WCLCA NEWSLETTER Wisconsin College Learning Center Association Spring / Summer 2018

Second Annual WCLCA Conference Hosted

at Western Technical College

Quinn Walraven and Liz Wallace were two

of the WCLCA conference presenters.

In This Issue:

Second Annual WCLCA Conference

WCLCA Board Member Changes

International SI Conference

Learning Center Spotlight

Student Employee Spotlight

Learning assistance professionals from Wisconsin and

Minnesota who attended the WCLCA conference in La

Crosse share their takeaways from the experience:

“My experience at the WCLCA 2018 conference was in-spiring and motivating. Hearing the breadth of work being down across Wisconsin in college learning centers has en-couraged me to consider my own institution’s program. As a director at a small liberal arts college I am able to bring these ideas back and put them into action right away. This August we will using some of the tutor training materials I learned at the conference and rethinking our work with Supplemental Instruction.” -Karen Ball, Edgewood College

“The Spring 2018 WCLCA Conference provided me the opportunity for networking and learning new ideas. Specifi-cally, one session introduced a diversity training idea that I shared the following week in our staff meeting. We are al-ways looking for new ideas so that our student employee training isn't stale or repetitive. Our whole staff loved this new idea and plan to implement it into our training next fall. As a Minnesotan who traveled to Wisconsin for the training, I felt welcomed and developed new connections with other professionals doing similar work.”

-Kathy Glampe, St. Olaf College

Save the Date!

3rd Annual WCLCA Conference—April 26, 2019

Madison Area Technical College

WCLCA conference attendees enjoyed informative breakout sessions,

roundtable discussion, the business meeting, and opportunities to have

conversations with other organization members at Western Technical

College on May 24, 2018.

Thank you all for making the 2018 WCLCA Conference a great success! I was so glad to see over 50 of our col-leagues come together and share their time and talents at Western Technical College. It was our first time hosting and my first time being a conference chair. Without the support of Kathleen Volk, last year’s conference chair and cur-rent President of WCLCA, it would not have been the success that it is. Her organizational skills and insight were really key in ensuring there were few hiccups in the process. I would be remiss if I did not also say thank you to Faith Pawelski for her assistance in all things surveys and mem-bership; Sarah Kofler and Sherri Arendt for all their support with the website, newsletters, conference attendee lists, and Eventbrite; Mary Knasinski for ensuring we kept the treasury in order and the bills are paid; Jonnie Dvorak for ensuring we have committee signups ready and all the details of “passing the gavel” to the new officers; and Trisha Lamers for her support and kindness throughout the past year. Of course, a conference is nothing without the slate of presenters who were willing to volunteer an enormous amount of their time in preparing for this conference. This is to say a conference is not the workings of one person. There are a host of supporters who pitch in. I would also encourage anyone who might be interested in hosting the conference to reach out to Kathleen. I would also be happy to support you in any way I can. Just like we say to our students, it is a great resume builder, and it really is not as daunting as it sounds. Besides, you will also have the same support system I had. That is what we do as learning assistance professionals. The most important thing we can do is continue to connect with one another, build our ex-pertise, and continue to advocate for our profession by building the research base for learning assistance. I appreciat-ed getting to know you all, and I look forward to having our paths cross again soon. Thank you all! Juan Jiménez 2018 WCLCA Conference Chair

Thoughts from the 2018 Conference Chair

WCLCA Board Member Changes

I have been employed with the Center for Academic Resources at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh as the Tutor Coordinator since October 2016. Currently, I oversee our Peer Content Mentor Program, conduct tutor training, keep our website up-to-date, and work as a team to collect, analyze, and interpret center usage data and survey results. On a personal note, I am an avid dog lover, gardener, adventurist and tree-hugger. I also enjoy reading and playing video games in my free time. Professionally, I am currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Administration at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. I look forward to serving WCLCA as a board member and working for, and with, all of our members!

