Report from the Writing Center

In the 2006-2007 academic year, the MSU Writing Center conducted 1,949 student sessions. The increase in student users represents a 72% increase over last year (1,131 in 2005-06). Nearly 99% of those sessions were evaluated by students as being highly satisfied in every area assessed (staff communication, staff competence, and student sense of progress with the writing assignment). Because the Center has already reached 1,000 student sessions this fall 2007, there is every expectation that the Center will easily exceed 2,000 student sessions over this academic year.

While the dramatic increase in student sessions is an important indication of performance, we are equally thrilled by the high satisfaction of student-users. The session evaluation data shows that 98% of students said their session was effective and 96% of students said they would return to the Writing Center with another paper. Written comments on the same electronic evaluation form reveal that the remaining 4% did not plan to return because they did not have another paper assignment. However, the students said they would return if a paper was assigned in the future. Student users were also asked to rank their session at the Writing Center on a scale of 1 (worst) to 10 (best). The combined scores for the academic year yielded a very impressive 9.2 out of 10.

The encouraging increase in usage and high satisfaction are the results of a culture of rigorous training and continuing professional development. Every staff member takes a Writing Center Tutor Training course before or during their first semester in the Center. Students in the course read thirty-three articles and a book on the practices and theories underpinning tutoring writing in the Center. Each student also makes a presentation during the course on a self-selected topic (like tutoring students with disabilities), writes 20 reading responses, makes seven observations of tutoring in the MSU Writing Center and Athletic Academics, writes a philosophy on teaching writing in writing centers, and completes a final paper on any topic covered during the semester.

All students who work in the center are also paid to attend a weekly one-hour meeting where they take turns presenting materials they have read in writing center journals. Their professional development is also augmented by attending local and regional writing center conferences.

This past year, the director of the center and five graduate student staff members submitted a panel proposal to the Southeastern Writing Center Association. The panel was accepted, and in February 2007 they presented their work at the Southeastern Writing Center Association (SWCA) conference in Nashville. Two of the student presenters were encouraged to submit their papers to Southern Discourse for review and possible publication (SWCA journal). The center also joined the local chapter of SWCA, the Mississippi Writing Center Association (MWCA). Dr. O’Donnell now serves as an officer in the MWCA and a member of the SWCA Scholarship and Grants committee. The staff attended the MWCA in Jackson during the fall 2007.

Tennyson O’Donnell,
Director