Whitman College2017 Institution Survey
Institutional requirements and goals--Writing Requirement
What does the writing requirement at your institution consist of?
Proficiency exam
Senior thesis or capstone experience
Are there curricular requirements that are not part of the writing requirement but that have writing as an explicit goal?
Yes
What curricular requirements have writing as an explicit goal?
Senior capstone or thesis for some or all students
First-year seminar
Is oral communication a component of an institutional writing requirement?
Oral communication is a separate general education requirement.
Institutional requirements and goals--College Writing Goals
Institutional requirements and goals--National Survey of Student Engagement
Does your institution administer the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)?
Yes
How does your writing program use the NSSE data?
Data used to argue for additional resources.
Data used to promote the writing program.
Data used to support curricular changes.
Institutional requirements and goals--Changes to Writing Program
What other changes took place in regards to the writing requirement?
proficiency exam and basic writing course added
Were there changes to the assessment of writing at your institution since the 2012-13 academic year?
No
Do you foresee changes at the institutional level to the sites of writing on your campus over the next four years?
Yes
What type of changes to the institutional sites of writing do you foresee in the next four years?
Changes to the curricular structures or writing requirement
Changes to assessment
Changes to expand the writing program or sites of writing on campus
First-Year Writing--General Description
Does your institution have a first-year writing requirement, whether explicit or embedded?
Yes
How would you describe your first-year writing requirement? Check all that apply. See Glossary for definitions.
First-Year Seminar (FYS)
First-Year Writing--First-Year Composition: Placement & Transfer
If there is a placement mechanism for FYC, what is it? Check all that apply.
In-house exam
First-Year Writing--First-Year Composition: Goals
If there are explicit goals for FYC, are the goals informed by the WPA Outcomes Statement?
Yes
First-Year Writing--First-Year Composition: Delivery Methods
First-Year Writing--First-Year Composition: Staffing
Who has primary responsibility for administering the FYC requirement? See the Glossary for an explanation of these terms.
Solo
Beside the person who has primary responsibility for administering FYC, how many graduate students, staff members, or faculty members have administrative responsibilities for FYC?
0
First-Year Writing--First-Year Composition: Training
For FYC, what types of initial training is provided? Check all that apply.
FT-TT English/ Writing Faculty | FT-TT Faculty from other disciplines | FT-NTT English/ Writing Faculty | FT-NTT Faculty from other disciplines | Part-Time Faculty | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Required Course | |||||
Required Workshops | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
Optional Course | |||||
Optional Workshops | Yes | Yes | |||
Individual Meetings with Director | |||||
Weekly Staff Meetings | |||||
Monthly Staff Meetings | |||||
No training is provided | |||||
Other |
First-Year Writing--First-Year Composition: Curriculum
What is the content for the first or only semester of FYC? Check all that apply.
Genre/Modes
Writing about Writing
WAC/discipline topics
First-Year Writing--First-Year Composition: Course Caps
In the academic year 2016/17, what was the enrollment cap for Regular sections of the first or only semester of face-to-face FYC?
15
In the academic year 2016/17, what was the enrollment cap for Regular sections of the second semester of face-to-face FYC?
15
First-Year Writing--First-Year Writing Seminar: Placement & Transfer
First-Year Writing--First-Year Writing Seminar: Goals
First-Year Writing--First-Year Writing Seminar: Delivery Methods
First-Year Writing--First-Year Seminar: Placement & Transfer
If your institution accepts alternative credit for FYS, which mechanism is used? Check all that apply.
Transfer credit from another institution
What percentage of students in AY 2016/17 received alternative credit for a FYS course?
5
First-Year Writing--First-Year Seminar: Goals
First-Year Writing--First-Year Seminar: Delivery Methods
During the academic year 2016-17, what percentage of sections of FYS were face-to-face?
100
During the academic year 2016-17, what percentage of sections of FYS were online?
0
During the academic year 2016-17, what percentage of sections of FYS were hybrid?
0
First-Year Writing--First-Year Seminar: Staffing
Who has primary responsibility for administering the FYS requirement? See the Glossary for an explanation of these terms.
