DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

Hi there! My name is Carolyn Rudinsky, and this is my UCWbL ePortfolio.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

To the right you'll see a photo of myself pictured with my manager on the UCWbL Outreach team, Liz Coughlin (for more about my experiences with the Outreach team, visit the Professional Development section of my ePortfolio). I realize that at this point you might be experiencing confusion about several topics: What's an UCWbL? Why am I creating an 

ePortfolio for it? And why, if the title of this ePortfolio is "Carolyn's UCWbLossoming," have I used as the banner a photo of a sea star rather than some pretty frilly flowers? (And yes, I call this variety of echinoderms sea stars rather than starfish, just as the Oceanic Research Group does.) Never fear! All of these questions will be answered.

 

First, a bit about myself. I have a deep affection for NPR, my bike (a Giant brand bicycle named Fezzik after the giant in The Princess Bride), and the great outdoors.

 

However, my true obsession is with words, and more specifically what people do with and to them. It is partly because of my linguaphilia that I was drawn to the UCWbL, the University Center for Writing-based Learning at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. As a Graduate Assistant at the UCWbL, I'm a writing tutor, member of the Outreach team, and a receptionist. All UCWbL writing tutors create an ePortfolio that documents each tutor's experiences, accomplishments, and professional development.

 

That answers the first two questions, but what about the third? Well, as I mentioned, I enjoy venturing into the natural world, and the photo of the sea star at the top of the page is one that I took when exploring tide pools while on vacation on the northern coast of California. As I took that photo, I experienced renewed wonderment at the fantastic properties of sea stars, specifically the fact that sea stars can regenerate their limbs if they become damaged. This regenerative property later struck me as a suitable metaphor for the continual evolution (or "blossoming") of an individual's writing process, something that we strongly encourage at the writing center. But not only is the writing process continually renewed and revised, I hope that the writers I work with—and I myself—are intrinsically altered, if only in a small way, after each tutoring appointment. Thus, as a writing tutor I attempt to promote the advancement of writers' skills and confidence in a way that, if not as obvious as a sea star regrowing a limb, promotes the maturation of their writing processes while stimulating my own growth.

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.