In general, ASC consultations are on the hour every hour. Fifty minutes will be devoted to the consultation and 10 minutes will be reserved for the center's business (e.g., filling out forms, etc.). Please try to remain on schedule since record keeping is an essential part of the Center's duties.
Writing Consultants
Consultants may not spend all 50 minutes working with you. They may, for example, divide the time up by working with you for 20 minutes, having you may work individually for 20 minutes, and at the end of the session, after examining what you did, they provide feedback, suggestions, and more.
Writing is an ongoing process and most assignments require more than one visit to the ASC. In other words, it is not possible to "fix" the writing for one specific paper within a 50-minute session; rather, you can only begin the process of improving in that first 50-minute consultation. Writing, much like sports or music, can only be improved though training and constant practice.
When you come to the ASC for help with a communication activity/assignment, bring:
- Notepad, pen, or pencil.
- A draft of the activity/assignment (or notes and ideas toward a draft)
- Your instructor's assignment sheet
- Questions or concerns about the activity
- A CD or pocket drive to store your file
Your Resource Consultant will:
- Explain the nature of the tutoring session
- Familiarize herself/himself with your assignment/activity
- Listen to your concerns about the activity
- Go over a draft with you
- Offer suggestions, answer questions, and work on exercises to better help you with your writing
- Sometimes ask you to engage in a writing activity, designed to improve your writing ability, which may be unrelated to your current assignment
Your Resource Consultant will not:
- Evaluate your assignment
- Do your assignment for you
- Write suggested changes on your paper for you
- "Rip your draft apart"
- Act solely as a proofreader
- Engage in negative dialogue, such as about the assignment, its grade, or the course instructor
Speaking Consultants
Speaking Consultants work with students who come to the Speaking Center seeking help with their speech communication assignments. Consultants are trained to guide students preparing either group or individual presentations; consultants are also trained to assist groups who are working together improve their communication dynamics. Consultants may help students plan successful presentations; frequently, they will videotape presentations and group sessions, view those videotapes with students, and discuss what the types and other diagnostic instruments show. Consultants work with students from any major, and with experienced as well as novice speakers. Their goals are to:
- Make students aware of their strengths and weakness as oral communicators
- Make students more comfortable speaking and working in groups
- Help students improve the quality of their future presentations and group work
Responsibilities
Speaking Center consultants are expected to devote four to five hours per week to Speaking Center service. They spend an additional hour per week in a Speaking Center training session/staff meeting. During the fall semester, they participate in a full-day of HAC training, probably on a Saturday. During the two weeks following that full-day training, they will devote their usual work hours to acquiring skills specific to speech communication.