Isaac Richards
The only Writing Center I have known is a virtual one. When COVID-19 canceled half of my semester abroad, I found myself waiting tables in West Yellowstone before I had adjusted from jet lag and Israel Standard time. Fortunately, my university’s Writing Center was hiring virtual interns, which meant I could become a writing tutor while simultaneously selling Moose Drool beer and Big Game Meatloaf.
This juxtaposition of virtual tutoring and in-person restaurant service led me to ponder Elizabeth H. Boquet’s question: “Is the writing center primarily a space…? Or a temporality…?” (1999). This question is one that every Writing Center has confronted due to pandemic-related restrictions, but I found it especially relevant as I attended the Zoom training meetings from a red leather booth in the empty Three Bear Restaurant.
The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors phrases the question this way: “is the defining essence of the writing center its physical location or the individualized learning about writing that takes place in that location?” (Ianetta & Fitzgerald, 2016). The authors conclude that “method is shaped by site” (Ianetta & Fitzgerald, 2016). COVID-19 has reinforced this conclusion, as the transition from a physical site to a virtual one has challenged traditional tutoring methods. Specifically, time zone challenges that were nonexistent for live, in-person Writing Centers have now become a major issue, and revealed many daily inequalities that result from current world relations.
For example, one of my Zoom consultations this summer was with a student from India. Since I lived in India for two years, I welcomed him with the Telugu greeting, “Bogu nara!” We had an instant friendship and a meaningful consultation, but the details of his situation were concerning. Due to COVID-19, this student was experiencing his first semester of college in India, instead of in the United States immersed in the English of roommates and friends. As if that wasn’t enough to make first-year writing a struggle, his classes were also in the middle of the night because of the almost twelve-hour time difference. He expressed to me how his irregular sleep schedule was affecting his ability to pay attention in class and study course material.
My fear, triggered by this and many other consultations that have occurred in other time zones, is that writing tutors at U.S. universities are largely blind to these basic logistical struggles of international students that are compounded in a virtual environment. Many may assume that since the university is located in the U.S., virtual students around the globe have to conform to that time zone. This, however, creates inequalities that diminish the “individualized learning about writing” that should occur irrespective of site or physical center (Fitzgerald & Ianetta, 2016).
Fortunately, even before the coronavirus pandemic, presenters at The Higher Learning Commission Annual Conference in Chicago provided advice about tutoring synchronously and asynchronously with online students. Their research focuses on students who chose to study online, but their arguments also apply to those who are forced into online learning. They contend that “on-campus students usually have pockets of time between classes that can be used for tutoring” but online students are usually not available between 9:00am and 5:00pm in U.S. time zones (Torgerson et. al, 2019). My experiences in the Writing Center reinforce this observation. I have frequently met with international students who are awake in the middle of the night due to time zone differences because those are their only pockets of time during business hours in the United States.
Of course, an instinctive reaction is the asynchronous solution. However, providing only asynchronous tutoring to international students, while providing both synchronous and asynchronous options to on-campus students, only perpetuates unequal access to resources and doesn’t address time zone discrepancies. Since these two methods have different strengths and weaknesses, it is not fair to let only on-campus students select a tutoring method that fits how they learn.
Furthermore, while numerous international students currently study at institutions in the U.S., the recently illuminated possibilities of online learning will likely lead to even greater numbers of virtual international students in the future, regardless of the status of the pandemic. This means that the issue of time zones and the daily inequalities they present will become increasingly problematic. Here are two suggestions for addressing these inequalities:
First, Writing Center directors could schedule designated international tutors a few hours earlier in the morning or later in the evening. These consultation slots would be reserved for international virtual students so that they can work on their writing when both they and the tutor are awake and alert. This small adjustment can make a large difference in reducing daily inequalities faced by international students virtually. It also is a policy that reflects and reaffirms that Writing Centers are more than physical spaces.
Second, writing tutors themselves can ask students where they are in the world when the virtual tutoring session begins, and then follow that question up with surprised excitement and, “What time is it there right now?” These two simple questions will demonstrate interest in the student, build rapport, and give the tutor an opportunity to sympathize if the writer is awake at unnatural hours. Even that small dose of concern can make the student feel understood, motivate them to be more engaged, and help them realize that it was worth it to wake in the middle of the night to improve their writing.
These two suggestions are just a start in the right direction. Writing Centers should strive toward greater flexibility that prioritizes the needs of international virtual students, and “this often involves a personalized blend of synchronous and asynchronous methods” (Torgerson et. al, 2019). As both administrators and tutors become more aware of international students’ needs, they will be prioritizing the learning about writing that should be occurring in Writing Centers regardless of format, location, or time zone.
References
Boquet, E. H. (1999). Our Little Secret: A History of Writing Centers, Pre- to Post-Open Admissions. College Composition and Communication 50.3, 463-82.
Ianetta, M. & Fitzgerald, L. (2016). The Oxford Guide for Writing Tutors: Practice and Research. Oxford University Press.
Torgerson, K. & Parrill, J. & Haas, A. (2019). Tutoring Strategies for Online Students. The Higher Learning Commission Annual Conference. Chicago, Illinois. Web. http://onlinewritingcenters.org/scholarship/torgerson-parrill-haas-2019/.
About the Author
Isaac Richards is majoring in Communications with an emphasis in Public Relations and minoring in Professional Writing and Rhetoric at Brigham Young University. He is the first place winner of the 2020 #CFACExperience Essay Contest and is currently researching different graduate English programs. He enjoys tennis, history, and the outdoors. He loves to travel, and has been to Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, India, Israel, and Egypt. His planned destinations for 2021 are Italy and Austria.