The Writing Center Is Officially Open!

After some delay in construction, the PCCC Writing Center has officially opened!

Writing Center work began in Fall of 2008, with consultations occurring in various places around campus, including in the library and Hamilton Hall.

The new Writing Center in located in PCCC's Learning Resource Center on the main campus. On the Wanaque campus, sessions are available on a limited basis in the testing room. Students are encouraged to make appointments for writing consultations, but may also do so on a walk-in basis.

The Writing Center currently employs 5 writing consultants to help students in Writing Intensive courses with their assignments. In addition, the Center offers sessions to students who are preparing to take the College Writing Exam and general writing workshops open to all PCCC students.

For more information about the Writing Center or to make an appointment, go to our website at http://pccc.libguides.com/writingcenter or email writingcenter@pccc.edu.

Two-Day Faculty Seminar For New WI Faculty

We have split our 4-day Faculty Institute into two 2-day sessions this year in an effort to reach more faculty and make the experience more of a seminar-style event.

During the January break, we will hold a seminar with faculty who are piloting courses in spring or fall 2009. The second 2-day session will be held in May.

Both sessions will focus on the goals and methodologies of the Initiative, and hands-on creation sessions for faculty developing a writing-intensive course.

January 14 -  8:30 - 3:30

• An Introduction to the Writing Initiative Goals
• The role of the PCCC Writing Center
• What is a writing-intensive course?
• Best Practices from Fall 2008 with faculty fellows Randy Jenkins, Alan Mitnick, Petar Drakulich and Anita Kumar.
• Creating WI assignments
• Incorporating critical thinking in writing

January 15 - 8:30 - 3:30

• The requirements for teaching a writing-intensive course as part of the Writing Initiative grant.
• An overview of the technologies & tools being used in WI courses to help generate writing and support students: WCOnline, LibGuides, Blackboard and the PCCC portal, ePortfolios, streaming media and eTutoring.
• Working with the design template to create a WI assignment.
• An introduction to the standard writing rubric and using it for assignments and assessment.

The PCCC Writing Center Will Open This Month

Construction on the PCCC Writing Center on the Paterson Campus was finally completed during the December break and will open for students with the start of the spring semester this month.

Originally slated to open in fall 2008, construction issues delayed the opening by one semester.

The facility is located within the Learning Resource Center and is open weekdays. Check the Writing Center LibGuide for the current operating hours.

LibGuides and Evolving Learning Spaces

I gave a presentation last week called "TEAR DOWN THE WALLS: LibGuides and Evolving Learning Spaces" at the Northeast Connect Conference.

It was about using LibGuides in an academic setting and utilizing the Web 2.0 options.

I talked about how PCCC first started using LibGuides and the features and then gave a closer look at those features.

Learning spaces continue to evolve as web tools further erase the physical walls of classrooms, libraries and other educational settings.

Though LibGuides, a web 2.0 content management and information sharing system, was designed specifically for libraries, at Passaic County Community College (and other schools) it is being used as a collaborative tool for courses.

This hosted service offers opportunities to create and share reusable content, tagging, widgets, embedded video, RSS, and easy integration with other tools like Delicious and Facebook.

During this summer's Writing Initiative Summer Institute, we gave a hands-on session on creating a LibGuide for our faculty involved in redesigning their courses as "Writing Intensive."

You can view my PowerPoint presentation below and more information about our LibGuide use on our "meta" LibGuide.

LibGuides and Evolving Learning Spaces

View more presentations from Ken Ronkowitz.

Spring 2009 Semester Writing Intensive Courses Open for Registration

Four WI courses are being offered during the upcoming spring 2009 semester.

• EN 205 Introduction to Literature (Mitnick - Paterson)
• PS 101 Introduction to Psychology (Murphy-Wanaque)
• HI 101 Western Civilization I (Jenkins-Online)
• HI 102 Western Civilization II (Drakulich-Paterson)

About Writing Intensive Courses at PCCC

What are writing-intensive courses as implemented at PCCC?  A writing-intensive course incorporates discipline-specific writing extensively into the course, and the writing contributes significantly to each student's grade. These courses are in many subject areas.

The instructor in a WI course uses writing assignments to promote the learning of the course content, as well as to increase the students' critical thinking and information literacy skills. Instructors use both formal and informal writing assignments.

Courses designated as writing-intensive will:

1. Incorporate frequent informal, short-writing assignments to help students generate ideas and better engage with their learning;
2. Require students to do formal writing assignments, totaling up to no less than 2,500 words (approximately 8-10 typed pages) during the semester;
3. Incorporate research requirements that exercise information literacy competencies in at least one of the writing assignments;
4. Use the same assessment rubric for writing as is used for the CWE scoring;
5. Have a pre-requisite of EN 101;
6. Not be taken concurrently (that is, only one IW course may be taken by a student in any given semester);
7. Have enrollment limited to 25 students; and
8. Be approved by the Office for Academic Affairs.

Upon completion of a writing-intensive course, students should be able to:

•  Use the process of writing, including pre-writing and revision strategies;
•  Support their ideas in writing with specific details and evidence;
•  Structure their ideas in an organized format;
•  Edit their writing according to the rules of standard academic English;
•  Evaluate their sources for credibility and academic appropriateness;
•  Employ techniques for integrating information, such as paraphrasing, summarizing, and quoting;
•  Exhibit the ability to think critically;
•  Demonstrate, through their writing, familiarity with the College's standard, evaluative writing rubric; and
• Cite sources using an appropriate documentation style.