1. The following document will discuss the
currentstate of JamesMadisonUniversity’s
University Writing Center tutor chat
system, its current on-campus presence,
and its usage trends, and will present
potential methodsof improvingitsusage in
future semesters via marketing tactics.
Marketing
Report
University Writing Center Tutor
Chat
Kelsey Robinson
2. P a g e | 1
Contents
Contents............................................................................................................................................1
Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................3
Purpose and Process...........................................................................................................................5
Research............................................................................................................................................6
Fall 2015 strategic planning survey ..................................................................................................6
Existingliterature............................................................................................................................7
Contact with outside institutions .....................................................................................................8
Surveys ..........................................................................................................................................9
Chat Transcripts..............................................................................................................................9
Market Analysis................................................................................................................................11
Product........................................................................................................................................11
Place............................................................................................................................................11
Price ............................................................................................................................................12
Promotion....................................................................................................................................12
Audience Environment..................................................................................................................13
Audience......................................................................................................................................13
Results andAnalysis..........................................................................................................................15
Surveys ........................................................................................................................................15
Student surveys.........................................................................................................................15
Faculty surveys..........................................................................................................................15
Advertising...................................................................................................................................17
Opportunity and Issue Analysis..........................................................................................................19
Opportunities...............................................................................................................................19
Threats.........................................................................................................................................19
Strengths......................................................................................................................................19
Weaknesses .................................................................................................................................20
Recommendations............................................................................................................................21
General Recommendations ...........................................................................................................21
Marketing recommendations ........................................................................................................21
In-class presentations and orientation........................................................................................22
Faculty referral..........................................................................................................................22
Chat guidelines..........................................................................................................................22
3. P a g e | 2
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................24
Appendices ......................................................................................................................................25
Appendix A: Survey (WRTC 336 and WRTC 103)..............................................................................25
Appendix B: Survey (Carrier and Rose Libraries)..............................................................................28
Appendix C: Survey (UWC Faculty).................................................................................................31
Appendix D: Survey Results (Students)...........................................................................................33
Appendix E: Survey Results (Faculty)..............................................................................................37
Appendix F: Flyer (“Writing Emergency”)........................................................................................39
Appendix G: Flyer (“color grid”) .....................................................................................................40
Appendix H: Digital flyer (“Need writing help?”) .............................................................................41
Appendix I: Table tent (“Facebook Messenger”) .............................................................................42
Appendix J: Table (Chat transcripts)...............................................................................................43
Appendix K: Bibliography...............................................................................................................45
4. P a g e | 3
Executive Summary
The goal of this report is to assess how the University Writing Center (UWC) tutor chat
system was being used during the 2015-2016 academic year (primarily during the spring 2016
semester), determine methods of marketing the service to James Madison University (JMU)
students, and produce possible methods of increasing its usage in future semesters. From this,
conclusions have been made about the current usage and perception of the chat system and its
effectiveness as a form of writing aid.
The report concludes that, while the chat system functions well for the students that use
it, the service is underused due to its novelty. However, some students have displayed a desire
for online tutoring options and see chat as a useful resource. The following steps were taken to
derive and improve the effectiveness of the chat system:
Review and analysis of existing information
The primary sources of preexisting data drawn from by this project were the end-of-
semester survey emailed to students during the fall who had visited the UWC before and
chat transcripts from the fall 2015 and spring 2016 semesters.
Research
Academic research revealed that students usually write alone and value this solitary
writing more than group tasks or getting writing center help, and that the phrase “chat
with” has a rather colloquial, non-academic connotation that can dissuade people from
using the system. Interviews with outside sources emphasized the fact that students value
a variety of tutoring options but such options need to be made apparent in the semester
and in their academic careers, and by way of instructors telling them about such
opportunities.
Surveys
Surveys distributed to students and faculty showed that, while students see potential in a
chat system for writing tutoring, they have reservations about using it themselves. It was
also revealed that a large majority of students learn about academic resources and
opportunities from their teachers and from the JMU website itself, more so than
advertisements on campus or in their dorms/apartments, from emails, or from their peers.
Marketing
To “spread the word” about the little-known chat system, numerous methods of
marketing were implemented: flyers hung in campus buildings, flyers hung in dorms,
slides placed on digital screens in Rose and Carrier libraries, and table tents placed in the
dorms. In addition, UWC tutors were asked to remind students of the service when
possible at the conclusion of a tutoring session.
