Siemann, Catherine

English

Digital Commons @ New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)

NJIT Pandemic Recovery Plan  Writing Center Continuity Plan  NJIT faculty, staff, and students at the Writing Center must follow specific social distancing and safety protocols including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) as required by the institutional, state and federal guidelines in the respective phase of the following continuity plan.  State and national information regarding current conditions can be found at: ● New Jersey’s COVID-19 information hub https://covid19.nj.gov/index.html ● New Jersey’s “The Road Back: Restoring Economic Health through Public Health:” https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/562020/approved/20200427b.shtml ● White House Plan for Opening up America Again: https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Guidelines-for-Opening-Up-America-Again.pdf  The following guidelines should be adapted with each respective phase for the recovery of the Writing Center’s operations.  Recovery Phases 0 and 1:  All face-to-face operations at the Writing Center are halted and moved to a virtual environment.  ● All tutoring services are to be offered via online sessions, via Googledocs and Googlechat, scheduled via our WCOnline scheduling system. This will be a continuation of the Spring COVID-19 pandemic response.  ● Exit interviews will be conducted with professional and peer writing consultants at the end of the semester to consider the online tutoring experience in Spring 2020.  This, combined with the academic literature on online writing center consultations, will be used by the director to create training materials for writing consultants moving forward. ● No students will be able to enter or use any Writing Center facilities.    Recovery Phase 2:  All face-to-face operations at the Writing Center remain halted and remain being conducted online.   ● The Writing Center facilities remain closed to the general student population. ● Tutoring services will expand to incorporate a videoconferencing element, via Google Hangouts or Webex (TBD), to better replicate the in-person tutoring experience. ● Professional and peer writing consultants will participate in training on online writing center consultations, via the Writing Center’s Canvas site. ● Appointments will shift from the WCOnline scheduling service to the Navigate system, as was previously requested by the Advising Success Center. ● The peer tutoring program will be temporarily suspended, since much of the training is based on in-person mentoring from the professional writing consultants.  Current peer tutors may continue if they wish.   Recovery Phase 3:  Writing Center operations resume in a mixed in-person/online capacity and with strict social distancing.   ● Regular scheduled or walk-in tutoring resumes in person, but scheduled sessions would also have the option of being held online, via Googledocs and a videoconferencing service. ● The Writing Center space in CKB G17 would be used exclusively for tutoring.  Currently one of the rooms in the suite is in regular use as a classroom, a meeting room, and study space.  That room would be reserved for tutoring only. Tables would be rearranged, or certain tables clearly marked as unavailable, in order to preserve social distancing. ● Hand sanitizer dispensers or disinfectant wipes should be made available for students and tutors in order to disinfect common tables, erasers, markers, and computers before and after use.  Personal markers will be made available to tutors as well.  Common pens would be temporarily removed, and notepads replaced by individual sheets of paper. ● Writing consultants and students would maintain social distancing.  Laptops or printed papers would not be shared; consultant and student would each have their own document or computer file.  Desktop computers already present in the Writing Center would be regularly sanitized, and, if possible, laptops provided for consultants or students who arrived without them.   ● The director will coordinate a schedule for regular cleaning and sanitizing of the Writing Center’s public spaces (everything but the director’s office) with building services. ● All other state or university safety protocols must be strictly followed.  The department chair and college dean should advise on any PPE deemed necessary or advised to be used during Phase 3.  Full Recovery:  All Writing Center operations are restored fully with no specific social distancing requirements.  In-person sessions would once again become the standard, although a to-be-determined number of online sessions would remain available, depending on demand.  However, all facility and personnel safety protocols must be strictly observed. 

Academic Affairs: Writing Center

https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&amp;context=prp

Academic Affairs: Writing Center

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Digital Commons @ New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT)