Open house has low turn out, writing center raising awareness
Jordan Van Essen
Issue date: 2/26/10 Section: News
The writing center put on an open house last Thursday for the second year in a row. Kathi Griffin, assistant professor of English and writing center director, hosted the event with the writing center's tutors in order to raise awareness on the tutoring services offered there.
"Hopefully if the students come and they meet tutors they'll want to come back and feel more comfortable coming in to talk to a tutor," Griffin said. "Faculty will feel more comfortable sending their students to talk to tutors if they know who they are and why we're here. So it's trying to raise awareness about the writing that we do on campus and the kind of support that we have for students."
Griffin said the writing center was hosting the open house because she felt not enough people knew about the services offered at the writing center and how it could help them.
"Now that students are in college they're in the professional world so it's not like getting a tutor for math or science where you're trying to work through an issue," Griffin said, "but when we're writing we're trying to be clear, we're trying to understand, we're trying to communicate, there's so much that we're trying to do. This is professional support for students who are moving into the professional world. We all need feedback and not everybody has time, so we have peer tutors on campus to give students an opportunity to get the feedback they need."
The Writing Center provided refreshments and answered the questions students or faculty had. Griffin said the attendance for last year's open house was successful, with around 30 to 34 people showing up in the first half hour.
English junior and writing center tutor Derek Hanson does not feel this year's open house was as successful as the previous one.
"It was pretty disappointing," Hanson said, "only one faculty member came. I think this was because we had it at the wrong time of the day. But it was a good time for all the tutors to be together."
Hanson said the best thing about his service as a tutor for the writing center is being able to help other students with his knowledge of writing so their fears of it can be alleviated.
Even though the open house attracted few visitors, the writing center is open Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 10 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. Tutors are usually available and more than happy to help students, regardless of how many people actually show up asking for help.
"Hopefully if the students come and they meet tutors they'll want to come back and feel more comfortable coming in to talk to a tutor," Griffin said. "Faculty will feel more comfortable sending their students to talk to tutors if they know who they are and why we're here. So it's trying to raise awareness about the writing that we do on campus and the kind of support that we have for students."
Griffin said the writing center was hosting the open house because she felt not enough people knew about the services offered at the writing center and how it could help them.
"Now that students are in college they're in the professional world so it's not like getting a tutor for math or science where you're trying to work through an issue," Griffin said, "but when we're writing we're trying to be clear, we're trying to understand, we're trying to communicate, there's so much that we're trying to do. This is professional support for students who are moving into the professional world. We all need feedback and not everybody has time, so we have peer tutors on campus to give students an opportunity to get the feedback they need."
The Writing Center provided refreshments and answered the questions students or faculty had. Griffin said the attendance for last year's open house was successful, with around 30 to 34 people showing up in the first half hour.
English junior and writing center tutor Derek Hanson does not feel this year's open house was as successful as the previous one.
"It was pretty disappointing," Hanson said, "only one faculty member came. I think this was because we had it at the wrong time of the day. But it was a good time for all the tutors to be together."
Hanson said the best thing about his service as a tutor for the writing center is being able to help other students with his knowledge of writing so their fears of it can be alleviated.
Even though the open house attracted few visitors, the writing center is open Monday to Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 10 p.m., Friday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3 to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 7 to 10 p.m. Tutors are usually available and more than happy to help students, regardless of how many people actually show up asking for help.
Be the first to comment on this story