Marketing and Communications Officer

Crystal Soderman, UW Oshkosh

As the Director of the Center for Academic Resources at the University of Wis-consin Oshkosh for the past 5 years, I most enjoy training tutors and watching them utilize their knowledge and skills to assist their peers. Witnessing students gain confidence in their abilities and take on new challenges is very rewarding. With opportunities to be a part of university-wide initiatives, I have been able to be proactive with our service delivery to students to meet the new and challenging times we are in and are yet to face. To assist with all of that, I have the privilege of working with a talented team and meeting and collaborating with many professionals around the state. I look forward to more of that serving on the board of WCLCA. Prior to working at UWO, I spent nearly 10 years at Ripon College working with first generation, low income students advising, coordinating tutoring and

mentoring programs, and developing opportunities for students to help them achieve their goals. Personally, I enjoy camping with my family and neighbors, watching my kids play multiple sports, reading (when I find time), and playing with my dog, Stella.

Vice President

Jessica Spanbauer, UW Oshkosh

Behind the scenes of WCLCA is a team of board members who are willing to donate their time and

knowledge to help our organization grow and develop. We would like to thank our two outgoing

officers, Johanna Dvorak and Sherri Arendt, for all of their hard work and dedication during their

tenure since July 2016. Johanna and Sherri each brought a unique perspective and skillset that will

be hard to replace and surely missed.

Incoming Board Members

WCLCA Members Attend 10th International

Conference on Supplemental Instruction

Julie Collins, Executive Director of the International Center for Supplemental Instruction at UMKC, welcomed

conference attendees to the keynote address by Dr. Barbara Bichelmeyer on Thursday, May 24.

By Jessica Spanbauer and Sarah Kofler, UW Oshkosh

The 10th International Conference on Supplemental Instruction was held in Seattle, WA from May 24-26.

This biennial conference provided an opportunity for over 400 learning assistance professionals from around

the world to learn from each other’s expertise and experiences.

During the conference’s welcome address, the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and Carroll University were

recognized for being Certified SI Programs. This means that their programs have a current SI supervisor trained

by UMKC Certified Trainers, provide intensive training and support in addition to a focus on planning, and

demonstrate robust student attendance, GPA, and DFW data. This structure follows the UMKC model very

closely.

As professionals in the field, we all have our strengths, interesting ideas and strategies, and unique experi-

ences to utilize in training of our student employees. An idea that emerged from one of the breakout sessions

at the conference was the possibility of organizing a day long workshop/training for SI leaders facilitated by pro-

fessionals around the state. Topics could be discussed and agreed upon in advance similar to that of our

WCLCA conference. Our student leaders could benefit from hearing from several professionals in a day, and it

could be part of their traditional training or as professional development. This idea could work for tutors as

well.

Carroll University SI Leaders Kally Dey, Belle Banke, & Emma

Przeslicke attended the conference with SI Coordinator Joelle Curry.

SI Conference attendees from UW Oshkosh were

Jessica Spanbauer and Sarah Kofler.

SI Leaders who attended the conference were able to participate in the first SI Leader

Summit, which included two days of professional development & concurrent sessions.

Another interesting idea that was sparked in discussion during a breakout session was the concept of training

tutors to assist SI leaders during exam review sessions when unusually large numbers of students show up. They

could work as assistants walking around the room helping to answer questions during group activities or leading

smaller groups in the discussion of specific topics. So, a leader could cover more topics, and students could pick

the topic that they were most interested in/confused by.

Program evaluation and assessment were emphasized as topics in breakout sessions. It is often difficult to

demonstrate the effectiveness of learning assistance programs, since there is no way to correlate students’

attendance with their exam grades or final course grade. Presenters from Lund University in Sweden stressed that,

when providing program information to administrators, faculty, students, and other stakeholders, learning profes-

sionals should focus on providing a variety of indicators that their program is working well, rather than searching

for concrete evidence.

Overall, the conference

provided numerous takea-

ways and allowed partici-

pants to discuss reasons for

variations in their program

models and the successes

and struggles that follow as a

result.

