The Department of Higher Education hosted the first higher education Writing Group this summer from June to August in Guyton Hall.
The Writing Group was designed to give students an opportunity to work on writing projects, receive feedback from peers, and write in the company of fellow higher education students and faculty.
What are the benefits of a writing group? UM Higher Education PhD student, Jocelyn Tipton discusses the ease of writing in a group and shares her accomplishments, interactions with faculty, and encourages other students to take part in the writing process.
Q. What did you find most beneficial in writing in a group (i.e., scheduling, accountability, feedback, relationship building, etc.)?
A. I find writing in a group motivational. When others are sitting near me, all doing some type of writing, it helps me to stay focused. It offers a sense of camaraderie with others who have similar interests and goals. I appreciated the regular schedule that I could put on my calendar and know I had a dedicated, and fixed, amount of time to focus on writing, without being distracted by other obligations. In the past, I had tried to get together with other students to do our own writing group, but something always seemed to get in the way. Either our schedules wouldn’t match up or we had to find a location where we could meet. With this writing group those obstacles were eliminated.
Q. What did you enjoy most about the summer writing group?
A. I enjoyed meeting other students in the Higher Education program. Since I’m finished with coursework it is easy to feel disconnected. Through this group I met students that started the program after me and we were able to share our experiences and learn from each other. At the dissertation stage, you have to find ways to stay on track and keep pushing yourself to finish. This group helped me remember that I’m not alone in this process. Knowing that we would be meeting every week helped me to divide up the work that I had to do and not feel overwhelmed by any one thing.
Q. How did you interact with faculty during your writing sessions?
A. Faculty would periodically stop by and ask what we were working on. They also offered their help if we had any questions. It was nice knowing that I could stop by their office with a quick question and then go right back to writing.
Q. What were you able to accomplish this summer in the writing group (i.e. complete a chapter, or project)?
A. I defended my dissertation proposal at the end of the spring semester, so this summer I worked on a number of small tasks. I incorporated the changes that my committee suggested, revised my survey instrument, wrote and submitted my IRB application, created a mailing list for my survey, and worked with SPSS so it will be ready to handle the data I’ll be collecting. Each week I was able to check off another item from my to do list.
Q. Would you encourage others to participate in the writing group in the future? Please explain.
A. Absolutely. The writing group is a great way to meet other students and dedicate time to writing and research. I think the term writing in the name writing group can be misleading. Even if you don’t have something to write, the time can be used for any part of the writing process – finding and reading articles, analyzing data, formatting a document, or even just thinking about your topic. It is a great use of time and I’m sure you’ll feel like you accomplished something at the end of each session.
By Veronica Crawford
