ACW Connections

February 1995

A DESCRIPTION OF THE WRITING CENTER CONSULTATION PROJECT

by Jennifer Jordan-Henley and Writing Center Consultation Project is a joint venture between The University of Arkansas, Little Rock and the Oak Ridge branch of Roane State Community College, Harriman, Tennessee.

Composition and literature students at Roane State e-mail their class essays to graduate students in rhetoric and writing at Arkansas. The graduate students make suggestions and e-mail the paper back. The two students then meet at one of two Virtual Reality Writing Centers created and programmed for their use to discuss the essay one-on-one.

The project benefits both groups. The community college students are exposed to university-level writing expectations, as well as to access to the Internet and the opportunity to learn new skills, and they benefit from a writing consultation from someone other than their instructor. The graduate students benefit from exposure to typical community college students in a different location, and receive additional practice in teaching. The project itself combines the strengths of the community college with those of the university, improving relations between the two. Additionally, the project allows professors to provide an alternative to the traditional classroom, introduce students to people and cultures they would otherwise not meet, and teach students how to use power and responsibility to accomplish their goals.

More focused rationales, based on experience and student input, are listed below:

  1. Students become more proficient with computers, software and typing, all skills that will serve them well in the job market.
  2. Students become aware of the availability of instant communication and of the professional and personal dangers inherent in such.
  3. Students expand their research possibilities and are given the opportunity to explore the Internet and its many uses.
  4. Students learn other communication strategies, including how to work with others without the use of body language and eye contact.
  5. Students learn to write more quickly, to express themselves more clearly and concisely. The use of adjectives, adverbs, and verbs, for instance becomes more focused.
  6. Students benefit from improved narrative skill. Anyone who spends time at a Multi-User Dimension finds themselves not only listening, but within an unfolding story; they become part of the conversation.
  7. Students who choose to learn programming skills improve their skills at critical analysis. They can see firsthand how cause and effect works in a textual environment. And because an environment is created for them on-line, they can see the connection between a narrative description and how they envision the world around them.
  8. Students who have difficulty using their imagination may find that the on-line environment sparks their interest and motivation.
For those interested in establishing such a project, the documents available through RSCC's gopher may be useful. They include a proposal accepted by the National Peer Tutoring Conference, Multi-User Dimension and E-Mail Instructions which can be adapted to other locations and software, sample syllabi statements, an introductory memorandum to the graduate students concerning writing consultation expectations, a computer resource policy statement, and an evaluation instrument.

You are welcome to use these documents with proper attribution. For further information, contact Barry Maid, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, bmmaid@ualr.edu or Jennifer Jordan-Henley, Roane State Community College, jordan_jj@a1.rscc.cc.tn.us.

Jennifer Jordan-Henley
Director, Oak Ridge Writing Center
Roane State Community College
545 Oak Ridge Turnpike
Oak Ridge, TN 37830
(615) 481-2026

Barry M. Maid
Associate Professor
Department of Rhetoric and Writing
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
2801 South University
Little Rock, AR 72204
(501) 569-3160

Comments are appreciated. .