The next International SI

Conference will be held in

Baltimore, Maryland, in

2020.

The Viterbo Academic

Resource Center (ARC)

offers academic support

in a centralized space;

all services are coordi-

nated in our office, lo-

cated in the middle of

one of Viterbo’s main

academic buildings.

The ARC provides face-

to-face and online ser-

vices vital for student

academic success:

Peer and SI tutoring for

any Viterbo course from

approximately 150 peer

tutors, academic work-

shops, support from writing and math specialists, academic advising, test proctoring, disability

services, and services for our ESL / international students. The Student Support Services

(TRIO) program is also administered through the ARC, which includes offering intensive sup-

port to 200 first generation and/or low income students. Our center is a busy space! In fact, for

the 2016-17 school year, 92% of all undergraduates received at least one ARC service. We al-

so contribute to student retention: 93% of students who received tutoring were retained at the

institution.

The ARC maintains strong partnerships with faculty members as well. Faculty recommend peer

tutors and share pertinent information with the tutors as needed. It is also not unusual to have a

faculty member recommend or require his/her students to use ARC services. In addition, ARC

staff are asked to visit classes as guest lecturers to share information related to their areas of

expertise. This relationship helps us to fulfill our mission to serve all members of the Viterbo

community and to provide an environment of interactive and mutual support.

Learning Center Spotlight

Viterbo University’s Academic Resource Center

by Melissa Growt

Welcome to the time of year that people outside of higher ed call "May" or "real summer in Wiscon-

sin is still about two months away!" In academic support centers we call it, "Whew. We made

it. Let's get ready for next semester." This past academic year was a time for us to reassess, reignite,

and reinvent how we would implement excellent training and leadership opportunities for our stu-

dents. We worked diligently last summer, over winter break, and throughout each semester to design

training modules that met CRLA certification requirements. (We finally hit the application "submit"

button on April 12th, so fingers crossed.) We could not have imagined how much we would learn

about how seriously instrumental collaboration is with other departments (specifically Athletics,

EOP, and College of Engineering), as well as how much we would learn from our students. Yes,

we're the educators, role models, authorities, etc. However, the education we received from our stu-

dents about drive, compassion, determination, and pride of ownership of their program has been

immeasurable.

After fall new tutor training, we immediately assessed the outcomes and then formed a tutor training

team for spring tutor training (thanks for the idea at the 2017 WCLCA conference, Kathleen

Volk!). Tutors didn't just throw a few ideas at us; they spent many hours immersed in brainstorming

meetings, emails, and other thoughtful collaborations. They told us what they liked, didn't like,

would like, and then made it happen. We launched our re-revised new tutor training in January, and

it was a great success. Tutors and Tutor Mentors designed and facilitated training modules for

specific/required topics. Again, we were beyond impressed with the seriousness and creative meth-

ods they utilized to educate their peers. The new tutors indicated on the training assessment that the

training they received was extremely beneficial while also being fun.

Currently we are in the process of creating training videos to replace a purchased software video col-

lection. Although the software assessment received positive feedback, tutors overwhelmingly indicat-

ed that peer-to-peer delivery would be more stimulating, effective, and interesting overall. So the

amazing tutor training team met, wrote "scripts," and recorded six informative, interactive (and fun-

ny) videos. They're being reviewed and edited as I write this!

The tutors don't just meet to "talk about" what and how to engage in our program; they make it hap-

pen! These are the people who will graduate and become our teachers, nurses, doctors, inventors,

authors, engineers, etc. We're so proud to be a small part of how they will "Be the Difference" in

our world. Remember...collaboration with departments on your campus, colleagues at other colleges

and universities, and, most importantly, the students can inspire and produce amazing results!

By Dawn Barrett, Marquette University

Effective Collaboration and Teamwork with Tutors

Student Employee Spotlight:

Jenna Neis, Carroll University

I have been a Math Coach at

Carroll University since the

Fall 2016 and the

Program Assistant for the

Math Coaches since Fall 2017.

