Re: Appointments

[Laurie_Neighbors@monterey.edu (Laurie Neighbors)]

Hello....

Here are my responses, from the writing arm of the Academic Skills
Achievement Program at California State University Monterey Bay:

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

Yes, we have a three-tiered system, with course-attached study groups
taking the highest priority and drop-in hours taking the lowest
priority. Appointment tutoring inhabits the middle tier. We find that
appointment sessions are far more effective for students. In general,
we see students using appointments to work on multiple drafts of a
given paper, while drop-ins have a tendency to be frantic, last-minute
affairs.


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

At the beginning of the semester, we offer drop-in sessions only for
the first two weeks, during which time we are making presentations to
classes regarding our study groups. By the end of the second week of
classes, study groups are scheduled. I then cover every hour we are
open with a tutor who will take appointments. I try to also cover every
hour with a tutor who is available for drop-ins, but there are
generally three or four hours a week during which drop-in tutoring
isn't available. Drop-in tutors also serve to cover study group tutors
and appointment tutors who may be out, in which case no drop-in is
available.

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

We have a project assistant (a full-time person) at the front desk. She
is flanked for most of her day by a student clerical assistant (we have
two or three). Tutors who are "on" but have no tutee (on duty with no
tutee, in other words) do her bidding. 

>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.

Our front desk people are well-versed in this area. Of course, there
are always going to be frantic students coming in, but we get fewer and
fewer of this type as word spreads. Our program is very small and very
new (and very impacted). Competition is stiff--and students know this.
So, they get scheduled in groups and set up appointments early.

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

Yes, from my experience. But, it's different for us. We've only been
open for a year or so. We aren't having to reprogram the student
population.

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

Ummmm....Anytime we need to spread the word, we use tutor presentations
in target classes. 

>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