From the left: Nora Brodtkorb, Ingunn Margrethe Nilsen og Robin Sinclair Barretto. Photo: Mina K. Abrahamsen
Do you want to spend less time on writing guidance?
Tell your students about the Learning Support Centre (Studieverkstedet) at OsloMet. There they can receive writing guidance from other students.
"For my part, it was a bit scary to make contact", says primary school teacher student at OsloMet, Nora Brodtkorb.
She had not heard of the Learning Support Centre until she happened to spot them in the library at Pilestredet 48. She was in the final phase of an assignment and wanted to know how others interpreted what she had written.
Therefore, she booked a drop-in appointment then and there, which lasted 20 minutes. If you book an appointment at student.oslomet.no in advance, you can get a 40-minute tutoring session. The offer is also available in the library at Kjeller.
"The best part of the guidance was getting out of the writing bubble and having someone to talk to", says Nora.
Guidance through conversation
When she started her second year of teacher training, she herself started working as a writing mentor at the Learning Support Centre. Through the training, she learned the dialogic method that the writing mentors use. It consists of asking open-ended questions to the students who come for tutoring, thereby starting a conversation about the text.
The goal is for the conversation to make the students reflect further themselves and thus feel mastery.
"I will be a sparring partner for the students. They often come up with the answers themselves", says Nora.
Guidance in all writing phases
At the Learning Support Centre, students can receive guidance in everything to do with writing, whether they are in the initial phase, in the middle of the writing process or have mostly finished.
Some want to be sure that they are doing as well as they want, some struggle to orientate themselves in the subject matter and create an outline, while others have problems communicating their knowledge in the text.
Benefit with an outside view
Robin Sinclair Barretto is in the second year of a master's in construction and works as a writing mentor. He believes that it can be an advantage to come from a different subject area than the students he supervises.
"If I understand the text you have written, without knowing the subject matter, it is a good indication that you are on the right track", says Robin.
He believes that many students would have benefited from using the scheme. Writing an academic text can be a big leap, especially for those coming straight from upper secondary school or those with Norwegian as a second language. Several people who come for guidance ask if they will be up to the task.
"I can't tell them that. But I feel like I'm taking them under my wing and helping them on their way. It's a good feeling", says Robin.
The writing guide can relieve the teachers
Senior adviser Ingunn Margrethe Nilsen has worked with the writing mentor scheme since 2012. She believes that the scheme is an important supplement to OsloMet's professional offer.
By sending the students to the Learning Support Centre, the teachers can avoid more questions that are not about the subject matter and concentrate more on the teaching.
"As a new student, you don't ask for the Learning Support Centre. That is why it is important that the teachers know about us and refer the students to us", says Ingunn.
