Hello folks!
This current thread is exactly what I am "up to" with my Masters
research on the effectiveness of Canadian undergraduate university
writing centres.
I have devised in-course evaluations for our writing centre programs
and an anonymous evaluation for campus-wide students who use our
services. This spring I plan on hosting focus groups and individual
interviews. As well, I will be implementing a short electronic survey
(survey monkey works well).
I am almost finished a proposal to present preliminary findings and have
a round-table discussion at Inkshed in May (Ahem... Pat and Joan!)
I'd be happy to share whatever I have... it's all about advancing the
scholarship of what we do! This listserv blocks attachments, so I have
emailed it separately to Emmy Misser
Wendy
Wendy L. Kraglund-Gauthier
Academic Skills Instructor
Camden Hall 113
(902) 867-4530
[log in to unmask] www.stfx.ca/people/wkraglun
The Writing Centre, StFX University
Antigonish, NS B2G 2W5
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-----Original Message-----
From: CASLL/Inkshed [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Virginia Ryan
Sent: Wednesday, January 26, 2005 2:04 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Evaluation of services offered by writing centres
emisser wrote:
>Hi,
>
>
>
>I have been asked to look into ways of evaluating the one-on-one
>appointments we offer for students at Laurier's Writing Centre. This
request
>has come from the university president who appears to want student
>evaluations of writing centre appointments in place before committing
to a
>planned increase in funding for the Writing Centre. Improved funding is
good
>news, of course, but before I proceed, I would very much welcome input
and
>advice from people on the listserv.
>
>
>
>If you have a moment, I would love to have your response to some of the
>questions below, or comments of any kind that you think useful:
>
>
>
>If you do evaluations at your writing centre, please tell me about
>experience?
>
>If you don't do evaluations, what is your reason?
>
>Which questions to you ask and which ones do you avoid asking?
>
>How do you gather the evaluations?
>
>How do you analyze the results?
>
>To whom do you report the results and how are they used?
>
>What are the pitfalls?
>
>
>
>If you have any questionnaires you are willing to share, I would be
very
>grateful.
>
>
>
>Thanks in advance for doing this.
>
>
>
>Emmy
>
>
>
>Emmy Misser, MA
>
>Writing Centre Co-ordinator
>
>Wilfrid Laurier University
>
>Phone: (519) 884-0710, Ext. 3339
>
>Fax: (519) 746-2472
>
>Web Site: http://www.wlu.ca/writing
>
>
>
>
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>
>For the list archives and information about the organization,
> its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
> http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
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>
>
>
Hello, Emmy.
All we have in place at our Writing Centre are the rather informal,
anonymous forms that students complete immediately after their sessions.
The forms only ask three questions - two pertaining to the tutor and to
the particulars of the session, and one pertaining to the student's
overall satisfaction (or lack thereof) with the Writing Centre. I read
them carefully, report the positives and negatives to the tutors at
staff meetings, keep careful records of issues that crop up repeatedly,
respond to the student body periodically by posting their comments with
answers on our bulletin board, and hand the forms over to the tutors
about whom they're written. And I find this kind of feedback very
helpful - for our own, internal purposes.
However, this is not the kind of evaluation you are seeking, I suspect.
There's been lots of discussion on the wcenter listserv over the years
about the pitfalls of using such immediate response as evaluative
material: tutees' immediate responses tend to be exceedingly positive,
because they are so greatful for the immediate help they've been given.
And if you have access to the WCENTER archives, you'll find a number of
examples of once-per-term, electronically administered questionnaires,
along with discussions of their merits and drawbacks.
I hope others on this list can be more helpful than I have been; I, too,
would love to find an easy-to-administer student evaluation system that
is cumulative in nature. Indeed, if you locate any such system, I'd be
grateful if you'd let me know about it!
Good luck,
Ginny Ryan
Memorial University of Newfoundland
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
[log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask]
For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
To leave the list, send a SIGNOFF CASLL command to
[log in to unmask] or, if you experience difficulties,
write to Russ Hunt at [log in to unmask]
For the list archives and information about the organization,
its newsletter, and the annual conference, go to
http://www.stu.ca/inkshed/
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