To assist students, staff, faculty, and community members with written and oral work.
Objective
Increase Writing Center Impact
The WCTR will serve as a resource for the university and the community beyond the university through the Writing Center's website, presentations and workshops, and interactions with local community organizations and school districts.
The WCTR will increase the number of courses served from two colleges, the College of Criminal Justice and the College of Business by 10% from 2011-12.
KPI
Departmental And College Use Database
Students who have brought a class assignment for tutoring indicate the class on the tutor session report and in the writing center tracking database. At least 85% will indicate the class for which they need tutoring. Resulting data will be analyzed to determine patterns for those who do complete and those who do not complete.
Result
Over 8300 Tutoring Sessions Conducted In 2012-2013
In Fall 2012 and Spring 2013, the Sam Houston Writing Center conducted 8341 individual tutoring sessions. Of these, 351 students did not indicate the class for which they needed asssitance. However, of these 351, 33 students did not put in any information; the other students sought help for non-class work such as scholarship applications and resumes.
KPI
Increase Use In College Of Business And College Of Criminal Justice
The WCTR will seek to increase the numbers of students and faculty from the College of Business and College of Criminal Justice using the WCTR services.We will increase our number of Business and Criminal Justice students by 10%.
Result
Met Goal For Increasing Use By College Of Criminal Justice
Using Spring 12 to Spring 13 comparisons, the number of students who reported visiting the Writing Center for help with a class in the College of Criminal Justice increased from 120 to 154, an increase of 28%. The number of students who reported using the Writing Center services for College of Business work fell from 378 to 343. A review of the numbers of students by departments shows that this decrease is partially due to fewer students from General Business classes.
KPI
Online Tutoring Services
The WCTR will increase the number of online tutoring sessions from the 2011-2012 academic year by 25%.
Result
Increase In Online Tutoring Sessions
Online tutoring sessions increased from 142 in 2011-2012 to 202 in 2012-213, demonstrating a 42% growth.
KPI
Woodlands Center Services
The WCTR will provide services at the Woodlands Center. Completion of student and tutor forms will indicate learning comparable to clients on the main campus. Goal for 2012-2013 is to show steady usage as compared to 2011-2012.
Result
Decreased Tutoring Sessions At Woodlands Center
The number of tutoring sessions held at the Woodlands Center fell from 174 in 2011-2012 to 131 in 2012-2013. Upon observation of data, it appears as if by increasing our online tutoring for distance students--including those in the Woodlands area--we are decreasing our face to face services.
Action
Continue To Track Use And Expand Services To Meet Demand
The Writing Center will continue to track the number of consultations and requests for services at our main campus location, the Woodlands Center, and our online Writing Center. A new data collection and scheduling software has been slated for implementation in November; Tutortrac will allow us to collect more in-depth data about the sessions we provide, and it will allow us to automatically send follow-up questionnaires.
In addition to the continued focus on serving students from the College of Criminal Justice, we will again set the goal for increased use by students from the College of Business. To this end, we will contact department chairs and individual faculty to solicit advice on reaching these students.
We will also make a new goal of conducting at least 500 sessions with students in the nursing program. We are working closely with the nursing administration and faculty to design programs and train our tutors in ways that will help their students.
Goal
Knowledge And Skills
To help all clients become better writers and to develop more confidence in their writing abilities.
Objective
Increase Client Knowledge Of Writing Principles And Skills
The WCTR will provide services that facilitate the growth and confidence of all levels of writers by promoting techniques of effective writing and teaching basic writing skills. The WCTR will maintain and enhance the quality of SHSU's composition program and developmental writing program.
Indicator
Client Survey Of Learned Skills
A survey of clients' perceptions of the skills they have learned by using the Writing Center's services.
Criterion
Client Learning
A representative sample of clients will complete a writing center evaluation form each semester to indicate student learning of writing skills and principles. Of the clients surveyed, 90% will indicate that they can apply principles learned in the tutoring session, and that the tutoring session has improved their writing skills.
