Professor Megan Schutte Coordinator of the Catonsville and Owings Mills Writing Centers, Community College of Baltimore County

 Two-year community college  Three main campuses (Catonsville, Dundalk, and Essex) which were separate colleges until 1998  Three extension centers throughout the county  Enrollment: approx. 72,000 students

 Student population: › 62% female › 45% minority › 2% foreign national or international › 65% part-time (less than 12 credits/semester) › 55% under 24 years old › 29% years old › 16% 40+ years old

 Opened Fall 2005  Relocated Fall 2006, Fall 2008, Winter 2010  Staff: approx. 10 full-timers (part of their load) and 10 adjuncts  Library Research Consultants three days a week  Open 6 days a week during spring and fall  Open year round (including summer and winter sessions)

 Appointments preferred, walk-ins allowed  One half-an-hour appointment a day  Two appointments a week  One hour appointments available for students with documented disabilities or who are deaf

 Internal research (statistical analysis of random sampling of CCBC Catonsville writing center student files)  External research (US, UK, and European writing centers/centres)  Plan for future assessment

 Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, and Spring 2011  Random sampling of 484 students  Random sampling yielded 1,491 visits

 Two levels of developmental English: ENGL 051 and ENGL 052  Pass/fail courses  According to MHEC (Maryland Higher Education Commission), 31.5% of students at MD community colleges test into developmental English courses  Students who do complete the “remedial” sequence graduate at slightly higher rates than students who test into ENGL 101

 Two levels of composition: ENGL 101and ENGL 102  Passing is a ‘C’ or better  Both are needed to transfer to a 4-year institution  Other courses (e.g. Business Communications) are required instead of 102 for some programs/degrees/ certificates

 “Writing is integral to all academic disciplines and thinking” and is “not the exclusive domain of English language arts teachers” (Maryland Partnership for Teaching and Learning, PreK-16).  Engineers work for engineers who know how to write.

 Pedagogy seems to be standardized  Policies differ slightly from school to school  Funding is the largest obstacle

 Writing Center Advisory Board › Mission Statement and Outcomes › continuity of forms and policies across all campuses and OWL › student tracking  Questionnaires › pre- and post-visit regarding student stress levels › faculty survey

 Workshops › Formatting, research, grammar and mechanics › Small groups, interactive, non-faculty  Pre- and Post-“Tests” › One question a semester › Piggy-back on other assessment mechanisms › Simple and anonymous

 Questions?  Comments?  Issues?  Suggestions?