Our job as Math Coaches is to

motivate, break down content,

and help review for tests and

quizzes for students who are

taking Pre-Algebra and College

Algebra. I became the Program

Assistant because I wanted to

get the experience of taking on the leadership role by creating PowerPoints, running content and

strategy meetings for the staff, and meeting with my supervisor, Kathleen Volk, to discuss plans

for staff meetings and future goals.

I also mentored new tutors at the beginning of the year and joined our Tutor Training Com-

mittee to strengthen online and in-person training.

The skills I have gained and strengthened from these opportunities are empathy, communica-

tion, and collaboration. Studying elementary education with a minor in math, these skills will

serve me well with my future students and colleagues. I learned how to explain a concept in mul-

tiple ways because not all students learn the same. I have a better understanding of the different

emotions students can go through in math. I can communicate with my supervisor and peers to

achieve a common goal.

My favorite tutoring moment was during the Fall 2017 semester. I had a student come to all

my tutoring hours every week to get help with math and strengthen their understanding of the

content. The student had highs and lows throughout the course of the semester, but by the end

of the semester, the student was very successful in the class.

“Welcome to the Tutoring Office: A Crash Course”

Natalie Geoffroy, Marquette University

“You’ve got the job,” I heard the Tutoring Program Coordinator say on the other end of the phone. She had called me back less than twenty-four hours after I had turned in my application. There was no in-terview; as far as I could tell, the only things the Coordinator knew about me were my availability and what courses I could tutor.

I began as a Statistics Tutor in the Fall of 2015. At the time, new tutor training involved a crash course on the program policies and procedures, and an introduction to the Math tutor mentor, who I never saw again. The first semester of tutoring was rough—I fumbled my introduction, filled out the attendance sheet wrong, gave incorrect answers to practice problems, struggled to be heard over the shouting of other tutors, and had no clue what my students were talking about if they had a professor different from mine. I had no idea how the inner workings of our over-crowded office worked, or who (if anyone) to go to for advice on how to be effective as a tutor. My strategy was to show up on time and hope to heck that I was actually helpful.

Since then, I have continued to tutor, both in small group settings through Marquette University’s Tu-toring Program and as a private tutor. Statistics is still my favorite subject to teach, but I cover Anatomy and Physiology as well. By my estimations, I have tutored roughly 200 students in the past six semesters and overseen dozens of groups as a Student Supervisor in the last year. My ability to help students survive these courses has drastically improved over time, in part from experience, but largely from the advance-ments the Tutoring Program made.

Since 2015, our program has moved offices to a space tailor-made for our small group sessions, com-plete with separate rooms so everyone can hear the tutor. Our hiring procedure involves a real interview, where the potential hires must answer hypothetical questions and demonstrate how they would tutor a topic of their choice. In addition, we implemented an extensive training process, involving videos of past tutors, group discussions, presentations from professors, and workshops on advanced topics such as learning theories and handling difficult situations. Our mentoring program now has mentors who meet with new tutors one-on-one, observe their sessions, and provide feedback to promote group learning. Last fall, we created a new position, Student Supervisors, who help the Coordinators with a variety of adminis-trative tasks and monitor the office in the evenings. We even updated our performance reviews to better reflect how our tutors teach strategies that can be applied to all subjects. To continue growing our pro-gram, our latest goals are to go digital, so students can register for tutoring online, and to have our tutors become ATP certified, so they can continue their work after graduation if they so choose.

These changes are largely still a work in progress, but in the short time that I have been honored to be a part of the program, already I have seen the dramatic improvements in our quality of our services. It is with confidence and pride that at the start of each semester, I begin my sessions by saying, “Welcome to the Tutoring Program.”

Check Out Our New Website!

This spring, WCLCA transitioned the organization’s

website from a WordPress platform to Wild Apricot.

Sherri Arendt unveiled the new website at the annual

conference. The site contains newsletters, upcoming

conference and event information, and a form for

joining the organization.

Please visit us at

www.wclca.wildapricot.org.

