Writing centers rely on empirical tutoring knowledge, yet that knowledge is often distributed across multiple sources – staff manuals, onboarding materials, training courses, peer advice, session documentation, and so on. High turnover among student staff makes retaining and transmitting this knowledge especially challenging (Giaimo & Turner, 2019). But how accessible is a writing center's knowledge base for new consultants during onboarding and daily practice? This lightning talk presents an exploratory audit of a writing center's formal and informal knowledge systems from the perspective of peer consultants, drawing on analysis of onboarding materials, consultant reflections, and documentation practices. Audience members will be invited to share their own experiences to shape the next stage of the project.

Using a real tutoring appointment as a launching point for inquiry, this presentation will pitch a new project that explores how the increasing use of AI in the classroom affects non-native English speakers (NNES) students’ confidence in writing and communication. This research aims to understand the perceptions of NNES students on AI and AI checking software, with the goal of understanding how peer tutors can work to build the confidence of NNES writers in the growing age of AI. The audience will be invited to provide recommendations on studying the topic.

In light of a recent Georgia Tech policy that mandates assigning percentages to every assignment listed on syllabi for ENGL 1101 and 1102 courses, this roundtable will discuss how institute requirements and students’ attitudes toward grading impact the grading policies of English professors and the work of NWCC tutors.

This presentation focuses on the question: How does being at a male-dominated research university affect self-confidence in female leadership within undergraduate part-time positions, specifically peer tutors at the Georgia Tech NWCC? Many articles in writing center studies acknowledge the “feminization” of the writing center (Leit, 2007), however, most of this research is focused on professional staff or directors rather than undergraduates who are balancing coursework with tutoring. This research hopes to extend feminist writing center theory by considering how environmental context, specifically the gender ratio of the surrounding university, shapes self-perception and leadership identity in order to inform future training practices at the NWCC and other communication centers.

STEM students write lab reports, grant proposals, slide deck presentations, and more, yet they often do not consider themselves writers. This presentation will propose a survey to find out if STEM students at Georgia Tech generally identify as writers, as well as explain how this information could be used as the foundation for future research about Georgia Tech STEM student writing. The audience will be invited to provide feedback and discuss the shape of the project.

When students visit the writing center for help with presentations for classes, their struggles tend to coalesce around 3 challenges: what information to prioritize, how to organize that information, and how to convey their message within the time frame allotted to them. In this presentation designed with faculty in mind, attendees will learn (1) how the Ignite presentation format addresses these challenges and (2) how they can integrate such an assignment into their courses.

Writing center consultants routinely encounter jargony, specialized prose that falls well outside their own areas of expertise—often under tight time constraints. This roundtable addresses two persistent, interrelated challenges of tutoring at a STEM heavy institution: first, how to quickly make sense of difficult research writing, and second, how to offer useful feedback even if your comprehension of the subject matter is limited. Participants will share concrete strategies for orienting themselves to complex texts and identifying productive entry points for discussion.