Consulting in cyberspace: adventures with online consulting programs.

Mohrbacher, Carol

Like many other writing centers, our writing center is struggling with space needs. At the same time, we feel we are not reaching certain populations, like those registered for distance education courses, physically challenged students, and those who could benefit from our collaboration, but for one reason or another do not take advantage of our services. These are the reasons we decided to go online.

In spring semester of 2006, our writing center began a trial of online consulting for one online composition class on a Desire2Learn (D2L) platform. D2L offers a drop box for paper submission online and a chat room for synchronous communication, a feature. Synchronicity was not an option we wanted to sacrifice as we expanded online. Although tutors liked this program, each experienced a tendency toward directiveness, as they inserted corrective marks and comments within the texts. Students rejected our invitations to contact us synchronously via the chat room, so immediate conversation about such issues as intent, meaning, and assignment criteria was absent from consultations. In other words, the early part of our trial was entirely asynchronous. Students and tutors expressed satisfaction with the service, but tutors complained about the inability to question students as they read the paper.

In fall semester, we broadened our trial to include fifteen online courses on a freeware course tool platform called Nicenet (http://nicenet.org/). We supplemented Nicenet with Yahoo Instant Messaging (IM) to add a synchronous component. Like D2L, Nicenet can be effectively used as a course management tool, but too many links and unintuitive navigation paths initially confused students and tutors. Moreover, only two students made use of the IM, so this leg of the trial was mostly asynchronous. Again, the students who used the service were satisfied with the feedback they received, and tutors once again, complained about the lack of synchronicity.

Since student, tutor, and instructor feedback was mostly positive during our limited trial, we decided to open online consulting to the entire university community in November of 2006. However, the trial taught us that we needed an integrated synchronous platform to facilitate dialogic exchange and intuitive navigational cues so that our audience of wide-ranging technical skills could easily access the online service. We had begun using The RiCH Company's online scheduler in February 2006 and found WCOnline easy to use for both students and tutors, so when the company offered an online consultation module that would piggyback on the scheduler, I was delighted and ordered the trial version, which can be found at http://www.therichco.com/wconline/signup.html. The scheduler costs $60 per month or $660 per year. The online consultant module adds another $20 per month or $200 per year.

Subscription costs include round-the-clock technical service and the promise to tailor both programs to order. Thus far, The RiCH Company has been very quick to change the program as needed per our suggestions and they have never turned down a suggestion. We have asked them to make textual changes, color and font changes, and changes in the ways that the online scheduler and the consultation module operate. Most technical adjustments take less than two days.

HOW IT WORKS

At present, our clients make an appointment by accessing our online scheduler, selecting a time block, then filling out a short form that allows them to designate the length of the appointment and to describe what they want work on. To make an online appointment, clients check a box next to a statement saying, "I would like an online consultation." Instructions for accessing the online consultation screen are provided on the appointment form.

When the appointment time arrives, the client and tutor access the online screen via a link that says either "Meet consultant online" or "Meet student online." The online screen is split in two. On the left side is a text box in which the student copies and pastes the text. Either the student or the tutor may edit that text. On the right is a "chat" space in which the tutor and student begin by greeting each other and setting an agenda for the consultation. Both the text and the online chat dialogue may be sent to any e-mail address by either the student or the tutor.

TRAINING

The Assistant Director and I have assembled and continue to assemble training material, including instruction for using the online consultant, ethical guidelines, and approaches for facilitating effective consultations. Using these materials, each tutor goes through a short training session, focusing mostly on how to use the program, but also how to establish common ground and remain approachable. We observe and debrief tutors after every online consultation because we are still early in the process. Observations and debriefings help us gather information for future training, also providing ideas to pass on to The RiCH Company, so technicians can further tailor the program to tutors and clients' needs and preferences.

ADVANTAGES

For students, the advantages are obvious; the online service is convenient. Students can meet with tutors from the comfort of their dorm rooms in pajamas, if they wish. Furthermore, students can access the tutor from afar. Since we have a growing online curriculum, we have tutored students from as far away as Taiwan. Online consulting also supports those with hearing loss or physical challenges that make it difficult for them to come to our center or to work in our space. Finally, some students for personal or cultural reasons might not want a consultation in a public space; online consulting gives them the privacy they need.

For tutors, online consulting provides variety, especially during busy times. They can grab something to drink, slouch, put their feet up, doodle and be a bit less formal than normal without losing credibility or affecting the quality of their consultations. Tutors, especially younger tutors, live in an online world. They understand the language of cyberspace; they "text" and they IM, and many are very good at it.

An advantage for all writing center staff is the rich opportunity for research that online consulting offers. Researchers can investigate areas like the differences between online and face-to-face dialogic exchanges, intersections of chat and academic conventions in online dialogue, issues of agency, and challenges in online communication between non-native speakers and tutors.

As the director, I am additionally grateful that demographic data and session information is integrated into the extensive databases already provided by the WCOnline program. That database includes information like major, course, first language, and average reservation time. Our former online programs required meticulous and labor intensive monitoring to extract data.

