Martha Maxwell

Every summer 100 people from college learning centers across the country converge on Berkeley for a week-long intensive program. Some are faculty from diverse disciplines, newly appointed to administrative roles in learning assistance centers; others are old hands at the business--but all are seeking ways to improve their programs and their own professional development. 

Berkeley's Annual Institute for College Learning Center Directors and Staff offers a one-week, in-depth learning/sharing experience for professionals from college learning assistance centers. Sponsored by the University of California, Berkeley Extension, in cooperation with the Department of Education, the institute's programs are designed for three groups: (1) new administrators, (2) experienced administrators, and (3) learning specialists who want to improve their ability to teach basic skills.

For those beginning careers in learning assistance, the institute provides a comprehensive introduction to the field. For experienced staff, it offers an opportunity to update knowledge and skills and learn "state of the art" information.

Who Attends?
Over the past four years, the 412 people who have come to the institute represent an interesting cross-section of college programs in the United States and Canada, both geographically and institutionally. Typically, each class has participants from sixty to seventy colleges and from more than thirty states. The colleges they represent are equally diverse--public and private, large and small--with admissions policies that vary from open to highly selective. Many of the participants come from small colleges that enroll less than 10,000 students, and 70 percent are from public colleges.

Most learning center directors are part-time administrators who also hold academic or other positions within their institutions. About 15 percent of the participants are skills counselors or instructors with no administrative duties but who aspire to management positions.

The types of students with whom they work also range from technical-college freshmen to graduate and professional students; from those preparing for the GED to pre-meds taking the MCAT. A third of the group work in community colleges and a quarter are from universities. The rest are from four-year colleges.

People who attend the institute vary greatly in background and interests. The average participant has a master's degree with academic preparation in English (33 percent), education or reading (21 percent), or human behavior and counseling (18 percent). Although the majority of the participants have administrative responsibilities, only 10 percent have had any managerial training. They tend to be relatively inexperienced administrators, even though some have worked in teaching or counseling positions for many years (Bennett, 1979).

Ninety percent of the directors who attend the institute work in older, well-established learning centers. Only 10 percent are starting new centers.Over the years, institute participants have changed somewhat:

1. Current participants are more experienced. Forty-two percent of the 1980 group had more than three years of experience in learning services, while in 1977 only 27 percent of the group had worked for more than three years in such programs. Either the field is maturing or the institute is attracting more experienced professionals. In addition, alumni of the program are returning to take additional work.
2. There were more full-time administrators among the learning center directors attending the institute in 1980 (40 percent) than in 1977 (27 percent), yet few of these people had previous managerial training or experience.
3. More of the learning skills specialists who attend are teaching mathematics skills, English as a Second Language (ESL), and mainstreaming the learning disabled than was true in earlier years.

It was not until 1976 that the support to start an institute was available. Ernest Gourdine, then at the University of California-Davis, and Barbara Tomlinson, then at the University of California-Riverside, joined the author in discussing the desperate need for information that newcomers to the field showed in their questions and entreaties following a presentation we gave at the International Reading Association Annual Conference. We consequently agreed to try to start an institute.

The three of us presented the first program alone--dividing the topics among ourselves--an exhausting experience. Additional speakers were selected for subsequent institutes, and we increased the number of topics, adding small-group discussion sessions, demonstrations, book sales, and other services. Criteria for selecting speakers were that they have something worthwhile to say, can express their ideas well and concretely, and can deal effectively with our very critical audience. Over the years, we have speakers like Jim Gray of the Bay Area Writing Project, Frank Christ of California State University-Long Beach, Paul Copperman, educational critic, and many others.

The variety of needs and interests that participants bring to the institute are recognized in planning the program, and speakers are scheduled from both open-admissions and selective colleges to speak on the same topics. For example, the Stanford Writing Center differs a great deal from writing centers in open-admissions colleges.

