The Writing Coach Program: An Overview >Kurtis Clements

Many writing centers are mistakenly branded by students and instructors as a paper review service, and the Kaplan University Writing Center is no different. As the numbers of papers submitted for review continually increase, Writing Center staff decided to dig a little deeper into the reasons for this trend. Obviously, as the number of students at Kaplan increase, so do the number of paper review submissions, but are there any other angles to consider? As a proactive step towards challenging and subsequently changing the image of the Writing Center from being a paper review mill to a full-service support center for students and faculty, a pilot writing coach program was instituted to educate both students and instructors about services within the writing center. The writing coach pilot is now in its fourth term and on its way to moving beyond the pilot phase and becoming an ongoing Kaplan University Writing Center program.

One goal of the writing coach program is to provide students with a personalized introduction to or experience with a Writing Center coach. Many times students are just not sure where to turn for help, and when they do turn to the Writing Center, it is by submitting a paper for review. With a known writing coach in the classroom, students can turn to that person for help, and in addition to receiving one-on-one assistance, students will also be referred to other services and content available through the Writing Center, which over time will increase students’ awareness of the many resources available in the Writing Center other than paper review.

A second goal is to help instructors understand better the Writing Center’s services and resources. To this end, the collaborative relationship between the instructor and coach will help the instructor become more familiar with what the Writing Center has to offer so that instructors can refer individual students to a particular service and/or resource rather than suggest the student submit a paper for review or, worse, mandate a whole class submit papers for review. For example, some instructors may not be aware of the many live workshops or recordings to live workshops the Writing Center offers. If a student needs help with editing, the instructor may suggest the student use the paper review service, but since the paper review service provides a holistic review of a paper and not editorial comments, the student would probably be better served viewing a workshop on editing – and the Writing Center has several workshops on this one topic, not to mention other related content. With a writing coach involved in a class, the instructor and coach will have an ongoing dialogue that should ensure students use the most appropriate resources possible.

So how does the program work? The Writing Coach program puts trained Writing Center tutors into classrooms across the KU campus to help students with their writing and let them know about the array of writing center services available. Often students come to the Writing Center by way of the paper review service and at a point in their process when deep-seeded flaws may already exist in the writing. The coach, with the help of the instructor, tries to work with students early in the process, perhaps at the beginning stages of a piece of writing before the student even begins to draft. The coach can then work with the student throughout the writing process, providing feedback and direction along the way. Coaches conference with students either via AOL’s instant messaging service or the telephone and discuss, once a representative writing sample is seen, what the student needs to work on to improve upon his/her writing. In many cases, the coach works one-on-one with a student over the life of the term so many opportunities to help the student exist.

The writing coach will have a strong presence within the class. To this end, coaches will engage students with weekly assignment-specific emails that explain ways in which the coach can help on a given project or discussion board directive. Coaches will also upload writing resources and other information to Doc Sharing as well as post regular announcements as a way to impart information and to connect with students. The writing coach has a dedicated discussion board area for student questions and/or interaction. In a course with a witting coach, students will have direct access to the writing coach, but they will also have access to information and resources that the coach makes available within the course that will help students with their writing whether they work directly with the writing coach or not.

Currently coaches are working in nine schools and twenty-nine sections, and the program is growing. If you would like more information about this exciting program or have questions, please contact me, Kurtis Clements at kclements@kaplan.edu, and I will be happy to provide you with the information that you need.

Kurtis is a full-time staff person in the Writing Center.

Did you know...

Did you know that Kurtis Clements heats his farmhouse in Maine entirely with wood that he and his wife cut, spilt, and haul from the woods?