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A sampling of WILL tutors: May 2005
WILL
Winthrop Invests in Lifelong Learning
Winthrop University’s Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) provides professional and personal development opportunities to enrich all faculty and staff. Its mission’s emphasis – that in a learning community such as Winthrop every employee is both a learner and a teacher – is reflected in diverse programs that utilize the expertise of everyone from administrators to facilities management staff. The WILL Program’s inclusiveness embodies this philosophy.
WILL is not new to Winthrop: its first iteration occurred in the early 90’s as a one-semester series of reading and computer sessions for facilities personnel that were taught by graduate students in the College of Education. It was that model that the Professional Development Advisory Board (PDAB) had in mind when, in the fall of 2003, WILL was begun again. However, as the project developed over the next year and a half WILL took on a very different character.
Today WILL is an ongoing program that involves more than 80 campus personnel, including administrator/staff/faculty tutors, facilities management participants, Information Technology (IT) personnel, and the York County Literacy Association and Adult Education Center, which supports the program by training its volunteer tutors, assessing participants in the program, and by providing all its basic literacy and adult education materials.
WILL participants meet with a University tutor during the work day to learn, or to increase their literacy skills. They also may enroll in each semester’s “Introduction to Computers,” taught by IT personnel.
Data show that the WILL approach to literacy has had a positive impact since its inception in the fall of 2004 when the initial assessment of WILL participants was conducted. Thirty-four tutors were trained that fall, and tutoring began in January 2005. Although summer vacations and work demands decreased the number of tutoring and student hours, many participants continued work throughout the year. Of the 37 students who participated, 25 logged enough instructional hours to be post-tested in fall 2006. That post-test showed that 48% had increased their scale score/grade level, and that 32% had made sufficient progress to move up a level in the National Reporting System’s educational functioning-level descriptors.
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