International Writing Center Week, Writing Center Love, and the Un-space of the Kaplan University Writing Center
I like our Kaplan University Writing Center because it is not dependent on a physical space (not including server space of course). Sure, we have a virtual space or rooms where we meet students, but that is only part of what we do. I like our space because it is active 24 hours a day and allows us to serve students in a personalized way. The Kaplan University Writing Center is all online and serves all Kaplan University students.
Tutoring Space
Like all dynamic and well utilized writing centers, the Kaplan University Writing Center services reflect our school and its students. Our students can access our thousands of resources online at any time. (And, they do use these resources thousands of times a month.) Students can email a question to a tutor and receive a response within 24 hours (generally). They can attend a workshop at night, after work, in their pajamas with the kids playing underfoot. If they miss the workshop, or if a kid unplugs the computer (which has been known to happen), they can watch the recorded archive of the workshop later. Students can submit a paper for a personalized review and receive a video and/or a written response from a tutor. They can download a podcast on citations and listen to it on the way to work.
I like that students can buzz in and out of this interactive space while I am asleep and find a just in time resource that helps them complete their assignment.
Writing center space, whether physical or virtual, shapes what we do. Where we write, where we teach, and where we tutor forms and informs what we do. That is why our KUWC works the way it does (and strives daily to be innovative and effective).
The KUWC virtual space, or un-space, supports active personalized services that engage students in meaningful learning encounters. I like that. The Kaplan University Writing Center space serves its students and serves them well, and I am glad to be here (or there. . .or everywhere).
Melody Pickle
Writing Specialist, WAC
Kaplan University Writing Center
This blog post was inspired by the call to tweet about writing center love from Marian E. Wright Writing Center at the University of Michigan-Flint Tweet Project.