Volume XXXI, No. 24 | October 23, 2009
Writing Centers: Changing the Culture of a College
The Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) at Itawamba Community College is “Raising the Bar: Improving Student Writing Through Early Intervention.” The primary modes of intervention are Writing Centers—one for each of our two campuses and one online.
The quantitative measures of success for the centers include results of the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, the Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency Test, student and faculty surveys, entrance and exit essays in English classes, student retention and success rates, and collegewide writing samples. While results from quantitative evaluations are essential in validating the contributions of our writing centers, a more important long-range consideration is the degree to which the faculty come to value writing and incorporates it into courses. As instructors appreciate the value of writing and recognize that good writing skills must be required in all classes, the culture of a college is changed and enriched.
Before the Itawamba QEP was implemented, instructors frequently commented about their students’ poor writing skills. A 2006 in-house survey revealed that faculty considered 85 percent of their students to be poor or very poor writers, but the same survey showed that the respondents were doing little to rectify the problem. Faculty blamed the college English department or the area high schools for students’ shortcomings. A serpent was in the house, and few seemed willing to confront it. While a full-blown writing-across-the-curriculum initiative would have required that the entire faculty become responsible immediately for student writing, QEP developers felt that the long-term fate of teaching writing-across-the-college depended upon conviction, rather than edict—conviction that writing is a powerful tool for learning and that students must learn to write well in order to demonstrate effectively what they have learned.
To achieve the desired results, Writing Center staff touted the effectiveness of writing-to-learn initiatives for all disciplines. Newsletters and group presentations described writing-to-learn methods and their advantages. The Office of Institutional Effectiveness requested that each instructional planning unit include an objective aimed at supporting the QEP. This meant that each division was expected to add an objective related to the use of writing to enhance instruction. A College Writing Committee, composed of one faculty member from each division in the college, provided support in all instructional areas as writing-to-learn strategies were being added. Committee members included writing-to-learn activities in their own classes and shared the results with fellow division members. The Writing Centers’ newsletter, “The Writer’s Link,” featured additions of writing-to-learn activities as instructors implemented them. Moreover, workshops presented by writing center staff from senior colleges across the state were provided as support for faculty who were revising their syllabi to use writing more efficiently.
Faculty members across the college have assumed the responsibility for teaching students to write. For example, when a student cannot write an acceptable sociology paper, faculty agree that the fault belongs partially to collegewide instruction and is not the student’s alone. When we emphasize the importance of writing enough, demand good writing in all our classes, model writing to learn, and demonstrate a love of writing ourselves, we will have done our duty in helping students succeed wherever clear thinking and good writing are required.
Larry Armstrong, Writing Center Director
For further information, contact the author Itawamba Community College, 602 West Hill Street, Fulton, MS 38843. Email author.