Other
Beside the person who has primary responsibility for administering FYS, how many graduate students, staff members, or faculty members have administrative responsibilities for FYS?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by FT, tenure-line faculty in the English Department?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by FT, tenure-line faculty in the rhetoric/composition department or program?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by FT, tenure-line faculty from departments besides English and rhetoric/composition?
30
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by FT, non-tenure line faculty in the English Department?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by FT, non-tenure line faculty in the rhetoric/composition department or program?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by FT, non-tenure line faculty from departments besides English and rhetoric/composition?
70
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by PT faculty (hired by the English Department)?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by PT faculty (hired by the rhetoric/composition department or program)?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by PT faculty (hired by another department/program)?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by graduate students in English?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by graduate students in rhetoric/composition?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by graduate students from departments outside English and rhetoric/composition?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by the first-year writing director?
0
In the 2016-17 academic year, what percentage of sections of face-to-face FYS were taught by Other?
0
First-Year Writing--First-Year Seminar: Training
For FYS, what types of initial training is provided? Check all that apply.
FT-TT English/ Writing Faculty | FT-TT Faculty from other disciplines | |
---|---|---|
Required Course | ||
Required Workshops | ||
Optional Course | ||
Optional Workshops | ||
Individual Meetings with Director | ||
Weekly Staff Meetings | Yes | |
Monthly Staff Meetings | ||
No training is provided | ||
Other |
Do those attending initial training receive additional compensation or course credit?
My institution does not have a consistent policy for when people are compensated for training.
First-Year Writing--First-Year Seminar: Curriculum
What is the content for the first or only semester of FYS? Check all that apply.
Literature
Themes
What is the content for the second semester of FYS? Check all that apply.
Literature
Themes
First-Year Writing--First-Year Seminar: Course Caps
In the academic year 2016/17, what was the enrollment cap for Regular sections of the first or only semester of face-to-face FYS?
15
In the academic year 2016/17, what was the enrollment cap for Regular sections of the second semester of face-to-face FYS?
15
First-Year Writing--Changes to First-Year Writing
Since AY 2012/13, have there been changes to the first-year writing requirement at your institution?
Yes
Since AY 2012/13, what have been the changes to the first-year writing requirement at your institution? Check all that apply.
Other
Since AY 2012/13, what have been the changes to the first-year writing requirement at your institution? Check all that apply. - Other - Text
writing specified in FYS, placement exam, FYC for those who place in
Since AY 2012/13, have there been changes to the first-year writing placement mechanism or how alternate credit is granted at your institution?
Yes
Since AY 2012/13, what have been the changes to the first-year writing placement mechanism or how alternate credit is granted at your institution? Check all that apply.
The placement mechanism changed.
Since AY 2012/13, have there been changes to the first-year writing assessment at your institution?
Yes
Since AY 2012/13, what have been the changes to the first-year writing assessment at your institution? Check all that apply.
Assessment of the course/program was added.
Since AY 2012/13, have there been changes to the first-year curriculum or enrollment caps at your institution?
No
Since AY 2012/13, have there been changes to the administration or staffing of first year writing at your institution?
Yes
Since AY 2012/13, what have been the changes to the administration or staffing of first year writing at your institution? Check all that apply
A new full-time first-year writing director position was created and hired.
Administrative support was decreased.
Do you foresee changes to the administrative, curricular, or support structures of first-year writing at your institution over the next four years?
Yes
Upper Level Writing Courses--Upper Level Writing Courses: General
How many specific writing course(s) beyond the first year does your institution require all students to take? For example, such a course could be a sophomore or junior-level course taught by English or writing faculty. We are NOT asking about writing-intensive courses. The WAC section of the Census will ask about those courses.
0
Upper Level Writing Courses--Changes to Upper Level Writing
Since AY 2012/13, have there been changes to the requirement for writing courses beyond the first year (not writing-intensive)?
No
Writing centers--General description
Does your institution have a writing center or learning center with writing tutors?
Yes
Is the writing center free-standing or part of another institutional unit?
Free-standing
Where is the writing center located? Note: From this point on writing center refers to both free-standing and those located within another unit.
