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:

On Zoom:

• Take attendance
• Let in latecomers if you use a waiting room
• help you communicate with students in breakout rooms
• Keep an eye on the chat feature to relay questions to you while you are lecturing or leading discussion
• Help you troubleshoot if any problems arise
  

On Canvas:

• Check for discussion participation (but not evaluate the quality of responses)
  
• Help you with Canvas logistics and give you feedback on the usability of your Canvas materials
  

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.

We are unable to place more OCAs for the spring 2021 semester. Check back here for updates on what we will be able to offer for summer and fall 2021 semesters. 

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. ​

This is an 8 minute narrated PowerPoint Presentation that introduces students to the idea of a writing center, what services we offer, and how to make an appointment. Feel free to use it in your classes.

UD Writing Center Intro presentation recorded.pptx

Additionally, this tutorial video provides a brief, 4 minute overview of the services of the Oral Communication Consultants and how to make an appointment. The video can be embedded into your Canvas course or shared as a link. 

If you share these videos with your students and they or you have follow up questions, you may email Director Jennifer Follett (jfollett@udel.edu) for questions about writing tutoring or  Associate Director Chris Volker (chvolker@udel.edu) for questions about oral communication consulting. We would be happy to write a response for you to share with your students.

​The Writing Center also 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.