Purpose 

You have been invited to participate in one or more of three writing events in the “Build a robust writing habit” series sponsored by the Graduate Division and the Office of Research at UCSB in collaboration with the Trauma-Informed Pedagogy (TIP) research team in the English department. The purpose of these events is to help you develop and explore habits and practices that will benefit your academic writing and to generate insight into the mechanisms and efficacy of trauma-informed methods. The information you provide will be used 1) to tailor this event to your priorities, 2) to enhance future writing events, and 3) to build resources and improve methods for trauma-informed pedagogy at UCSB.

Procedure 

In this initiative, three writing events are being offered to UCSB graduate students. You can choose whether or not to participate in these events. Once you have booked a place, we ask you to commit to attending in full or to cancel in good time so that someone else can make use of your place. Taking part in these events is conditional on taking part in the data-gathering aspect of the events. This means that if you choose to book a place on one or more of these events, you will be asked to complete one questionnaire online after signing up for the event, followed by a second on paper at the start of the event and a third on paper at the end of the event. Please note that there are no right or wrong answers to the questions we will ask; we want to gather information about your experiences, attitudes, and needs. We anticipate that each of the questionnaires will take you less than 15 minutes to complete.

Benefits and Risks 

Your participation may benefit you and other students and researchers by providing more information on how UCSB can approach both trauma and writing support within the university. However, no risks are anticipated beyond those experienced during other academic writing support events and courses. These events are independent from any other instruction you may be receiving. Your participation will not affect any of your grades, and faculty and TAs (including those on the TIP team) will not be privy to details about who has taken part. 

Your data 
Your responses will be captured and stored anonymously and treated confidentially. The information you provide will be accessible only to the event facilitators and organizers and the TIP project team, including Dr Robert Hamm, Dr Emily Troscianko, Professor Sowon Park, Professor Julie Carlson, and Ms Aili Pettersson Peeker. These individuals will view and analyse the information you provide for the purposes of enhancing writing support provision for UCSB graduate students and learning about teaching and learning methods relevant to trauma and academic writing at UCSB. The TIP project team may use aggregate statistics from and summaries of the information provided by you and other participants in these events, without verbatim quotes or other individual details, in guidance on trauma-informed teaching and learning methods for students and instructors at UCSB.

Contact 

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this study, please contact: 

Emily Troscianko, emilytroscianko@ucsb.edu, 2523 South Hall, UCSB