Director's Day Out is a free event for directors, graduate students, and all those in Florida who are interested in writing center administrative work.
Please email Billie Jo (Billie.Dunaway@daytonastate.edu) with questions about the event.
Schedule of Events
9:00 – 9:10am Welcome – Janine Morris and Billie Jo Dunaway
9:15 – 9:45 Session 1
Zoom Room 1 – What is a Writing Center?
Presented by Kristen Bales This session will briefly discuss how the Daytona State College Writing Center was ready and able to move fully online, maintaining equitable virtual services for students while finding new ways to connect and reach students. As we reflect on where we have been and where we are now, this session will discuss proactive innovations that have become inherent with our collective writing center work. In addition to looking at standards of the "new" new normal, this session will encourage discussion of what the writing center of the future could and should look like, specifically in terms of staffing, technology, and training.
Presented by Kristen Bales
This session will briefly discuss how the Daytona State College Writing Center was ready and able to move fully online, maintaining equitable virtual services for students while finding new ways to connect and reach students. As we reflect on where we have been and where we are now, this session will discuss proactive innovations that have become inherent with our collective writing center work. In addition to looking at standards of the "new" new normal, this session will encourage discussion of what the writing center of the future could and should look like, specifically in terms of staffing, technology, and training.
Zoom Room 2 - Surveying One Writing Center’s Response to a Surge in Asynchronous Support: Tutor and Student Perspectives. Presented by Laura Henning This session will discuss the ways in which the DSC Writing Center has adapted to our “new” new normal by offering extensive embedded tutoring, which has led to a surge in asynchronous support. Pre-COVID, the DSC Writing Center did not offer asynchronous appointments; consequently, this shift has necessitated a complex and thoughtful consideration of how we can translate our ethos as a writing center that cares deeply about holistic, writer-based support to our approaches in asynchronous sessions. Drawing upon survey results from both tutors and students, this session will explore the ongoing conversation we’re having about asynchronous tutoring: the what, how, and why of this new, integral service we offer.
Zoom Room 2 - Surveying One Writing Center’s Response to a Surge in Asynchronous Support: Tutor and Student Perspectives.
Presented by Laura Henning
This session will discuss the ways in which the DSC Writing Center has adapted to our “new” new normal by offering extensive embedded tutoring, which has led to a surge in asynchronous support. Pre-COVID, the DSC Writing Center did not offer asynchronous appointments; consequently, this shift has necessitated a complex and thoughtful consideration of how we can translate our ethos as a writing center that cares deeply about holistic, writer-based support to our approaches in asynchronous sessions. Drawing upon survey results from both tutors and students, this session will explore the ongoing conversation we’re having about asynchronous tutoring: the what, how, and why of this new, integral service we offer.
9:50 – 10:20 Session 2
Zoom Room 1 – Grief in an Ever-Evolving Situation Presented by Robin Clark In these unprecedented times, routine seems like a concept of the distant past. Information is evolving so frequently that just when you feel you've got a handle on things, something new overtakes it. So what, then, do we do when something more permanent happens in the midst of all of this change? This roundtable seeks to discuss how we can handle grief both personally and professionally, as we grieve not only potential deaths, but other losses caused at least in part by COVID-19. Zoom Room 2 – We Have Lift Off! Starting a Blog in the Middle of a Pandemic.
Zoom Room 1 – Grief in an Ever-Evolving Situation
Presented by Robin Clark
In these unprecedented times, routine seems like a concept of the distant past. Information is evolving so frequently that just when you feel you've got a handle on things, something new overtakes it. So what, then, do we do when something more permanent happens in the midst of all of this change? This roundtable seeks to discuss how we can handle grief both personally and professionally, as we grieve not only potential deaths, but other losses caused at least in part by COVID-19.
Zoom Room 2 – We Have Lift Off! Starting a Blog in the Middle of a Pandemic.
We use social media quite extensively to connect with our students, so why add one more platform? How could this platform offer something different? These are the questions that we asked ourselves as we decided that launching a blog was a good idea. This session will discuss some of our successes and failures as we navigate a new format. We found that while we usually connect with students through their writing, this format allowed us to connect with students in a different way: through our writing. We will discuss how we are growing an audience and overcoming platform limitations.
10:25 – 10:55 Session 3
Zoom Room 1 – Social Media: How We Market and Connect with Students. Presented by Ariana Porter Growing a virtual writing center can be difficult. We use our social media platforms to reach students and let them know about our services. This session will discuss the use of our platforms, the connections between them, and the ways we are moving forward. Zoom Room 2 – The “New” New Normal of Supplemental Support: Reflecting on the Sudden Transition to a Fully Online English Studio Presented by Laura Henning The English Studio at Daytona State College, a lab-based co-requisite to the FYC gateway ENC1101: Introduction to Composition, has been an important part of the support we’ve offer students since its inception. However, until a few months ago, the Studio was always an in-person experience, one that depended on connection-building and the accumulation of social capital in an intimate, face-to-face environment. This session will reflect on the ways I and other Studio facilitators had to quickly transition our Studios to the virtual space, exploring the different methods we used to continue providing support and building the relationships we’d started during the first half of the Spring semester.
Zoom Room 1 – Social Media: How We Market and Connect with Students.
Presented by Ariana Porter
Growing a virtual writing center can be difficult. We use our social media platforms to reach students and let them know about our services. This session will discuss the use of our platforms, the connections between them, and the ways we are moving forward.
Zoom Room 2 – The “New” New Normal of Supplemental Support: Reflecting on the Sudden Transition to a Fully Online English Studio
The English Studio at Daytona State College, a lab-based co-requisite to the FYC gateway ENC1101: Introduction to Composition, has been an important part of the support we’ve offer students since its inception. However, until a few months ago, the Studio was always an in-person experience, one that depended on connection-building and the accumulation of social capital in an intimate, face-to-face environment. This session will reflect on the ways I and other Studio facilitators had to quickly transition our Studios to the virtual space, exploring the different methods we used to continue providing support and building the relationships we’d started during the first half of the Spring semester.
11:00 – 11:30 Session 4
Zoom Room 1 – Informal Fall Planning Brainstorm and plan for the fall term. Participants will work together on a shared Google Doc to come up with best practices and resources for fall planning. Breakout groups will focus on training, recruitment, marketing, and budgets and safety. Presented by Janine Morris and Billie Jo Dunaway
Zoom Room 1 – Informal Fall Planning
Brainstorm and plan for the fall term. Participants will work together on a shared Google Doc to come up with best practices and resources for fall planning. Breakout groups will focus on training, recruitment, marketing, and budgets and safety.
Presented by Janine Morris and Billie Jo Dunaway
Southeastern Writing Center Association | © , SWCA
