Re: Appointments

[lady brown <YKFLB@TTACS.TTU.EDU>]

The questions:
1)Do your centers insist upon appointments?  Why or why not?

>Sonja,  a few years ago, we decided that we could more
efficiently use our tutoring time and the client's time by going
to appointments.  The onsite writing center is open 40 hours a
week from 9-5 M-F and I have 9 onsite tutors, 2 available for
each 30 minute slot.  I also tutor.  

We take drop-ins but only if we don't have an appointment
scheduled.  Occasionally, a drop-in will wait to see if an
appointment doesn't show up.  We set appointments beginning every
half, so if the appointment hasn't appeared within 5-8 minutes,
we work with the drop-in.  We also keep track of the no-shows. 
If a person doesn't show, that person can't make another
appointment until that time the following week.  Though not
totally effective, this practice has lowered the no-show numbers.  

2)Do you mostly have drop ins, or do you balance the two?

>We now have proportionately more appointments than drop-ins at
the onsite writing center, although at the end of the semester,
we have drop-ins who will wait in hopes of a no-show.  We have
established a satellite writing center in the library which is
open from 7-9 M-TH evenings, and that site is drop-ins only at
this time.

3)And do you hire someone simply to "person" the desk and control
the ebb
and flow of humanity?

>>Yes, we have student assistants to control the traffic.  When
we became the University Writing Center with our own budget, we
began to hire student assistants.  Actually, we have 3 student
assistants right now because of scheduling conflicts.  Prior to
having the student assistants, the tutors would interrupt
tutorials to make answer the phone, greet clients, etc.  A mess!  

4) How do you handle the panicked, the frantic, the upset, the
angry, the
hurried and the harried?
We end up trying to fit people in because they "didn't know" they
needed an
appointment.

>> We smile sweetly and say, "We're so sorry!  Wish we had more
funds to hire more tutors."  And if we finish a tutorial early,
we'll tell the student that we have 10 minutes or so and if the
student thinks that amount of time would be helpful, we'll work
with the student.


5)Will people eventually accept this change?  Is this just a
growing pain
or a mounting problem?

>The students at Tech have accepted the change.  Actually, we saw
a marked increase in appointments the spring semester following
the fall semester when we started the practice.  And remember,
the student body changes, the seniors graduate and new freshmen
enter.  Doesn't take too long for the students to get used to the
change--at least that has been our experience.

6)And if we do change to appointments only, how can we spread the
word most
effectively?

>You might try to get an article in the newspaper.  We also have
bookmarks that tell students they can make appointments--includes
hours, telephone number, etc.  We hand out  these at every
opportunity.   And we also include the information about
appointments/drop-ins in all our presentations to classes.

Good luck,

Lady Falls Brown
Ykflb@ttacs.ttu.edu