Online TutoringIdeas and Solutions

Anna Clark

Beth Walker

The University of

Tennessee

at Martin

A Guided DiscussionforTennessee Writing Center Collaborative Directors’ Day

Saturday, October 5, 2013

SkyHawksRule!

About

UTM

About

Our Center

A Busy Center

Need for Online Tutoring

4 Satellite

Campuses

“Centers”

400 unique

online courses

13 unique onlineEnglish coursesin last 5 years

Beginning

Writing

Center

services

@ Selmer

Asynchronous TutoringWith a nod

to

McGraw-Hill’s

“Connect”

software

Started in2003

owl@utm.edu

Designated response time

No submission

form

Over 200 responseslogged in notebook

Our Online Writing Lab (OWL)

OWL Policies

For UTM students

not public

Mostly for quick questions

not entire papers

24-hour turnaround N/A

nights

or weekends

Goals and expansiongoverned by Mission statement & 5-

year planning documents

Example of ResponseHi Briana, you may quote 1-3 lines of poetry by working them into your paragraph. Use the slash to show the line breaks, like this:

Reflecting on the "incident" in Baltimore, Cullen concludes, "Of all the things that happened there / That's all that I remember" (11-12).

In the example sentence above, a single word from the poem is placed in quote marks ("incident") as well as two full lines of text separated with a slash. The numbers refer to the actual line numbers, not page numbers. The attribution (Cullen) is also worked into the sentence with a strong present tense verb (concludes) to introduce the quoted lines. This is the preferred method, for it is very readable and graceful.

If you choose to quote more than three lines, you must separate them from your paragraph. Reproduce the line breaks and unusual indenting or spacing as much as possible. Don't use the slash or quote marks. Here is an example:

Elizabeth Bishop's "In the Waiting Room" is rich in evocative detail:

It was winter. It got dark early. The waiting room was full of grown-up people, artists and overcoats, lamps and magazine. (6-10)

As I said, try to reproduce what you see in the original poem's layout as much as possible, but there are logical exceptions. You will double space unless the instructor tells you not to or unless unusual spacing is part of the poem's meaning. Usually you indent the lines one inch, but you may have to play around with that, too. (Some instructors prefer you to indent closer to the center of the page, but not to center every line). Notice that a full sentence sets up the quote with attribution (Bishop's name and title of poem) and features some key word or phase (evocative detail) to signal what is so special about the quote. Once you finish quoting, go back to your regular format and comment upon the quote.

In general, the more lines you quote, the more you should discuss the passage in detail. No quote is self-evident; you must comment upon or explain the significance or relevance of the quote. Some instructors do not like long quotes because they look as if you are simply padding the paper. It takes more skill to work a line or two into the grammar of your own sentence and paragraph than it is to set off  a longer passage as a big block.

I got these examples from the latest MLA style manual, page 95. Any good grammar book with a chapter on literary analysis or MLA style will show you some examples.

Hope that helps,

Synchronous Tutoring

Beta-TestedBreezeLive

(Adobe Connect Pro)

online conferencing/ meeting room

Distance Learning Classroom

with audio/video

Google Docswith comment / share features

Microsoft Word

commentfeature

Our Distance Learning ClassroomFeaturing Document Reader, Video and Audio

Goldilocks?

BreezeLive

=

“Too Hard”

Distance Classroom=

“Too Easy”

Docs=

“Just Right” …but needed

face / voice

to replicate

center visit

Other Options?

FreeChat-Based audio/video

tech

Skype

SmartBoard / Whiteboard Tech

Microsoft LinkGoToMeeting

Proprietary TechSmarthinkingAskOnlineAIM Pro

Automated

Grammar

Checker

SentenceWorks

Open Source Tech

Moodle

Ask Online

Tailored tutoring uses Skype, attachment feature, color-coded comments

Moodle

Open Source Course Management software like Blackboard

AIM Pro

Audio/video conferencing calls w/instant messaging

& desktop sharing

Smarthinking

Provides tutors,

response form,

live option

GoToMeeting

Video conferencing

More Info?

SentenceWorks

now Grammarly.com

Which One?

Christine Rosalia concludes,

“…it is not so important which technology or bundle of technologies the peer advisors use, but rather, that peer advisors are active participants in the initial and the continued choosing of technological solutions” (26-27).

Rosalia, Christine. “So You Want to Start a Peer Online Writing Center?” Studies in Self-Access Learning Journal 4.1 (2013): 17-42.

Policies On…?Investing

money & time in software, equipment,

& training?

Scheduling appointments?

Handling non-

students?

Accepting submissions?

Forms? Handling length, high volume classes, graduate students, group

papers, exams, specific

skills?

Documenting

sessions?

Privacy?

Google Hangouts

It’s FREE!in Google Drive

Requires appointment &

some computer savvy

Allows webcam & audio

Has screen-share

…except

Smartphone

or iPad

Hang Out With UsLet’s Call Emily!

Electronic DocumentationGoogle Form submitted through the iPad or URL

Let’s Move

to the

iPad

Our Paper RecordWriting Center Visit Record

Please sign in and out at the door, too. Student’s Full Name (Print clearly.)_________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Course _________________ Instructor____________ Date_______________________________________

Section number __________ Arrival Time__________ Check-out Time______________________________ 

Optional: Total Time in Center_________________

Reason for Visit ____Participated in Writing Workshop (Describe Topic):  ____Worked on English or Writing Activity/Assignment (Describe): _____________Used Computer    Tutoring with Staff (Describe): Tutoring: _______________ minutes    Writing Center Staff Signature_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Wanna” Hang Out?

aclark@utm.edubwalker@utm.edu

owl@utm.edu

Questions? Comments?