centered on movement and movements. Drawing on Atlanta’s long history of participation in the civil rights movement, much of the conference focused social justice and its relationship to writing center work. Panel topics varied widely, covering topics such as generative AI, student connections to campus, linguistic justice, and the emotional labor of writing center work.
From WLN: Tutor’s Column: GenAI in the Writing Center by Dani Lester
"Writers may feel reluctant to disagree with GenAI because advertising often personifies GenAI as intelligent and objective. However, it is simply amalgamations riddled with biases: GenAI creators and owners restrict topics deemed offensive or dangerous, decided not democratically or publicly but by individuals and business owners who may be incentivized primarily to monetize rather than inform AI users. Understanding this about GenAI is crucial to understanding its limitations and the danger it poses to writing. GenAI, by nature of its creation and monetization, obfuscates authentic positional perspective and limits diversity in authorial voices." Go to https://wac.colostate.edu/wln/ for the full text. Did you know that that WLN: A Journal of Writing Center Scholarship has become a member of the WAC Clearinghouse family of open-access publications? That means you can access past and current issues of WLN at no cost. Copyright © for WLN is held by its editorial staff.
Connecting with Likeminded People: The EWCA Summer Institute
After a long waiting period through the pandemic, finally this year the European Writing Centers Association (EWCA) hosted its second Summer Institute (SI). The SI brought together writing center directors, writing consultants, professionals who were interested in setting up writing centers, and professors from universities of the USA, Qatar, the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Georgia, the Czech Republic and Lebanon.
Uganda Christian University’s Writing Center Now a Year Old!
We cannot believe it’s already been a year since the team at Uganda Christian University joined our blog to share their experiences proposing the Writing Center. The center officially opened in August 2022. Mr. Martin Kajubi, the Acting Manager of the center, joined us again to share how he and his team are adapting the U.S. writing center model to suit the students’ contexts.
September 2023: Where Are We Now with AI in Writing Centers?
I don’t have practical use concerns, though, really. On the whole, writing center directors and scholars are thoughtful, ethical people who aren’t inclined to make rash decisions. We make our living talking about writing and helping teach other folks how to talk about writing, and we have really good evidence that it works. I do, however, have deep theoretical and, ultimately, existential concerns.
