The folks over at the DePaul Writing Center (Susie’s old stomping grounds) recently hosted a dinner party for peer and professional writing tutors in the Chicagoland area. Dr. Staben, the Writing Faculty Coordinator, and three of our new peer tutors had the privilege of attending the event and being the only ones representing a community college at the event. Keep on reading below to learn more about peer tutor Noelle’s experience.
Noelle C. – Peer Writing Tutor Fall 24 Cohort
The Chicagoland Writing Center Dinner Party was an inviting and casual way to meet writers, tutors, and teachers from several universities in the area. The College of Lake County representatives were the only community college attendees, and comparing our work to that of four-year university writing centers brought valuable insight into a longstanding, complex conversation.
The topic that stood out most to me and my table was the use of AI. By far, my experiences with tutees and AI at CLC outnumbered everyone else at the table. I discussed the blatant uses of ChatGPT, SnapChat’s AI feature, and Grammarly (and other such sites) that ran rampant within CLC’s tutoring sessions, and several people at my table admitted they had never physically seen anyone write an essay with AI. It is an extremely crucial conversation to have, and classes at CLC, as well as introductory English classes at Depaul University, have developed AI literacy assignments to introduce students to the benefits and pitfalls of using AI in writing. AI use often stems from a student’s lack of confidence, and that should be the main focus of any tutoring session, but the more frequent reliance on AI is worrying and destructive to students’ original voices.
It was so lovely to be surrounded by people of similar age and experience. My biggest takeaway was getting to soak in all of the experiences and advice from the people I met. I made connections to aid me in the college/transferring process and took notes on several more books to read, podcasts to listen to, and TedTalks to watch. Everybody approaches tutoring differently, and having the opportunity to learn from others’ experiences and share in the parts that they love most ultimately makes the tutoring center a more welcoming and accommodating place for anyone who happens to walk in.
A warm thank you to the hosts of the event, Claudia Nieves and Erin Hermann, as well as all of the staff and students at Depaul University for their hospitality. From bingo prizes to halal food options, detailed maps and a gently used coats drive, they truly thought of it all and sparked great conversations that reminded me why I truly love the writing center community.
Voices from the CLC Writing Center 