The range of program topics seems to increase each year. A list of current topics is given below:

1. For New Administrators 

• Starting a Learning Center from Scratch
• Designing a Learning Assistance System
• Management by Objectives
• Organizing the Services
• Setting Up a Record System
• Budgeting and Staff Selection
• Developing and Maintaining Good Relations with Faculty and Administrators
• Tutor Selection and Training
• Staff Selection and Training
• Staff Development
• Grant Proposal Writing
• Program Evaluation Techniques

• Planning Long-Range Goals and Objectives
• Integrating Learning-Skills Programs with Learning Resources
• Uses of Micro-Computers in Learning Center Programs
• Advanced Grantsmanship
• Personnel Issues--Recruitment, Training, Promotion
• Impact of Academic Reorganization Plans on Learning Centers
• Maintaining the Dynamics of the Established Learning Center
• Sophisticated Evaluation Techniques

 A. Writing 

• Establishing and Improving Writing Centers
• Techniques for Teaching Basic Writing
• Methods for Improving Writing Skills
• Evaluating Student Writing
• Selecting Appropriate Materials for a Writing Center
• Teaching Writing to the ESL Student
• Mapping--A Technique for Improving Reading, Writing, and Speaking

• Diagnosing Reading Difficulties (Formal and Informal Measures)
• Selecting Appropriate Materials for the College Remedial Reader
• Reading Programs for the Above-Average College Student
• Implications of Current Research in Reading for the College Developmental Skills Specialist
• Teaching Reading and Writing to the Black Dialect Speaker
• Teaching Reading to Students from Different Ethnic Backgrounds
• Adjunct Skills Courses in Social Science

• Math Anxiety Workshops
• Techniques for Teaching Math Study Skills
• Reducing Math Avoidance
• Problem Solving Can Be Taught
• How to Develop Adjunct Skills Courses in Science
• Improving Tutorial Services in Math and Science
• Developing Preparatory Courses for GRE, LSAT, MCAT, and Other Professional Exams

• Study Skills Workshops--Informal Diagnostic Measures,
• Training Peer Study-Skills Aides, Planning Effective Academic-Skills Group Programs
• Bridging the Gap Between High School and College Learning in the Liberal Arts
• Audio-Visual Aids for Improving Basic Skills
• Helping Students Overcome Procrastination
• Implications of Research on Learning Styles for the Developmental Skills Specialist
• Training Faculty to Teach Study Skills to Their Students
• Diagnostic and Placement Techniques
• Teaching College Survival Skills
• Working with Learning-Disabled Students in the Learning Center
• Motivating Students to Use Self-Help Materials
• The Relation Between Language and Thought: Implications for Instruction

What Is the Impact of Institutional Participation?
One of the spinoffs of the institute has been its spawning of new conferences. There has been an explosion of local, regional, and even some national conferences started by alumni of the institute. Attending our program has apparently inspired some directors to replicate their experiences locally in such conferences as Long Island University Brooklyn's The Non-Traditional Student in the College Learning Center (Lester Wilson), and in the Conference for Learning Center Personnel in Post-Secondary Institutions co-sponsored by the University of Wisconsin branches at Eau Claire and Platteville (Rosemary Mueller).

Networks.
People who attend the week-long institute become well acquainted with others who share their interests and roles. Close friendships as well as professional networks are the result. The length of the program provides an atmosphere of total immersion in which participants gain a different perspective on problems and explore the implications of their work with students. 
 
 

Reference 

Bennett, B. "The Training Needs of Learning Center Directors--Results of a Survey." Paper presentedæat the Western College Reading Association Annual Conference, Honolulu, April 10, 1979. 
 

Martha Maxwell is an educational consultant and evaluator who founded and directed learning centers at the Uniuersity of Maryland and the University of Callfornia at Berkeley. She now directs the Annual Institute for Directors and Staff of College Learning Centers. She is the author of Improving Student Skills: A Comprehensive Guide to Successful Practices and Programs for Increasing the Performance of Underprepared Students (Jossey-Bass, 1979).

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