Using Email as a Consulting Tool at the Writing Centre: Students’ perceptions and challenges

Writing Centre Goals and Pedagogy

Goal:Goal:• development of students as good

academic writers by offering access and support through individual or group consultations, workshops and class seminars

Social Constructivist pedagogy

Principles

i) validating students as knowers;

ii) situating learning in students’ experiences, and

iii)defining learning as mutually constructing meaning (Marcia Baxter-Magolda, 26).

Implications for our practice• students and not their writing is our priority.

• not a first- aid station” (North, 1984: 437) to fix ‘special problems’ – read grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

• we are not teachers, we are collaborators with our students.

• consultations are student centred, offering the students an opportunity to think and talk with someone about their writing in a supportive and non-threatening manner.

Accessibility issues: What prompted the use of email?

• Best practice demands of us to be accessible to most students at all stages of writing.

• Students are advised to book appointments. However, most will ‘drop-in’.

• Students visit because they need help now, and are keen to ‘get on with it’.

Accessibility issues cont…

• only one delivery site at Buffalo City has a Writing Centre where students can walk-in and receive help on the spot.

• Other sites are 25km – 30 km away from the main Writing Centre.

• the consultant will visit on invitation by lecturers or when she has appointments with students.

The pilot group

• The pilot group was a Communications II class in the Fine Arts Department.

• Contact was lecturer initiated.

• One-on-one consultation sessions with the students after workshop in the lecture venue.

• Follow up contact session a week later

The pilot group

• Students were encouraged to email their drafts to the Writing Centre for further review.

• The size of the class (25 students) allowed for a quicker turn-around time of less than 72 hours.

• Two different tasks were submitted via email during Term 3.

Evaluation tool

• A questionnaire was administered at the beginning of 4th term to:

• Assess the effectiveness of email consultation• Assess the attitude of students towards the new

tool.

• The assessment tool had 15 items.

The Questionnaire

The items included questions on:

(i) students’ access to computers;

(ii)proficiency using popular applications especially MS Word;

(iii) the use of advanced Word tools;

(iv)the quality of service from the Writing Centre;

(v) students’ preferred form of consultation.

Findings and Discussion

Findings and Discussion

nfer[U1]  to the fact that a skilled interviewer, as the research instrument uses responses of  [U1]I have highlighted all the instances in which you use “infer”. Try to replace the word with similar signal phrases to avoid  the ‘dulling effect’ that is a result of the preponderance of one word.

nfer[U1]  to the fact that a skilled interviewer, as the research instrument uses responses of  [U1]I have highlighted all the instances in which you use “infer”. Try to replace the word with similar signal phrases to avoid  the ‘dulling effect’ that is a result of the preponderance of one word.

nfer[U1]  to the fact that a skilled interviewer, as the research instrument uses responses of  [U1]I have highlighted all the instances in which you use “infer”. Try to replace the word with similar signal phrases to avoid  the ‘dulling effect’ that is a result of the preponderance of one word.

infer[U1]  to the fact that a skilled interviewer, as the research instrument uses responses of  [U1]I have highlighted all the instances in which you use “infer”. Try to replace the word with similar signal phrases to avoid  the ‘dulling effect’ that is a result of the preponderance of one word.

infer[U1]  to the fact that a skilled interviewer, as the research instrument uses responses of  [U1]I have highlighted all the instances in which you use “infer”. Try to replace the word with similar signal phrases to avoid  the ‘dulling effect’ that is a result of the preponderance of one word.

E-learning conference - example of reviews.docx

Findings and Discussion

Findings and Discussion

Findings and Discussion

Conclusions

• Both forms of consultation are important ; none can replace the other.

• Email consultation directly addresses the issues of accessibility for part-time students and post graduate.

• More training is essential for all consultants and the students.