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Privacy issues regarding disclosure of use of writing centre services?

Fri, 2007-05-11 14:18 — Theresa Bell
Hello, First of all, I should introduce myself since I'm new to this group. My name is Theresa Bell and I'm the Writing Centre Coordinator at Royal Roads University. Our writing centre is still very new (the doors only opened on April 13, 2007), and it's been an exciting process of building a completely new service for our 3500 students, all of whom spend most of their programs working in the online environment. I'm currently the only staff member within the centre, but I'm hopeful that someday the centre will expand its services and staff. Until that time, my focus is to provide a wide range of online resources, including discussion forums; provide one-one-one writing instruction (either face-to-face or by phone); and facilitate instructional sessions when cohorts of students are on-campus for a 3-5 week residency. I'm facing a bit of a dilemma and I'm hopeful that the collective wisdom of this group can help me find a solution. A couple of program areas have asked me if I will report back on which students have accessed individual writing instruction. I've pushed back on this because it feels to me that it might be a breach of confidentiality...but I'm curious what happens at other colleges/universities? I made the conscious decision to not insist that students have written permission from instructors before coming to the centre, so faculty members don't automatically know if a student is seeking help. I can understand that programs might want to know if a student is taking advantage of available help, but on the other hand, are there confidentiality issues at play? Any thoughts on these questions or suggestions for how to maintain a happy balance between a student's right to privacy and keeping faculty members feeling informed as to what their students are doing would be most welcome! I'm very pleased to have found this community and I'm looking forward to your replies. Regards, Theresa Bell
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Mon, 2007-05-14 08:46 — Julia Robinson

written permission from the student

I think an important feature of Dennis' blue slip is that it is in the student's hands. They give it to their instructor and I see that as agreement to telling the instructor about their work with us. I like that idea. At Douglas College, we do things differently. We don't do any sessions through instructor requirement. We used to have instructor referral as part of our intake process but we don't do that anymore. However, on our Request for Tutoring Form, we do ask students if we may give information about their work in the Learning Centre to their instructors. If instructors phone and ask us for information, if the student has not ticked that we can talk to their instructors, we just tell the instructors we don't have permission to discuss it with them. We do have some instructors who are concerned about not knowing when students have had help, so we'll have to think about the blue slip idea they are using at OSU.
Sun, 2008-03-09 23:09 — Miss Marjie

instructors' concerns

That sounds like an interesting system. I'm curious about the instructors' concerns with not knowing when students have had help. Were there specific reasons they felt they needed to be informed about the type of help students had received? Would it be information they would want to know across the board, regardless of the student, or is the information important in specific situations where there is a question of content or quality of help? More often than not, when students come to the OSU Writing Center when it is not required by the instructor, they do not ask for a blue slip. I hadn't thought a lot about the idea of instructors wanting that information that would be included on a blue slip regardless of whether or not they had required the slip for their class, so I'd be interested in knowing more about the specifics of the instructors' concerns.
Wed, 2007-05-16 10:39 — Theresa Bell

Written Permission sounds good

Thanks Julia and Dennis for your suggestions. I like the idea of asking permission from the students to disclose their information - I'm already using a release form for each student (the student agrees that he/she won't hold the Writing Centre responsible for any mark received on an assignment) so that would be an easy thing to add. Thank you for your help! Theresa
Mon, 2007-05-14 08:00 — Dennis Bennett

Required Vists to the Writing Center at OSU

Theresa, At our Center, which has been serving Oregon State University for over thirty years, we have worked hard to market ourselves as providing a service to strong as well as to "at risk" writers. Doing so has allowed us to remove any stigma associated with a student's use of the Writing Center. We do offer faculty the option of requiring their students to visit the Writing Center, and a sizable portion of our sessions are required. To "prove" that students have been to the Center, we hand out a "blue slip" at the end of the session which students then staple on to their drafts when they turn them in. The blue slip contains some information regarding what was discussed during the session, information about both higher order and lower order concerns, and we don't feel that we're breaching the confidentiality of the session by doing so. I hope that helps. Dennis
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Dennis Bennett
Oregon State University
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