Category: Classes

Writing center staffer gives feedback to a small writing group.

A Survey-Based Study Exploring Required Writing Center Visits at a SLAC

Classes, Higher Education, Tutorial Talk and Methods, Undergraduate Students, Writing Center Research, Writing Centers, Writing Fellows

By Eve Brunell, Estella Davis, Jay Fowler, Caroline Host, Dylan Howell, Emily Jackson, Olivia Jackson, Evan Paden, Olivia Sparks, Ellie Thornsbury, Erika Williams (under the direction of Dr. Scott Whiddon, Transylvania University)—In Fall 2023, Transylvania University Writing Center (TUWC) partnered with four undergraduate courses—theater, philosophy, sociology, and writing/rhetoric/communication—to support writers working within a range of genres and assignment types. In each of these partnerships, enrolled students were required to work with a TUWC undergraduate peer writing consultant at least two times to support understanding prompts, brainstorming possible pathways, developing drafts, and considering revision strategies. […]

August 20, 2024
An angled view of a classroom with gray desks and chairs.

Reflecting on Tutor Training in Times of Crisis

Classes, Diversity and Inclusion, Higher Education, Racial Justice, Social Justice, Tutor Training, Undergraduate Students, Writing Center Academic Staff, Writing Centers

By Stacie Klinowski, University of Massachusetts Amherst—”I think about that reading all the time when I’m tutoring. Literally all the time,” one undergraduate tutor told me as we discussed one of her sessions that I had observed. The reading in question, “Peer Tutoring: A Contradiction in Terms?” by John Trimbur, was something that this tutor had read two years previously when taking a class to prepare to work in our writing center. 

June 6, 2023
Emily Bouza and her English 201 class stand grouped at the front of a college classroom, all facing the camera.

Disciplinary Writing Interviews and the Need for Linguistic Justice Across Professions

Classes, Racial Justice, Social Justice, Student Voices, Undergraduate Students

By Emily Bouza and her English 201 class—How do writing conventions change among different disciplines? How can we move toward greater linguistic justice in writing for different disciplines? These are the questions our ENGL 201: Intermediate Composition course sought to answer this semester. Each of the 19 students in Emily Bouza’s section of this class interviewed a professional in a career they are interested in pursuing to find out more about the nature of writing in those professions. We decided to share […]

December 13, 2022

Blogs Can Create Community Among Students in Courses Across the Curriculum

Classes, Collaborative Learning, Higher Education, Technology, Writing Across the Curriculum

By Annette Vee—Like every other teacher in higher education right now, I’m navigating the new terrain of socially distanced, online, hybrid or hyflex teaching due to our global pandemic. I’m also a writing program administrator, which means that I share some responsibility to help other teachers navigate this terrain as well. Conscious of the labor issues of instructors preparing new classes in flex, hybrid or online contexts, I’m digging into my online toolbox to share strategies that might work for others in this context and for the future, after the pandemic. The best little tool I have for teaching online or in hybrid formats is a class blog. […]

December 29, 2020
A map of the UW-Madison campus, with blue stars showing locations of Writing Center satellite locations and many more red stars showing locations of Outreach events. The red stars are clustered around academic buildings on the east side of campus, with a significant separate cluster at the Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine and Public Health on the west side of campus.

The Impact of Writing Center Outreach: Empirical and Anecdotal Evidence

Classes, Collaborative Learning, Outreach, Satellite Locations, The Online Writing Center, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Center Workshops

By Leah Pope—Every semester, the Outreach team of the UW-Madison Writing Center devotes dozens of hours to visiting classrooms, workshops, resource fairs, and student organizations to deliver brief introductions to the Writing Center’s services and teach or co-teach workshops on various genres and aspects of writing. As the TA Coordinator of Outreach this year, I have the unique pleasure of a bird’s-eye-view of Outreach teaching […]

November 7, 2016
Writing Center classroom set up for a workshop

Writing Center Workshops: Test-Drive an Academic Writing Genre Today!

Classes, Graduate Students, Undergraduate Students, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Center Workshops

By Zach Marshall Zach Marshall is the 2015-16 TA Assistant Director of the Writing Center at UW-Madison, where he has been a tutor since fall 2012. He is also a PhD candidate in English literary studies writing a dissertation on American literature, slavery, and media culture. Here at the UW-Madison Writing Center, we offer a […]

September 28, 2015

Collaboration in Action

Classes, Collaborative Learning

By Rachel Herzl-Betz Rachel Herzl-Betz is the T.A. Coordinator of Outreach for the Writing Center at UW-Madison, where she has been a tutor since 2012. She is also a PhD candidate in Literary Studies, with a focus on Victorian Literature, Disability Studies, and Rhetoric. The perfect teaching collaboration is an elusive ideal, more like a dream […]

April 27, 2015

Now is The Writing Center Website of Our Discontent, Made Glorious Summer by This Sum of Our Work

Awards and Honors, Big 10 Writing Centers, Classes, Collaborative Learning, Community Writing Assistance, Disability and Writing Centers, Events, From the Director, Graduate Students, Higher Education, International Writing Centers, The Online Writing Center, Uncategorized

By Christopher J. Syrnyk, Assistant Professor of Communication, and Faculty Liaison, Advance Credit Program for Communication Courses, Oregon Tech At Oregon Tech, where I became an Assistant Professor this fall in the Communication Department, I volunteered during a recent Communication department meeting to take on the role of the department’s Web Content Manager. Volunteering for […]

October 1, 2012

New(s) from the UW-Madison Writing Center!

Classes, Collaborative Learning, Events, From the Director, Graduate Students, Outreach, Peer Tutoring, Satellite Locations, Science Writing, Technology, The Online Writing Center, Writing Across the Curriculum, Writing Center Receptionists, Writing Center Tutors, Writing Center Workshops, Writing Centers, Writing Fellows

Welcome to a new academic year at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Writing Center! As our Writing Center re-opens on the first day of classes for the fall semester–on Tuesday, September 4–we’ll be eager to welcome undergraduate and graduate student-writers from across the University. And we’re delighted to have 26 talented new undergraduate writing fellows and […]

September 3, 2012