Summer 2021
News and Updates
Preparing for the transition back to campus, highlights of student feedback, and more updates from 2021!
September means Back to Campus
With many institutions transitioning back to in-person learning in September, providing students with excellent, consistent, and quality support while they navigate another round of changes is crucial. This is why the WriteAway Advisory Committee determined the best course of action is to maintain our pandemic response hours so that WriteAway continues to be a place of stability in this transitional time.
Our focus for the 2021/22 academic year will be to maintain the quality service students have come to rely on. We will continue to strategically allocate tutoring hours to predicted peak periods to efficiently meet student submission increases.

Student feedback has highlighted concerns about delayed response times over the weekends. As consistency in support is integral to our service, WriteAway will look to schedule more tutoring hours Friday through Monday to help stabilize response times throughout the upcoming year.
Student Usage Still Going Strong

Students have been making good use of the WriteAway service during this complicated time of online learning during a pandemic. Submissions continue their steady roll in, keeping our tutors busy during these summer months.

The increased awareness that resulted from the emergency online learning has been sustained as institutions continue to encourage students to make use of WriteAway support for their assignments.
Highlights of the WriteAway Experience
Students share how WriteAway has become an integral part of their writing process, helping build confidence and develop writing skills with each submission…
“I was very stressed and lost because I didn't know what I could improve on my draft. After the tutor provided feedback for my essay, I was able to re-organize what I had researched (and kept most of the resources/quotes) and turn it into an essay with a narrowed down thesis and content.“
Langara College Student 

“I have had an excellent experience with this service and feel my writing will be much stronger as taking the program online and learning everything from manuals has been very difficult." 
Thompson Rivers University Student

“I love WriteAway! Being older and new to college, I could not have done this well without you.” 
North Island College Student

“My experience with WriteAway was really great. I learned a lot of new strategies to help improve my writing.” 
Kwantlen Polytechnic University Student

“Thank you WriteAway for providing this service and thank you to the tutor for providing feedback for my writing. The tutor provided suggestions for my current assignment while also providing online resources that can help me in my future assignments. The tutor was also very considerate while making suggestions. I will definitely recommend the service to my friends and use it again!”
University of British Columbia Student
Comings and Goings at WriteAway
As many of you are aware, in May we gave a heartfelt farewell to our WriteAway Coordinator, Megan Robertson, as she took on her new role as an Educational Developer with the Centre for Educational Excellence at Simon Fraser University. For seven years, Megan provided valuable feedback and support to coordinators, tutors, and countless students as she nurtured WriteAway in its growth from 5 to 19 participating institutions. We know that Megan will continue to make a wonderful impact in her new role and wish her success in her new journey.
In the interim, Tanya Burnstad has stepped in as WriteAway Support to ensure that the day-to-day management of WriteAway remains uninterrupted during this transition period. Tanya has been a WriteAway tutor since 2018 and is currently completing her Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing and Criminology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Tanya is always willing to share her enthusiasm for the written word, especially if coffee is involved. Tanya can be reached at tanyab@bceln.ca or at the WriteAway Admin Centre.
Welcome Northern Lights College!
Northern Lights joined WriteAway in February 2021, bringing our total of participating institutions to 19!

With locations in Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Fort Nelson, Dease Lake, Chetwynd, Atlin, and Tumbler Ridge, the inclusion of Northern Lights College in our consortium allows for more students in Northern BC to access critical writing support.

We welcome their tutors to our team and look forward to working with Northern Lights students!
2020 WriteAway Actions & Achievements Released



WriteAway's annual report provides participating institutions, the larger BC post-secondary community, and the BC Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training an important summary of how WriteAway supports students, offers exponential savings for the post-secondary sector, and enhances learning communities. The 2020 report includes:

  • How WriteAway tutors met increased student demand during the global pandemic.
  • Feedback from students and tutors who found WriteAway to be a steady pillar of support during times of uncertainty.
New Posters Available to Order!
In anticipation of the Fall 2021 return to campus, the WriteAway Communications team has refreshed our promotional material – including social media posts, bookmarks, and posters – to welcome students back to campus with a fresh new look!
WriteAway is a service of the BC Electronic Library Network (BC ELN).
Questions? Contact the WriteAway Administrative Centre.