CHALLENGES

The most obvious challenge is the lack of non-verbal cues and the inherent harshness of naked cyber text. However, we are discovering that the harshness can be alleviated somewhat by working to establish a friendly tone at the beginning, continuing to send encouragement to the client throughout the session, and by incorporating chat conventions like emoticons and acronyms like LOL (laughing out loud).

Another major challenge is the temptation to be directive when it is not advantageous. Some documentation, punctuation, and grammar issues tempt the tutor to insert or correct text, rather than to note a pattern and explain a rule. Transmitting rules, especially when faced with idiomatic expressions may be doubly difficult when consulting with non-native speakers, although so far few have signed up for online consulting. Also, longer texts require longer reading times, and some tutors and clients are not quick keyboarders, slowing things down even further. I have posted a list of flexible policies on the home page of our schedule to address the potential for directiveness and the inherent slowness of online consultations, including allowing 1/2 hour for each 2 pages and disallowing consultations on documentation formats.

Technological problems can also impede a consultation. The most frequent technological challenge arises when clients don't understand how to copy and paste text. In that case, information must be transmitted and understood before the consultation can begin, which can sometimes take up to ten minutes according to tutors. We hope that, as time goes by, clients will become accustomed to the program, just as they have become accustomed to other technology. More seriously, our server has gone down once, and the online consultation system has frozen or refused to publish chat a couple of times. We are currently working with The RiCH Company to correct those problems and generally have found them to be very quick at solving emerging problems with this new program.

Another potentially serious issue is the possibility of ethical missteps, including the transmission of wrong information in a venue where conversation can be easily archived. The program also has a feature that allows clients and tutors to send either the text or the chat to any e-mail. The only defense against potential problems in this area is ongoing training in ethical behavior, a continuous emphasis on getting help when unsure and being very aware that everything said in this venue can be saved. To notify students that we may use the chat archives, I recently asked the WCOnline technicians to insert a notice on the consultation screen that says that chat dialogue may be used for research and training purposes.

THE DIRECTOR'S FINAL COMMENTS

It is still too early to see whether our early goal of reaching all new populations of students has been met; however, commuters and those taking online courses are beginning to request online consultations. While face-to-face tutorials still provide a more textured experience for students, synchronous online tutorials are slower, but they surpass asynchronous tutorials in quality because of the potential for a richer collaborative encounter. In addition to being synchronous, The RiCH Company's online consultant module also meets my expectations in terms of intuitive navigational tools; nevertheless, we continue to work with the company to provide our clients the most comfortable venue possible. At this point, two weeks into the online consultant, we are still becoming accustomed to the program and tutor reactions are mixed and tentative. The one thing they all agree on is that a half-hour appointment is not enough. Fortunately, the minimum length of appointment can easily be changed. I asked tutors to e-mail me their comments concerning the online consulting experiences. Below are representative examples of their responses.

TUTORS' COMMENTS

"The student seemed slightly apprehensive about computers and technology. That didn't necessarily make it easy for her. I think Jeff has his doubts about this whole online thing, and to be honest, sitting in with him and watching him (so did Val) made me realize how incredibly limited and impersonal the whole thing is. I thought to pick up on the student's nervousness and lack of confidence, but Jeff didn't. Neither did Val. I think there is a lot of room for misperceptions and guesswork in this scenario of a tutorial. It made me aware of how much we communicate on a non-verbal level. Body posture, facial expression, sarcasm, ... all these things which make a tutorial a personable experience are left out here. Just my two cents" ... Petra

We have already talked, but I have now had two online tutorials, so I thought I would share some random thoughts about the service:

1) My second tutorial was a three-page paper for an ED 300 class. It was an hour appointment, and we got through two paragraphs. I discovered quickly that working on grammatical issues is going to be directive. If the student needed a comma, I would try explaining why, but she had a hard time understanding the rule. I ended up recommending to her that she come in to the Writing Center to get a handout.

2) My second tutee would often exclaim "I hate computers!" but admitted it was convenient for her since she couldn't find a babysitter for her kids.

3) I really miss the face-to-face interaction with the students, and I think more can get done when you are with the student face-to-face. Typing is slower than talking, and I think students quickly get bored waiting to see what the tutor is going to say. Plus, both students I had viewed the online service as a quick editing service.

4) I was happy to hear the technical difficulties got taken care of ... Jeff A half hour appointment is not enough when so much time is taken up explaining to some students how to work the program ... David

"I think, especially at this point, that the appointments must be an hour to allow time for reading and typing.

Looking to the future, and thinking of what kind of student I am (finishing papers late into the night the night before some assignments are due), would there be a place for late-hour online consulting? This tutor could work from home but must be available, say between 9 p.m.-11 p.m., to do consulting. Just an idea.

I agree with the ideas of using emoticoms etc. to bring more humanness to the session. The chat can have a face-to-face tone and still be grammatically and mechanically correct" ... Cindy

Carol Mohrbacher

St. Cloud State University

St. Cloud, Minnesota