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New York State Writer's Institute

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Online Tutorials

The University at Albany Writing Center is proud to offer online tutorials for the 2002-03 academic school year via WebCT.

login to WebCT
jump to instructions for online tutorials

Why AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)?
AIM, unlike WebCT, is a real time internet communication client.  That basically means you can chat with another person online with as much speed as you can type something and press enter.  It works like a mini chatroom.  This makes AOL an excellent medium to address quick/specific questions.  For instance, you might have be unsure whether to use a semicolon, colon or period.  OR you might want a little more information about what, exactly, the Writing Center does.  You can catch us via AIM as an alternative to tying up a phone line.  The downside to AIM (and the reason for WebCT) is that an AIM tutor cannot guarantee the ability to read through and analyze your whole paper...or even a large part of it.  Part of this is the nature of the 'instant message medium,' but another constraint is that the AIM tutor is often engaged in multiple instant message conversations at once.  It would be a disservice to everyone involved for one tutor to attempt to administer more than one full tutorial at a time (in other words, concentrate on reading one person's entire draft of a paper).  Obviously, there are no set limits to how much an AIM tutor will be able/willing to work with a writer.  However, as a general rule, the AIM service is geared toward 'light' tutorials.

Why WebCT?
WebCT provides instructors & students with an organized, controlled and secure environment for interactive higher education via the internet. WebCT has many useful features which standardize the transfer of files/writing between student and tutor/instructor. Additionally, many students and instructors are familiar with its basic uses because they have already used it in their own courses.  Unlike AIM, the WebCT tutorials are designed to accommodate 'full tutorials.'  That is to say, if you have 5-10 pages of text, it will be carefully analyzed by a tutor just as it would be in a face-to-face tutorial.  The downside to this method of tutorial is that it requires the full attention of the tutor (unlike AIM), and the turnaround for a WebCT tutorial is substantially longer than an AIM tutorial (WebCT tutorials/responses can only be guaranteed within one business day).

Can I receive the same service online that I receive in person?
No, not exactly. An online tutorial cannot, by its very nature, be equivalent to a live, in person tutorial at the Writing Center. One very important way that online tutorials differ from "real life" tutorials is the content that we address. In person, a tutor will be more than happy to correct a spelling mistake or grammatical error in your paper, especially if it is a recurring issue. Then s/he would go over the grammatical rules governing your error. Online, we will not "fix" anything. Truthfully, we won't "fix" anything in person, either. When we do "fix" a grammatical error, it is used as a teaching tool. We'll fix it the first time. If you make a similar error later in the paper, we'll alert you to the fact that there's an error there and tell you that it's a similar mistake to a previous error, but we will not fix it for you. Unfortunately, we are not able to go over the paper with you when you submit it online, so this method of instruction simply isn't as effective online as it would be in person.

If your particular writing weakness is grammatical or language-based (your grasp of the English language is not strong), then you might want to try scheduling a face-to-face tutorial where the tutor will be able to use more modes of communication than simply written words to covey a message.  All of that sounds kind of silly, but it's just a fact that the dynamics involved in face-to-face tutorials differ from those in online tutorials.  Give it a try and see if it's write for you! ;-)

Benefits to online tutorials:

  • you don't have to get out of your pajamas

  • the tutor who reads your paper will be able to read it far more carefully and be able to provide more thought out feedback than s/he could ever do in a "live" tutorial because there is far less pressure to "say something" while you sit there doing nothing.

  • it requires you to plan ahead. if you are going to use the online service, then you have to obtain a WebCT login/password in advance

  • the same piece of writing may be analyzed by multiple tutors if you'd like, giving you multiple perspectives on your writing

  • did we mention not having to change out of your pajamas?

 

Directions for using the online tutoring service:

Because WebCT is a secure environment, it requires a login (also called username or ID) and password to gain access. The Writing Center has a select number of "floating" or "guest" logins that it will temporarily assign student writers who wish to use this service and who don't already have a WebCT ID. The guest logins are good for two weeks. If you find that you are using this service often, then we can create a permanent/semester-long account for you.

step-by-step instructions:

  1. Contact the Writing Center to obtain a guest login/password or to request that we add your existing WebCT ID to our class list for WebCT. E-mail is best, but if you're in a hurry, give us a call at 442-4061. We will try to schedule staff members familiar with how to operate our online tutorial system whenever possible; however, there is no guarantee that a tutor familiar with the process will be available to speak with you when you call to set up your WebCT account. For that reason, e-mail is the preferred method of communication for scheduling online tutorials. The e-mail is checked at least twice daily by staff members trained in the online tutorial process (once in the morning and once in the afternoon).  It's also possible that an AIM tutor can setup a login/password for you in WebCT.  But again, using AIM for this is similar to using the phone: the tutor may or may not be able to do this for you.

  2. After you've logged into the Writing Center's WebCT page, you will find a link with explicit instructions on how to submit a paper/file using the threaded Discussion board.  For those of you who've used WebCT before, it's very simple.  You just post your paper to the discussion board as an attachment (please be sure to tell us about the assignment and/or what you want help/feedback on).