Editor’s note: We would like to thank Lily Saari, Writing Consultant at Oakland University Writing Center, Oakland University, Rochester (Michigan), for providing this piece. To contact the author, please email OUWC. If you would like to share your writing center’s experience during COVID-19, please submit via WLN.

Lily Saari

The outbreak of COVID-19 forced a swift modification to writing center tutoring, which moved services primarily to an online platform in tandem with the transition to remote in-person instruction at higher education institutions. The writing center quickly began serving the role of instructor as well as counselor, tech support and default resource, especially at the beginning of the transition. Many writing tutors were current students themselves and the stress of how to make sense of the rapid changes and unknown circumstances of how their own learning would continue to operate as well as how to live and work safely during a global health crisis had an impact on the effectiveness of their tutoring.

The Oakland University Writing Center in Rochester MI studied the effectiveness of their online writing center services from the perspective of their tutors to understand what challenges they faced while tutoring remotely both academically and emotionally. The purpose of this was to understand the well-being of the tutors and see how the pedagogy of the center changed when in-person instruction temporarily removed. After the consultants input was recorded, the research team surveyed clients who had appointments prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic to understand what affected the client during the transition and how it affected their interactions with their consultant when working remotely rather than in-person.

Of the consultants surveyed, 50% believed their clients would rate the online format at a 7 or 8 out of 10. However the consultants themselves thought the efficiency was a 6 out of 10. Being exposed to multiple online appointments after being used to practicing in-person tutoring, could have created fatigue and frustration to all the complications with the online format that they know could be resolved through an in-person conversation, causing the self-evaluation to be slightly lower.

However, when clients were asked about the efficiency of the online appointment structure, they reported their consultants to be knowledgeable “all of the time” and 60% of participants reported online appointments to be more helpful than a face-to-face appointment. When asked about making any changes to the online format, 40% did not want to make any changes and if there were any changes that could be made, switching to the Google Suite platform for meetings and document sharing was favored by 60%. The consensus was that the consultant and client both wanted to interact as they would in person reiterates the need for writing centers to continue to facilitate conversations that target the client’s specific academic goals in a virtual format. The Oakland University format through WCOnline was effectively achieving this task, but the ability to use tools that further the in-person experience gave the center the opportunity to experiment with new technologies over the summer in preparation for tutoring the fall semester.

After reviewing both sets of data, the research team came to the conclusion that the client and consultant were both seeking to interact with their client as they would in person, decrease the dependence on directive tactics and collaborate visually in real time. The uncertainty of the pandemic has created fear and discomfort, but technology has made educating individuals a possibility at any time and any location. As a graduate consultant at the Oakland University Writing Center, the priority has always been aimed to keep the relationships with clients strong, and the pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to test the effectiveness of the online platform as the primary source of pedagogy for clients and become more flexible in providing constructive feedback While in-person interaction is currently not physically possible, using tools such as screen sharing, video chat and other experience based practices can help recreate the most important aspect of tutoring; a collaborative relationship between the client and consultant.