Hiram College’s Writing Center

At first glance, Hiram’s webpage for their Writing Center was inviting, and clearly stated the college’s commitment to writing: “At Hiram, we take writing seriously.  Almost every course incorporates it.  The Writing Center exists to support the school’s comprehensive commitment to it.”  I like that opening series of statements.  I think it exemplifies their academic commitment, and adds credibility to their Writing Center.  In all honesty, I prefer the layout of their website as opposed to ours in terms of first impression.  It may be the color scheme, or the condensed list of related websites to the left that caught my attention, but needless-to-say, they don’t have a cool Writing Center movie!

            As my search progressed, I learned that Hiram has 25 advisors that can assist students at any part of the writing process.  I liked how we share the same philosophy that writing is a process, and that advisors are there to assist students at any stage in their writing.  It seems as though our strategies are very similar, and that we uphold similar ideals. 

Furthermore, I learned that their center is open during afternoon and evening hours throughout the week.  Their schedule is resembles ours in that they are open Monday through Friday, and Sunday.  However, Hiram’s Writing Center has restricted availability during those days.  Their day begins at 2:00p.m. and concludes at 10 p.m.  I find these times to be a bit challenging to work around, and therefore appreciate the flexibility of Wittenberg’s Writing Center.

When scheduling an appointment, it would seem as though this would be a simple process.  There is a link to the left of the screen titled, “scheduling an appointment.”  I clicked on the link and was immediately confused.  In general, the site was not as straightforward and sophisticated as our scheduling system. The scheduling page is a Word document that just lists time slots and who works at those specific times.  Also, there was no way (to my knowledge) to reserve a spot.  I’m not sure if Hiram’s Writing Center is open entirely for walk-ins, or if there is some other way to schedule. 

Moreover, it seems a though Hiram College is comfortable giving away some personal information of the advisors.  I understand that our site lists the names and majors of our advisors, but contact information is not recommended and/or allowed.  At Hiram, there is a Word document that lists the first and last names of the advisors, their email, cell phone numbers, and majors.  I think the majority of this information is harmless material to publicly display, but I do not agree with giving away phone numbers.     

All in all, Hiram’s Writing Center seems comparable to our Writing Center at Wittenberg.  However, I don’t find their scheduling process to be as sophisticated as ours, and I am uneasy about their decision to list personal information.  I know I’m biased, but from the websites alone, our Writing Center looks better. J I would definitely be interested in seeing how Hiram’s center looks, and how they go about scheduling and advising.