The academic buzz around campus is of the new CommLab, also called the Communication Center. Professors in the Literature Communications and Culture(LCC) department, such as Jennifer Parrott, Marion L. Brittain Postdoctoral Fellow, are promoting this newest addition to the Tech’s vast array of facilities.
“Many schools have writing centers,” said Parrott, “and we are excited that Georgia Tech is now offering a dedicated Writing and Communication’s center to its students.”
According to its , the CommLab’s mission is to promote, “excellence in WOVEN communication—written, oral, visual, electronic and nonverbal—in ways that enable members of the Georgia Tech community to have greater success in their academic and workplace careers as well as in their civic and community lives.”
Tech’s new CommLab had its pilot version open on Wed., March 10. The pilot version, temporarily at D.M. Smith room 319, offers services such as multimodal project help for students in English 1101 and 1102, as well as help on resumes and applications. It is available to all undergraduate students at Tech who are willing to take advantage of such a resource.
However, some elements were put in place to help students make the most of this resource.
“We are not simply a proofreading service, and we don’t guarantee A’s” said Parrott, “but the great part is that you get to direct what you want to work on in your essay.”
The CommLab provides tutoring in all the areas of WOVEN communication, such as posters, websites, papers, presentations, resumes, and even graduate school applications. This includes an e-tutoring feature, which students can take advantage of after an initial face-to-face meeting. Students can have one face-to-face meeting and one electronic meeting per assignment, be it oral, visual or written.
The CommLab is a consulting service for planning any complex communication project, whether it is in groups or in teams, and can help students and group members in developing an argument.
Also, the CommLab offers help at any stage of the project, whether it is planning, rewriting, reviewing, or formatting.
When asking for help on a specific assignment, the CommLab asks that students bring a copy of the assignment sheet and the most recent draft of the document or project. This helps both the tutor and the student understand the requirements of the project, and gives both of them a base from which to work off of.
There are also online features. The Facebook page of the CommLab will feature weekly writing tips to help students become better writers.
The Facebook page, along with the LCC page for the CommLab, features updates on operating hours, contact information, instructions to make appointment, and links for help with communication strategies.
In the future, however, the CommLab hopes to offer even more to its students. The CommLab is scheduled for completion in 2011-2012.
The lab will have a permanent house on the fourth floor of the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons (CULC), the new building being built next to the library and is slated to open in the fall of 2011.
In addition to the peer and professional tutoring services at the moment, there will be spaces for studying, discussing and practicing writing and communication skills, as well as more online and hotline resources.