Academic building
In addition to providing support for students writing for their courses, what services does the writing center offer? Check all that apply.
Assistance with writing in a language other than English
Assistance with multimodal assignments
Assistance with reading
Assistance with oral presentations
Assistance with Powerpoint or other presentation software
Assistance with how to lead a class discussion
Assistance with how to prepare a poster presentation
Assistance with graduate school materials
Assistance for English Language Learners
Asssistance for faculty on syllabus or curriculum development
What events does the writing center offer?
Student workshops
Faculty workshops
Space for student to come together to write
Space for faculty or staff to come together to write
Student writing groups
Faculty writing groups
Speakers
Dissertation or thesis boot camp
Writing centers--Consultations
What type of appointments does the writing center offer?
scheduled face-to-face appts
drop-in face-to-face appts
What is the average length of a consultation or tutorial session offered?
60 minutes
What percentage of the undergraduate student body had a writing center consultation during the 2016-17 academic year?
25
Writing centers--Consultants
How many consultants worked in the writing center during the 2016-17 academic year? UG=undergraduates, GS=graduate students, Fac=faculty, PT=professional tutors, Vol=volunteers
UG-14
On average, what percentage of a week's consultations are staffed by each group? For example, if your center offers 100 hours of consultations a week and 50 hours are filled by undergraduates and 25 hours by both graduate students and professional tutors, then the percentage would be 50% undergraduate, 25% graduate students, and 25% professional tutors.
UG-100
How are undergraduate consultants initially trained?
Half-credit course
Staff meetings
What on-going professional development opportunities are provided undergraduate consultants?
Attend national conferences
Attend regional conferences
Present at national conferences
Present at regional conferences
Read professional journals
Outside speakers
Staff meetings
Meeting with Director
Writing centers--Administration
Who has primary responsibility for directing the writing center or overseeing the writing tutors if the tutors are part of a different institutional unit?
One person administers all sites of writing on campus
In addition to the person who has primary responsibility, how many undergraduates, graduate students, staff members, or faculty members have administrative responsibilities for the writing center?
1
Writing centers--Changes
Since the academic year 2012/13 have there been changes to the writing center at your institution (not including staffing)?
Yes
What changes have been made?
Satellite located added
Added services
Added full-credit training course
Went from drop-in only to include scheduled appointments
Began to offer workshops
Writing center moved
Since the academic year 2012/13 have there been changes to the staffing or administration of the writing center at your institution?
Yes
What changes were made to the staffing or administration of the writing center?
Writing Center Administrator position converted to tenure track
Peer tutor positions increased
What other changes have been made to the staffing or administration of the writing center?
we hired a part time staff assistant, recent graduate.
Feel free to explain these upcoming changes.
We are revamping general education, which will inevitable have effects on the center.
Writing Fellows (Embedded Writing Tutors)--General information
Does your institution have a writing fellows program? (See glossary for definitions)
Yes
Writing Fellows (Embedded Writing Tutors)--Staffing
Do the writing fellows work both as fellows and in the writing center?
Writing fellows and writing center tutors are two separate groups.
If two separate groups, how are they staffed?
Writing fellows and writing center tutors are both undergraduates, but students do not do both jobs.
Do the writing fellows regularly attend the class they are assigned to work with?
No
Administrative positions--Solo Writing Administrator (SWA)
Which of the following teaching responsibilities does the SWA have? Check all that apply.
Teach courses
Train tutors, TAs, or professional staff
faculty workshops
student workshops
On average, how many courses per year are reassigned for SWA administrative responsibilities?
1
Which of the following are the administrative responsibilities of the SWA?
Develop curriculum
Create Program Documents
Write grants
Conduct assessment
Consult with individual faculty or departments across the disciplines
Hire (tutors, professional staff, or teaching faculty)
Supervise (tutors, professional staff, or teaching faculty)
Mentor (tutors, professional staff, or teaching faculty)
Schedule writing courses
Place students into writing courses
Facilitate placement exam
Advertise program
Oversee program budget
Plan events
Maintain program/department/center website
Serve on university committees
Serve as an academic advisor