The Writing & Communications Center (WCC), a subset of the College of Arts and Letters, provides help to Stevens students in the form of developing and improving their written and oral communication skills. Just as Stevens administration faced challenges to ensure the health and wellness of students during the pandemic, the WCC faced new challenges as classes became virtual last year. However, their efforts allowed them to produce solutions that helped them run the center efficiently and effectively.
In an email interview with The Stute, Sarah Minsloff, the Assistant Director of the WCC, said that the WCC staff experienced fear and confusion during the pandemic, but because of their good health and the support they received from their friends and family, they felt gratified. “Some consultants noted that returning to work at the WCC, even when we were fully online, gave them a sense of structure and continuity with pre-pandemic days,” Dr. Minsloff continued. During the time that Stevens students were managing the virtual environment, the WCC was there to help them “bring order to their thoughts and articulate their claims clearly.”
Because Stevens went virtual last year, the WCC created a new format for making synchronous appointments virtually. “In this type of appointment, students use our online platform to speak with consultants in real-time and mutually edit documents,” Dr. Minsloff explained. In order to make this platform available, the WCC trained their staff on this new platform and synchronous tutoring best practices; they also continued keeping the asynchronous appointments. In addition, all of their workshops were moved online through the use of Zoom; according to Dr. Minsloff, the Zoom platform worked well for the WCC and even proved to be popular, so they decided to run all workshops online.
Furthermore, the WCC is encountering a large number of students making appointments this semester. They have recorded 349 students utilizing the center; last year, 327 students were reported in Fall 2020 and 131 in Spring 2021. “Due to budget cuts, we can offer only 76.66% of the slots that we could offer in Fall 2020. This has meant that nearly all appointment slots have been taken and there are often students on the waitlist for appointments,” Dr. Minsloff said, and continued, “In addition, about half (52%) of our appointments are in person this semester, and of course none of them could be in-person during the height of the pandemic.”
Although the WCC’s agenda remained consistent, their consultants had to change the way ideas were being contributed; “Our policies remained the same but the way consultants share ideas with each other had to change.” Because the WCC’s physical office is an open working space, the staff was able to participate in each other’s sessions to share academic practices and talk about essay topics. The pandemic however prohibited them to do this as everyone was obligated to work remotely. “The director and I decided to hold several meetings and trainings during the semester as well as one-on-one meetings with each staff member to make sure we stayed in touch and addressed any concerns that came up. We also checked in on each other and dealt with things like tech issues through text,” Dr. Minsloff added. Moreover, they introduced new pandemic-specific programming, and now, their workshops include Presentations on Zoom, Interviews, Virtual Teamwork, and Minding the Gap.
Furthermore, Dr. Minsloff said that the WCC is always adding to their webinars, worksheets, and writing resources; “Currently, we are working on a webinar on applying to graduate school, on some grammar made easy worksheets, and on a guide to close reading. We also recently ran a campus-wide book exchange with Amnesty International to coincide with Banned Books Week.”
Currently, the WCC is offering three types of appointments — face-to-face, online synchronous (real-time), and online asynchronous (in which you upload a file and receive feedback via email). Each session will be 50-minutes long and the location for in-person appointments will be at Morton 210. The WCC can be contacted through email at writing@stevens.edu.
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