Finding
WCTR Tutorials Deemed Beneficial
At the end of the Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 semesters, approximately 878 students were surveyed at the conclusion of indiviual writing center sessions. Survey items pertaining to sudents perception of learning were: 1. The Writing Center helps me gain confidence as a writer. 2. What effect is the Writing Center having on your writing abilities?
The following results were recorded: 1. 87% of students surveyed indicated that the Writing Center improved their confidence levels . 2. 95% of students felt that their writing was either "getting much better" or "getting better" as a result of the Writing Center's services.
Indicator
Student Attainment Of Key Learning Objectives
Based upon tutor observations, records will be kept indicating which learning objectives students displayed in the session.
Criterion
Student Learning
Tutors indicate on each session write up whether or not they observed students meeting one or more of three student learning objectives. For the 2011-2012 school year, the Writing Center staff will determine if students are meeting the learning goals of: 1. Being able to identify and self-correct errors 2. Being able to choose appropriate sources (i.e. style manuals, handouts, databases, writing handbooks). 3. Being able to articulate a plan for the next steps in the writing process.
Finding
Approximately 85% Of Students Met One Or More Learning Objectives.
Based upon tutor observation, approximately 60% of student writers were observed to meet the learning objective: "the writer identified and self-corrected errors."
Based upon tutor observation, approximately 61% of student writers were observed to meet the learning objective: "the writer selected and used appropriate resources."
Baed upon tutor observation, approximately 63% of student writers were observed to meet the learning objective: "the writers was able to articulate a plan for the next step in the writing process."
Collectively, 85% of all students receiving one-on one tutorning sessions were observed to meet one or more of the learning objectives.
These results demonstrate that students working with writing center tutors are observed to meet our set learning objectives, with 2012-2013 data showing marked increased from 2011-2012. The previous goal of having 85% of students meeting one or more goals was met. We will increase this expectation to 87% for the 2013-2014 school year. Increased training to help students choose appropriate resources was beneficial, as we were able to meet our goal of having 45% of student select appropriate resources. For 2013-2014, we will set the goal of having 65% of students able to recognize and correct their own errors.
Indicator
Post-workshop Questionnaire
Students who are present during in-class workshops given by Writing Center staff will complete a short questionnaire to measure if they have mastered the learning objectives for the presentation. If attending a general writing presentation, students should be able to identify the steps in the writing process and indicate how the Writing Center may be able to assist with the process. If attending a citation workshop, students should be able to identify the main reasons for source attribution. If attending a grammar workshop, students should be able to self-identify one of their high frequency errors and how to correct it.
Criterion
Mastery Of Learning Objective
At least 85% of respondents will have mastered the learning objectives for the specific presentation.
Finding
Determined That Assessment Instrument Did Not Meet Needs
Three-question questionnaires were administered to students in two separate classroom presentations covering the topics of "using the writing center" and "the writing process." However, most students declined to fill out the questionnaire at the end of the class and no usable data was gathered. We will work on creating a new method of assessment to evaluate the effectiveness of our in-class presentations.
Action
Focus On Learning Objective Of "finding And Correcting Own Errors"
One learning outcome, "the identifies and corrects own errors," was less often observed than the others. The goal for 2013-2014 will be for 65% of all writers to be able to identify and correct errors on their own during sessions. To this end, training efforts will focus on strategies to help writers learn proofreading/correction strategies when high-order concerns have already been addressed.
Action
Design New Way Of Assessing Effectiveness Of Workshops
Although the Writing Center conducts hundreds of orientations and workshops per year, the previous method for assessing the effectiveness of these workshops did not work. Our time in classrooms or for orientations is too limited for a questionnaire to be used effectively. Our goal is to devise a new way of assessing effectiveness. One suggestion may be to use the new scheduling/data collection software to poll students on how they learned about the writing center services or send emails to all class members to fill out a survey after a workshop.