Director of the Learning Commons Jeffrey Champlin presents on student-led workshops at the Conference on College Composition and Communication

Bard College Berlin Learning Commons Director Dr. Jeffrey Champlin recently participated in a panel titled “Borderless Community: International Writing Center Directors in Conversation” along with other members of the GHEA21 Writing Center Working Group. The panel was held at the 2026 Conference on College Composition and Communication, which took place in Cleveland and hybrid online from March 4-7.

In his talk “Student-Led Workshops as Borderless Conversation,” Champlin shared recent successes of Learning Commons student writing and subject tutors in creating and leading their own workshops. He particularly emphasized that tutors took initiative to respond to student needs that they identified. For example, one workshop addressed strategies for written tests, which a number of faculty had implemented recently. Another taught practical aspects of a statistics program needed for an Economics class.

Champlin described these student-led tutoring workshops as expanding support for students with what Phillip Jackson calls the “hidden curriculum.” In the case of Bard College Berlin, peer tutoring at both the individual and group level can not only help improve key writing and subject skills, but also help make important academic expectations explicit for students attending BCB from a wide range of varying cultural and academic backgrounds.

Bard College Berlin offers peer-led tutoring through the Learning Commons in writing, German, math, economics, and statistics, as well as academic support for all students in the form of individual writing and academic-skill consultations, workshops, and group study spaces.

Post Date: 03-24-2026