After analyzing the UWC tutor chat and producing different marketing tactics throughout
the spring 2016 semester, recommendations have been made for future plans to enhance the
service’s successfulness, make it better known to students, and market it effectively. The
recommendations are as follows:
5. P a g e | 4
Create traditional PowerPoint presentations specifically about the chat system to be
delivered in courses around campus
Encourage teachers to tell their students directly about the service, through word-of-
mouth and through syllabus documents
Collaborate with the JMU Center for Instructional Technology (CIT) to create a “button”
for tutor chat to be embedded in Canvas sites
Create a set of instructions for students on how to use the chat system to ensure it is
utilized efficiently and correctly
Continue to promote the system in various print and digital on-campus avenues
Consider creating a more extensive tutoring/essay revision service to be attached to the
chat system
6. P a g e | 5
Purpose and Process
The University Writing Center (UWC) at James Madison University primarily utilizes
face-to-face tutoring sessions, typically conducted one-on-one with a single tutor helping a single
student with a writing assignment. The UWC also offers chat-based tutoring, which was
launched in fall 2015. In its first semester, only 17 chat sessions were conducted and the hours of
operation were significantly different from what they became for the spring semester. The
service itself is also very novel to JMU students and most have not heard of it, all of which
contribute to its underuse.
The purpose of this project was to answer the question of how the service can be
marketed to JMU students. Beneath this primary objective were the sub-questions of who the
chat system is being used by, why they are using it, and whether or not the questions they are
asking can be answered effectively with that system. In order to derive answers to these
questions, numerous methods were employed. First, I was employed as a writing tutor at the
UWC, with four hours of face-to-face tutoring and four hours of chat tutoring. In my research, I
reviewed existing data, which consisted of chat transcripts from the previous semester and the
fall 2015 strategic planning survey sent to UWC users (also from the previous semester).
Research was also undertaken to find current trends in online tutoring and chat systems
(primarily those used in libraries, as those systems are most similar to the one used at JMU). In
addition, employees from two outside institutions were contacted to discuss their universities’
use of online tutoring. Following the background research, I pursued various marketing methods
to spread the word about the UWC chat system.
7. P a g e | 6
Research
Fall 2015 strategic planning survey
One source of research I reviewed was the strategic planning survey distributed to JMU
students at the end of the fall 2015 semester. This survey was sent by the Writing Center via
email to 306 students who had booked at least one face-to-face session during the semester and
contained 17 questions regarding their perception of what the Writing Center does and what a
tutoring session should be, how the Writing Center can meet their writing needs, which locations
they use (the UWC and its two satellite locations at the time), and other service-related
questions. While the entire survey was extremely useful to this project, several specific questions
were pinpointed as most important to the use of the chat system.
The first question asked students how often they visit the Writing Center. Fifty-two
percent of students (186 respondents) claimed they only visited once, while the remaining forty-
eight percent of students answered with one of the other five options indicating that they visited
more than once. This suggests that students might also be slightly more unlikely to be “returners”
to a chat system because such a service has a more specific need than face-to-face tutoring.
The fifth question asked, “How important is it that Writing Center tutors have expertise
in the following areas? Rank them from most important (top) to least important (bottom),” with
the options being grammar and punctuation, citations and formatting, structure and organization,
brainstorming/developing ideas, understanding your assignment prompt or professor’s ideas, and
summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting sources. The option that students most often ranked the
highest was grammar and punctuation, followed by summarizing sources and understanding
prompts. This reflects concerns addressed in face-to-face sessions and also what has been noted
so far in chat sessions (see later subsections for detailed analysis). Notably, these are concerns
that tutors can more easily solve via chat. While higher order concerns such as organization or
brainstorming can be discussed over chat, lower-order concerns are significantly easier to help a
student with over a limited medium.
The eleventh question was related to location, due to the existence of UWC satellite
locations at Rose Library and the Athletic Performance Center. It asked “Which University
Writing Center Location are you most likely to use, and why?” and invited short answers from
students about why they would use each location. Eighty-three percent of students (259
respondents) answered that they would use the Student Success Center, fourteen percent said
Rose Library, one percent said the Athletic Performance Center, and two percent said online
tutoring. The majority of qualitative answers were related to location. Students who said they
would use the Student Success Center location claimed it was most convenient location, or the
closest to their courses, or the easiest to get to. Rose Library students had similar answers about
the location being closest to their classes, and students who preferred online tutoring said it was
due to easy access.
The fourteenth question was “If the Writing Center expanded services, how likely would
you be to use the following,” and the options (answered on a Likert scale) were online tutoring,
online writing tips and resources, in-class workshops, workshops at the Writing Center,
designated tutor assigned to your classes, a quiet space for writing, and regularly meeting writing
groups. A total of 109 students claimed they would be “likely” to use online tutoring, which—
while not the most-requested service—is approximately one third of respondents who would
such an option, showing that there is a market for it as long as students can be made aware of its
existence. However, it is not clear what the student perception is of online services. They could
8. P a g e | 7
see it as the currently-existing chat system, or as an editing service where they can submit their
papers and receive helpful feedback.
In conclusion, it is clear that there is a market for online tutoring. Students may desire to
have a wide variety of questions answered with online services, but may treat it as a quick
question-and-answer service due to their focus on grammatical concerns evidenced in the survey.
