91´«Ã½

Developed by Rabin and Lathrop and launched as a pilot in spring 2013, the Virtual Writing Center is an innovative response to data that showed online students had lower persistence and success rates in gateway English courses than students in traditional sections of the same courses. The Center initially served students enrolled in online sections of two English gateway courses; a year later, the program served all students enrolled in online classes. In fall 2014 the Center opened to all students in all classes, regardless of class format, as another way to serve students at their point of need.

“A targeted program to meet a documented need to support online students, this project supports strategic initiatives of the college and has already shown success,” said award co-chairs Sarah North of the College of Western Idaho and David Wright of Surry Community College. “The partnership between the library and the writing center was innovative, unique, and promoted a model that could be replicated in other colleges.”