The Writing Center in your classroom

​This service is so important it has its own page! Read more about Writing Fellows here. 

​Teaching online is new to a lot of us. It can be challenging. To help UD faculty who are teaching online and could just use an assistant to help with logistics like taking attendance, monitoring students' questions via chat, and moving folks in and out of breakout rooms, the Writing Center is offering Online Classroom Assistants.

Online Classroom Assistants are the Writing Center's Office Assistants, who usually greet students at the front desk, help with appointment making, and generally keep us running smoothly. Since all writing center operations are online for 2020-21 (which means no front desk), our OAs are available to help you out!

This service is a great option for a professor who is not looking for writing support for students, but who just wants a hand with the logistical complexities of online teaching and learning. An Online Classroom Assistant would be available to you during your class time every week to do things like:

• Take attendance
• Let in latecomers if you use a waiting room
• help students move in and out of breakout rooms
• Keep an eye on the chat feature to relay questions to you while you are lecturing or leading discussion
• Help you troubleshoot anything weird that happens

Depending on our Online Classroom Assistant's availability, you may also be able to negotiate a little help outside of class with monitoring (not evaluating) student participation on Canvas discussion forums. 

If you request an Online Classroom Assistant, please keep in mind that they are not a Writing Fellow, so are not prepared to provide feedback to students on writing. They're great students, but they haven't been trained as writing tutors.

Request an Online Classroom Assistant here. Please make your request by August 14. 

Students are more likely to use the services of the Writing Center or Oral Communication Consultants if they feel more familiar with the service and realize that you think our resources are important for their success in the course. 

Help students to help themselves, and invite a Writing Tutor or an Oral Communication Consultant to visit your online class!

 The University Writing Centers offer brief (~15 minute) introductory classroom visits from our student staff.  During these visits peer tutors will address what to expect from an appointment with a Writing Tutor or Oral Communication Consultant and how to make an appointment with us. They will also answer questions you or your students have about what we do.

You may request a Video Visit from a Writing Tutor or Oral Communication Consultant through our One-Time & Short-Term Services form. If you give us at least 2 weeks notice, we'll have a better chance of scheduling your video visit. 

​In addition to our introductory Video Visits, the Writing Center offers:

Short Term Writing Fellows and Short Term Oral Communication Fellows. A short-term fellow would be attached to your course for 2-4 weeks (depending on your need), providing support like feedback to your students on writing or speaking projects and assistance during peer response. You can read more about full semester and short term fellow on our Writing Fellows page. 

Help with Online Peer Response. The Writing Center can send either Writing Tutors or Oral Communication Consultants to help you facilitate peer response during an online class session. 

Other things? If you imagine another way Writing Tutors or Oral Communication Consultants could help your class during a single class period or for a few weeks, go ahead and pitch it to us! We'll see what we can do.

Request a one-time or short-term service for Fall 2020 here.