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South Haven Writing Center
The start of the academic year is one of the most important times for institutions, including writing centers. Training, routines, and center management become focal points; effective practices in these areas helps foster growth and efficient operations for the center. It’s an important, and sometimes stressful, time for centers, making it a vital topic for discussion for writing center professionals. For this week’s chat, we’ll focus on the role that training takes in starting our academic years, discussing specifically what we do, why we do those things, and what we struggle with in training. Through discussion, we will be able to share ideas for what works for our own centers, as well as offer ideas for others.
Chat norms:
- Follow the moderator (@boskm).
- Questions are tweeted out with “Q” and question number.
- Respond with “A” and corresponding question number at the front of your tweet.
- Don’t forget the hashtag! #wcchat
- Use an app that allows you to follow more than one stream. Set a column for #wcchat
- Favorite tools include Tweetdeck and HootSuite
- Follow those you connected with and/or learned from to grow your PLN.
- Be respectful of others.
- Focus on quality responses and questions that generate discussions that focus on our writing center practices.
Questions:
- Q1: Describe the training consultants go through at the beginning of the year.
- Q2: If you use journal articles for training, what articles do you find most useful? If you don’t, why don’t you use journal articles for training?
- Q3: What are your biggest concerns during the initial training process? Why?
- Q4: Describe your strategies for teaching consultation basics.
- Q5: What initial struggles are most typical for consultants in your center? Why?
- Q6: What is your favorite training activity? Why is it necessary?
- Q7: What is your least favorite aspect of training? (Comment ideas for others that might spice up their training methods.)
