How Face-to-Face Appointments Work

All three sites offer 50 minute conferences by appointment, beginning on the hour. Appointments should be made in advance on-line. If you are more than 10 minutes late for your scheduled appointment, your session may be given to someone else.

How E-Tutoring Appointments Work

E-Tutoring allows you to complete a submission form and submit your draft electronically; you will receive a combination of audio and written tutor feedback right after the scheduled appointment time. The tutor uses the 50-minute time slot to read your submission form and comment on your draft. For additional information, click here.

How Virtual Studio Appointments Work

During your Virtual Studio tutoring appointment, you will meet with your tutor in an online virtual environment. During your session, you can either text back and forth (similar to instant messaging), speak through a microphone, or see your tutor through a webcam. Once you sign up for an appointment, you will receive instructions for downloading the software for Teleplace, the virtual world program the Writing Studio uses. Virtual Studio appointments must be made 24 hours in advance.

Writing Studio Submission Limit Policy

Due to our desire to serve as many students as possible, the Writing Studio limits the number of times writers can meet face-to-face or have E-tutor appointments on the same piece of writing.

Once you have asked tutors to work with you on the same piece four times, you will be advised that you have reached the limit and requested not to schedule another appointment on the same piece. Tutors are, of course, happy to work with you on other writing--with this policy in mind.

Writing Studio Use of iPods and Flip Video Camcorders

In conjunction with the Duke Digital Initiative, the Writing Studio provides tutors with iPods, voice recorders, and FlipCams to use as tools to enhance and enrich tutoring practices, both during and outside of tutoring sessions.

With your permission, your tutor may record your face-to-face session on an iPod or Flipcam. We invite you to bring your own iPod and voice recorder to your sessions as well. By recording tutoring sessions, tutor and writer can refer back to key conversational moments during an appointment-- including brainstorming, revising, or editing ideas. Writers can also request that the tutor email them a clip to listen to after the session. In addition, these recorded sessions serve as integral pedagogical materials in tutor training within the Writing Studio community. Please note that the recorded session will not be used outside of the Duke Writing Studio community without your explicit and express consent.

Tutors also include pre-recorded clips with their E-Tutor written comments--different clips depending on the situation (first time E-Tutor user, repeat user, and writer asking for specific help with grammar). These clips help personalize the E-Tutor on-line experience by providing writers with the tutor’s personal voice to accompany and complement the written comments.