WCLCA Committees

WCLCA has several low-obligation committee opportunities for learning center professionals. Please

reach out to wclcalist@gmail.com if you are interested in helping the board or if you would like to

learn more.

Call for Newsletter Submissions

For the upcoming fall-winter WCLCA newsletter, we would like to feature a piece from you!

Many institutions are facing an array of changes that have been both challenging and successful, and

sharing our experiences and perspectives with each other may provide guidance and valuable insights

to others in the organization. As always, we appreciate your contributions!

Meet the Current Board

Immediate Past President: Trisha Lamers—UW-Stevens Point (tlamers@uwsp.edu)

President: Kathleen Volk—Carroll University (kvolk@carrollu.edu)

Vice President: Jessica Spanbauer—UW Oshkosh (spanbauj@uwosh.edu)

Secretary: Faith Pawelski—UW-Eau Claire (pawelsfa@uwec.edu)

Treasurer: Mary Knasinski—UW-Milwaukee (mkk2@uwm.edu)

Marketing & Communications Officers: Sarah Kofler—UW-Oshkosh (koflers@uwosh.edu) & Crystal Soderman—UW Oshkosh

(soderc87@uwosh.edu)

WCLCA Membership

We are proud to have 133 WCLCA members as we enter Summer 2018! As learning assistance

professionals, one of the greatest resources we have is each other. Do you want more information

about how other SI Coordinators train their Leaders? How do other learning centers structure their

tutoring services? Should you choose to share your ideas or learn more about what others are doing,

WCLCA members can be found at these schools across the state. Contact the WCLCA board for

specific personnel information.

Alverno College

Beloit College

Blackhawk Technical College

Cardinal Stritch University

Carroll University

Carthage College

College of Menominee Nation

Concordia University Wisconsin

Edgewood College

Fox Valley Technical College

Gateway Technical College

George Williams College of Aurora University

Lakeland University

Lawrence University

Madison Area Technical College

Marquette University

Mid-State Technical College

Milwaukee Area Technical College

Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design

Moraine Park Technical College

Mount Mary University

Nicolet Area Technical College

Northcentral Technical College

Northeast Wisconsin Technical College

Rasmussen College

Southwest Wisconsin Technical College

St. Norbert College

St. Olaf College

UW Baraboo / Sauk County

UW Barron County

UW Colleges

UW Eau Claire

UW Fond du Lac

UW Fox Valley

UW Green Bay

UW La Crosse

UW Madison

UW Manitowoc

UW Marinette

UW Marshfield / Wood County

UW Milwaukee

UW Oshkosh

UW Parkside

UW Platteville

UW Rock County

UW Stevens Point

UW Stout

UW Waukesha

Viterbo University

Waukesha County Technical College

Western Technical College

Wisconsin Area Technical College

Wisconsin Lutheran College

Upcoming Learning Assistance Conferences

October 2-5, 2018: Niagara Falls, NY

NCLCA—National College Learning Center Association

33rd Annual Conference: Unleashing the Power of Your Learning Center

Conference Information: https://nclca.wildapricot.org/conference

October 24-27, 2018: Albuquerque, NM

CRLA—College Reading and Learning Association

51st Annual Conference: En Route to Student Success

Conference Information: http://www.crla.net/conference/2018/

November 14-19, 2018: Portland, OR

POD Network—Professional & Organizational Development Network in Higher Education

Conference Information: https://podnetwork.org/event/2018-pod-network-annual-

conference/

April 25-27, 2019: Las Vegas, NV

ACTLA—Association of Colleges for Tutoring & Learning Assistance

44th Annual Conference: What Happens in the Learning Center...Leaves the Learning

Center (Part II)

Conference Information: http://actla.info/

April 26, 2019: Madison, WI

WCLCA—Wisconsin College Learning Center Association

3rd Annual Conference

Contact Us (and Follow Us!)

Wisconsin College Learning Center Association—WCLCA

@WCLCA_WI

wclca.wildapricot.org