Rowman & Littlefield Guide to Learning Center Administration - (Theory & Practice for Peer Tutors & Learning Center Professionals) (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The Rowman & Littlefield Guide to Learning Center Administration is a thorough, concise resource for leaders of higher education peer tutoring programs, encompassing both theoretical and practical aspects of providing peer tutors with the conditions to succeed. The Guide supports learning center administrators in articulating the value of the programs they oversee, and delivering impactful, effective services for the campuses they serve.

Review Quotes

Though a few competing texts are on the market, Sanford and Steiner's guide is likely to be the go-to source for professionals new to the field or who need a foundation of published scholarship because of its brevity, clarity, and accessibility.

"The Rowman & Littlefield Guide to Learning Center Administration is a helpful text for learning center administrators, tutors who want a more in-depth look into how learning centers generally work, and other higher education administrators that want to help support their learning centers. [...] The simple synthesis of learning center topics and the combination of research and practice are boons for learning center directors who desire to improve their own area in order to aid their student body as a whole. The book's chapter topics, research discussions, and reflection questions create a foundation for important conversations on how administrators can improve their learning centers to positively impact the students that walk through their doors."

Another strength of this work is the way the authors blend research and practice. Inside each chapter, the authors do not simply write about learning center practices; instead, they bring together research and then describe how it applies to learning center practice and administration. [...] The way the authors blend research and practice allows readers to both digest what otherwise might be confusing and inaccessible articles and figure out how to apply it in their own learning center.

Authors Sanford and Steiner have made an important claim--that learning centers can be the very heart of the work of a postsecondary institution. In order to create centers of excellence and foster a culture of learning, tutoring program administrators must assess everything, from crafting mission statements to reporting outcomes. All learning assistance professionals can find guidance and inspiration in this book.

The Rowman & Littlefield Guide to Learning Center Administration: Leading Peer Tutoring Programs in Higher Education is a helpful text for learning center administrators, tutors who want a more in-depth look into how learning centers generally work, and other higher education administrators that want to help support their learning centers. The book's chapter topics, research discussions, and reflection questions create a foundation for important conversations on how administrators can improve their learning centers to positively impact the students that walk through their doors.

About the Author

Daniel R. Sanford, PhD, is the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Boise State University. Previous to this, he was the director of Writing and the Academic Resource Commons at Bates College, and director of the Center for Academic Program Support at the University of New Mexico. He is an experienced higher education administrator and a recognized scholar and professional in the field of peer-led learning. He is also a cognitive scientist, the author of numerous articles in the field of cognitive linguistics, and an educator with a wealth of experience making the mechanisms of the brain accessible and intuitive to college-age students.

Michelle Steiner, PhD, is Assistant Vice President for Student Success at Marymount University. An experienced professional in the fields of academic advising and learning center administration, she has previously directed undergraduate academic advising in the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences at George Washington University, and peer tutoring at the Center for Academic Program Support (CAPS) at the University of New Mexico. Under her directorship, the National College Learning Center Association awarded CAPS the annual Frank L. Christ Outstanding Learning Center Award in 2012 for the best undergraduate learning center at a four-year college. Dr. Steiner is a psy- chologist and an active scholar in the field of learning center administration.