Why Do Students Have a Designated Time for SAS 011 Writing Lab on their Schedule If Their Class Meetings are Scheduled Individually? – For Advisors

SAS 011 meets as a group at the designated time only during the first week of classes. After that the course meets in one-on-one sessions at a time designated by the Writing Lab instructor, who consults the student’s schedule to find an appropriate time.

We schedule the first group meeting at a particular time and place because historically we’ve had a lot of trouble getting students to read the emails that tell them when, where and with whom their one-on-ones are. Sometimes it’s taken several weeks to get students tracked down. 

So we put a date and time on their schedule hoping that they’ll show up and we can both hand them their time and get them in direct contact with their instructor. We also place announcements in students’ Brightspace courses with the same information. And we send two emails – one that explains all this and another from their specific Writing Lab instructor with their designated meeting place and time. This has been partially successful, but every semester students are told that “there are no labs the first week of the semester” (which applies to the science labs, but not the Writing Lab) and don’t appear.

For the students who don’t appear in person, We follow up with another email fortified with a text message sent through Navigate telling them to check their UNE email for an important message about SAS 011 Writing Lab.