The WLS has moved into AB 2101 (the second floor of what used to be the DKU Library) and held an event to mark our official opening of this new space. We are using the large open space for workshops, events, and meetings. When it is not being used for these purposes, it is open for people to use as a learning space during regular working hours. There are three computers for visitors to use, and many writing and language learning resources.
With all students back on campus, all of our coaching appointments are once again in person. They take place in the following locations:
· LCC Faculty offices in the Conference Center
· AB 2101 for Ian McNally, Jianxuan Zhang, and peer writing coaches
Walk-in coaching for English writing is now available at select times of day in AB2101. We are piloting this program in Fall 2023 to determine whether to continue or expand the available hours. Weekly hours are posted in AB2101 and on the WLS WeChat account.
We appreciate it when faculty encourage their students to use the WLS! That said, WLS coaching services, workshops, and events are all voluntary. We promote self-directed learning and believe it is important for students to make the choice to use our services. For this reason and for capacity issues, we ask faculty not to require their students to make WLS appointments.
The WLS doesn’t have the capacity for very large numbers of students to make coaching appointments in any given week. Therefore, to maintain equity, we ask that faculty do not award extra credit to students for attending WLS coaching sessions.
WLS faculty and student coaches come from a wide range of disciplinary and writing backgrounds. Though our disciplinary backgrounds don’t cover all the DKU majors and graduate programs, there are many ways that we work with writers whose background don’t match our own. For instance, we help writers evaluate how well they have achieved their aims in their writing, identify gaps in logic or development of arguments, improve clarity and conciseness, and develop strategies to use in different stages of their writing.
WLS coaches help raise writers’ awareness of language issues (e.g., grammar, word choice, style) in their writing, and introduce them to resources and strategies they can use to check and improve their use of language. The help we provide can take a variety of forms, but it will never include proofreading or correcting an entire piece of writing for the writer.
Yes! We have many faculty and staff members who make appointments for language learning or writing. These faculty serve as great role models of self-directed learning for our students.
Our policy is to maintain confidentiality for our WLS users, meaning that we don’t disclose who comes to us for coaching or what we discuss in individual coaching sessions. However, WLS users should receive a summary of their appointment via email, and they are free to share those reports with others at their discretion.