How’s the UWC doing? (And how you can prompt your students to use it)

It’s the start of a new semester, a time when we like to look back at our progress. And this year, our progress at the UWC has been stunning. Comparing our usage statistics from the same period in 2011 and 2012 (August, 26 through December, 26), we have conducted 20% more consultations.

Here’s how some of those numbers I was referring to break down:

When you tell students about the writing center, make sure you don’t limit yourself to a blurb on your syllabus. (You can find such a blurb at Refer Your Students to the University Writing Center.  And see “Why Writers Need a Writing Center”  on how much your recommendation counts.) Also emphasize the benefits of having a second pair of eyes/ears. Remind them that all writers and public speakers need feedback as they go through the composing process, especially for high-stakes products. Make sure they understand that they have ownership of their work, too, and that what the writing center does is consult—we advise, not edit. We help students slow down and take a second look at their work. We do so from a place of experience, yes, but we do not have all the answers.

As the numbers show, we offer more than face-to-face individual consultations. Let your students know that they have online options. Let them know we help groups work collaboratively  on writing or speaking projects (including help with outlines, scripts, slides, and posters). We are open on West Campus (in the Library) as well as in Evans.

Because we recognize that getting help is enhanced when students have easy access to our consultants, we are trying to increase and improve our online services. We are also working with the University Libraries to find more ways to deliver help within the library buildings by going where students are working, rather than asking them to pack up their books and come to us.

It’s telling when you see who visits us:

It’s not the slackers or the students who need remediation, but the seniors and graduate students we see the most. Knowing this encourages lower division students to realize we are not remedial. Not to say we cannot work on remediation—we can and will. But that’s not all we do.

When we break down our client numbers a bit more, we discover that, unless students have been required to visit, we typically see only one or maybe two students from a given section. This holds across the disciplines, from Ag to English. I like to see this as an opportunity. After you hand back papers, or while students are working on them, you might ask the class to share whether they visited the UWC and if any did, how their experience went. If they were satisfied, encourage their peers to emulate them. If not, encourage them to let us know. We’d also appreciate your feedback.

We know that most of our users are satisfied. One way we measure that is through exit surveys sent to students after a consultation. This past fall, 378 students having face-to-face individual consultations sent in their surveys (15%), not the best return, but in the absence of other complaints, we feel it is at least a modestly accurate view, and the answers have been consistent across the years and consistent with other surveys. On average, the score on a 5-point scale was 4.61 for “I was satisfied with my consultation.”  More important, for “I can now identify and correct errors in my own writing more easily,” the score was 4.29.

Here’s an overview of all consultation types for Fall, 2012:

We check the exit surveys on a regular basis and use them to improve. We even break them down by individual consultant so we can help each consultant do the best possible job.

For the University Writing Center, helping students with writing and speaking, just like writing and speaking, is a continuous process. We are doing well, and we continue to seek ways to improve. If you do have suggestions for us, contact us. We promise to listen.