New Media Matters: Tutoring in the Late Age of Print

Abstract

This article has been about reconsidering how writing center directors train tutors to read and respond to texts. The subject here has been new media texts. The author has asked directors to reconsider how they tutor and how they talk to students about their writing. The impetus for these evolved practices is the arrival of increasing numbers of new media texts assigned in university classes. As new media texts consciously and purposefully employ multiple modes to make meaning, they require tutors to direct their attention to texts differently. Current practices won't suffice, as they limit them to the alphabetic text. Thus, the author believes it is imperative to train all tutors in these evolved practices because they will change the ways they respond to all texts, considering more than they have before, perhaps in significant ways. (Contains 1 figure and 4 notes.)