Additional Academic Support Services

  • Workshops
    At faculty invitation, the Center for Learning Excellence director provides workshops to first-year seminars designed to motivate students to change their study habits to adapt to college-level work and build awareness of services. Other workshops, targeted to topics such as study abroad or a particular learning skill, such as note-taking, are also provided.
     
  • Group Work
    The center provides regularly scheduled Guided Study Groups and Exam Preparation Sessions, primarily for gatekeeper courses. Supplemental Instruction, or SI, also is available for select courses.
     
  • Composition Support
    The Composition Support Program embeds writing tutors in first-year composition courses.
     

  • Writing Assignment Tutor Training in STEM (WATTS)
    The WATTS program provides writing support for students in STEM courses that include a writing assignment. It is a collaboration between the course instructor and CLE and focuses on a one-hour tutor training session co-led by the instructor and writing tutor supervisor. The training session applies the principles of knowledge transfer to equip tutors with strategies to improve their session interactions with STEM students.

    The NSF provided funding to assess the WATTS method via an interdisciplinary I-USE grant. The research was conducted at Penn State Behrend (where the WATTS method was developed), Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis, and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Student drafts and final reports were assessed by a four-person team of researchers using a modified version of the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) VALUE Written Communication Rubric. Results from the three-year study demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in student writing following the implementation of tutoring by WATTS-trained peer tutors.
      

  • College Writing Awards
    The center administers the college-wide writing awards. Nominations are made by faculty. There are five Junior/Senior Writing Awards—one for each School and one open award. Two awards are given to students in first-year composition courses.
     
  • Reflection on Learning
    The center administers the optional summer writing assignment for first-year students. The prompts are designed to encourage student reflection on learning and academic goals.