Appointments -Reply

[bryand@maplewoods.cc.mo.us]

Dear WCenter Friends:
My center has grown so much that I have questions about a good
thing--too many writers for the number of tutors.

In the past, we have allowed mostly drop-ins, but now we find the need
to encourage appointments.   We have some unhappy procrastinators,
but we manage better when we DO ask people to make appointments by
phone or email or when we must turn them away.

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

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

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

4) Hhow 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.

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

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

I really need your input for this thorny challenge.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Sonja

Sonja S. Bagby
Director, University Writing Center
College of Arts and Sciences
State University of West Georgia
Carrollton, GA 30118 sbagby@westga.edu
770-830-2258


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Sonja,

Last year our WC went to an appointment-only schedule.  Our reasons
were similar to yours:  we had too many students for the tutors and
tutors were becoming stressed by trying to cover several students at a
time.  We also saw the procrastinating student as a problem for us.  Too
many people were coming to us at the last minute asking for us to edit or
proofread papers.  This is strikingly counter to the kind of help we want
to provide in the WC.

Appointments have worked well for us.  We have a large dry-erase
board on which students can sign their names (or they can call and we
will sign them up).  Students can then drop in and, if there is no one
signed up for that time, they can fill that space.  If there is an
appointment, then they have to sign up for the first available time.  This
means that it's technically possible to drop in and still get help, but it's not
guaranteed.  Also, we do not require appointments for students to use
the computers individually, so students who drop in can still get some
work done even if there is no opening for a tutor at that time.

It took about a semester for students to get used to this, but we get very
few complaints now.  We also have sent the message to students that
the WC can't solve a procrastination problem.  In general, I think the
appointment solution has worked for us.

Hope this helps,
Daphne