The new Student Center for Research, Writing and Information Technology, which will provide students with guidance in the research and writing process for papers as well as multi-media projects, enjoyed a very low-key grand opening Monday night.
RWIT, a joint effort by the Composition Center, the library, and the Jones Media Center, will provide yet another academic resource for students on campus.
The idea for RWIT started two summers ago when Malcolm Brown, Director of Academic Computing, and Susan Fliss, Director of Research and Informatics Learning, both approached Professor Karen Gocsik, Director of the Composition Center, about the possibility of creating a Composition Center-type service that would help students struggling with research and technical questions.
Gocsik saw the potential to combine the two with writing to create a "one-stop shop" for students.
The center will be open every Sunday through Thursday from 7 to 10 p.m. and will be operated by composition, technology and research student tutors.
There will be three types of tutors available at RWIT " returning Composition Center tutors, research tutors, and technology tutors.
However, all three types of tutors are trained in the basics of each of the fields so that they have all the essential information they need to respond to any question.
Funding for the center comes from the Composition Center, the Jones Media Center, and the library as well as a $10,000 grant from the Computing Technology Venture Fund.
The Venture Fund supports innovative programs to apply computing technology to classroom curriculum. RWIT currently has about six to eight paid tutors prepared to operate the new center.
Currently, RWIT is a pilot project. Usage will be closely monitored and notes will be taken on the types of problems most frequently encountered. If students are responsive, the center will be enlarged and will request more funding, Gocsik said.
The Center is located in the Nathanson Room in Novack Caf. The room was previously one of three computing rooms, but the computers have now been moved to other places in the library and are still available for general student use.
Finding a location was one of the most difficult problems Gocsik encountered while setting up the Center, she said. Novack has generally been seen as a student place and a popular area for studying. The logic behind locating RWIT there was to essentially bring the resource to students.
Tutors are taught using ElementK -- an interactive training system that teaches how to use a variety of computer programs.
ElementK is available to the entire Dartmouth community. Through this system, students and faculty can learn programs such as Excel, PowerPoint, PhotoShop, and DreamWeaver. The courses can be accessed online with a Kerberos ID.
One of the main ideas behind RWIT is that research is so frequently intertwined with writing and to provide a place for media help. Brown was frequently approached by students wanting to learn a certain program.
"We needed a more systematic program," he said.
The 7 to 10 p.m. hours also give students a place to go after the librarians have gone home, English Language and Literature Librarian Laura Brown said.
Soon, the center will even have an instant messaging service so students do not even have to take the effort to go to RWIT in person and can just instant message their question to the available staff.
"We hope faculty will be encouraged to assign more media projects to students now that there is somewhere for students to get help with those sorts of problems," said Gocsik, who is already planning on incorporating a short documentary assignment into her English 2 class.
Students can get more information about RWIT online (www.dartmouth.edu/~rwit). The site is still under construction.
