Ideally, students visit the Writing & Speaking Center of their own volition. This personal investment helps ensure the productivity of writing tutorials. We are happy to accommodate professors who wish to require Writing & Speaking Center visits for an entire class, but we ask that you consider the following suggestions when framing your requirement in order to help students retain some level of personal investment in this process.
If you are considering required tutorials for a particular assignment:
Notify and Prepare Us
If you are planning to require a class to visit the Center, please fill out and submit the Required Tutorials Request Form. At this time, the Center only accommodates whole-class required tutorials; we cannot accommodate requirements for individual students.
Prepare Your Students
- Discuss your expectations with your students in detail. Let them know how to prepare for the tutorial and what you expect them to get out of it. Do they need to bring a whole draft or just an outline? Can they come just to brainstorm ideas? Do they need to formulate questions for the tutors in advance?
- Stress to students the necessity of making tutorials in advance of the due date. Our usage varies, and the schedule sometimes fills suddenly and unexpectedly. This is especially true when an entire class is trying to visit the Center at the last minute. Additionally, students who make last minute appointments are often less able to adequately incorporate suggestions.
Structure the Requirement
Consider having students complete some assignment based on the tutorial itself. This could be a reflection activity, suggestions for how to improve the requirement in the future, notes they take during the tutorial, etc. These kinds of assignments help students engage with the tutorial process as a learning experience.
Allow Plenty of Time
Give students as much time as possible to arrange visits, and keep in mind that time is relative. For example, if you allow students two calendar weeks to complete tutorials, the Writing Center will only be open 10 out of those 14 days. Some of those 10 days may already be full at the time you announce your requirement, and some of the scheduled hours may conflict with your class time. Our usage varies, so please feel free to e-mail Ben Click to get an idea of current availability.