Reflecting on readings

So, I'm going to be honest, I lost track of Bruffee and Lunsford a little bit. I am pretty confident that I still walked away with a grasp of their main points, but I had trouble focusing in on exactly how their points were relevant to me and the Writing Center. Unless I'm totally in another world, their main points were about collaborative learning and how essential it is in today's collegiate world. I totally agree... I can think of few better ways to learn than bouncing ideas off peers and hearing their interpretations on a topic. Often, if there's a concept in a class that I just can't seem to grasp, the problem is often solved by discussing it with my peers, and hearing a fresh take on it other than the professor's. Also, I know the articles were a bit outdated, and I think that today, my overall educational experience is evidence that collaborative learning is increasingly playing quite a role in education. I can think of more classes that HAVE attempted to utilize collaborative learning than classes that haven't. But this could also be a result of the types of courses that I'm taking.

So I guess this is one of the points that got a bit fuzzy for me... I think of collaborative learning as working with peers, or really working with anybody, to combine your ideas in a way that enables everyone involved to learn and benefit from the group work. Is collaborative learning something more, or different, according to Bruffee and/or Lunsford? I'm not sure... The other point that got fuzzy, that I thought Lunsford would clear up but didn't entirely, is how does this relate directly to the Writing Center? Obviously collaborative learning is what the Center is all about, but I didn't really get what Lunsford was saying, specifically... she introduced the idea of a power dynamic, but I didn't feel like that issue was ever resolved. Is there a power dynamic in the ideal center, or is it essential that everyone is on equal footing, and is that even possible? I'll wrap up here... sorry about the rambling, and I hope I haven't made myself sound oblivious by missing some really obvious point.