The chat service may fill in the “convenience” gap that students who use Rose and already use
online tutoring seem to feel—they desire an easy-to-get-to tutoring option, which can be satisfied
by either online services or by satellites.
Existing literature
In addition to reviewing existing research specific to the JMU Writing Center, I also
reviewed existing literature about student writing, online services, and academic use of chat
systems. A full bibliography can be found in Appendix K.
In “The Writing Lives of College Students: Revisualizing Composition Study Group A
WIDE Survey and Whitepaper,” Jeff Grabill and Stacey Pigg discuss the results of a study on the
writing habits of college students, given to 1366 students at various institutions in the spring
semester 2010. The research questions are as follows: what students are writing in and out of
school; how they value the writing they do; whether or not students from different schools
compose different kinds of writing; why students write what they do; which students are writing
with which types of technology; and who participants and writing with.
According to Grabill and Pigg, students usually write alone and value this solitary writing
more than group tasks or getting writing center help. Several digital genres are written by almost
all participants, but several others are practiced by less than half of them. Chat rooms in
particular are used by just over half of the surveyed students and associate’s colleges (rural or
smaller schools) use chat rooms more than other types of institutions. Students in this study also
claimed that they don’t go to writing centers often and placed its value to them in writing at the
lowest rung.
Of particular usefulness was Naylor, Stoffel, and Van Der Laan’s “Why Isn't Our Chat
Reference Used More: Finding of Focus Group Discussions with Undergraduate Students.”
While this article discussed the use of a library chat reference prior to 2010, its findings are still
useful to this project. The focus groups consisted of undergraduate (and graduate) students and
were conducted at Illinois State University's Milner Library to gain a greater understanding of
student thoughts on reference services. In the past, surveys were the primary method of data-
gathering, but focus groups allowed the library a larger berth of qualitative data about the
library's services. Chat systems have specific audiences and are generally a bit under-used, and
contrary to popular belief millennials aren't as inclined to communicate primarily via text as
most people think.
The Milner focus groups were sorted into undergraduate students, graduate students with
on-campus instruction, and graduate students with off-campus instruction. The questions were
sorted into three categories: broad queries about how the participants research and other similar
subjects; questions about their knowledge of the library's reference services; and questions about
how the library can best help them. Students claimed that they mostly conduct their research at
home, but that they also prefer in-person communication over text, chat, or email when
conducting research. There was also a negative connotation with "chat," as most students thought
of "chat" as a possibly-unsavory chat room rather than a useful academic resource. They also
didn't realize that the library had chat but seemed enthusiastic about it when told, which is
9. P a g e | 8
consistent with the findings I will later discuss about the UWC’s chat system. There was also
some emphasis in Naylor et al.’s article on the fact that chat is used for immediate and quickly-
answered concerns when a student is long-distance.
Pei-Chen Sun et al.’s article, “What Drives a Successful E-Learning? An Empirical
Investigation of the Critical Factors Influencing Learner Satisfaction” discusses how e-learning
is successful or unsuccessful with its users. Numerous factors influence the success of an e-
learning course and student satisfaction in said course, and that satisfaction is integral to the
course. Across various studies, the general factors can be sorted into the learner (attitude towards
computers, computer anxiety, self-efficacy), instructor (response timeliness, attitude towards e-
learning), course (flexibility, quality), technology (quality, internet quality), design
(perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use), and environmental dimensions (diversity,
perceived interaction with others). Sun et al.'s conclusions included the fact that, while computer
anxiety is mostly nonexistent for students, it is still a vital factor in course satisfaction where it
does exist. Teacher attitude towards e-learning is also a powerful influence on e-learning
success, and the flexibility of the course and its environment are also vital. It is important that
students perceive the service as useful and that it's as easy to use as they want it to be. Of note is
the importance of perceived usefulness—if students see a service as useful, they are more likely
to use it.
Contact with outside institutions
In February, I contacted three universities with online learning services to gain a greater
understanding of why and how students use synchronous or asynchronous online tutoring. The
two schools I received responses from and was able to conduct interviews with were the
University of Southern Maine (USM) and the University of New Mexico (UNM). The major
conclusions I reached from these discussions were that online services are highly prescriptive
and serve a very particular need for their users, and that it is most important to tell students about
online services at the beginning of the semester and in the beginning of their academic careers.
I interviewed Paul Dexter, Coordinator of Learning Support at USM, in early February.
USM utilizes Google’s services such as Hangouts to hold online appointments with students,
which contrasts with JMU’s chat system because it allows a broader range of interaction. With
Google Hangouts, tutors can communicate with students via video with live-chat attached (a
function of Hangouts). USM uses Google’s tools because they use Gmail as their institutional
email service the same way that JMU uses Microsoft. The primary issue encountered by students
at USM is that they initially wonder how to work with a tutor through a virtual medium. Students
there are generally satisfied with online tutoring services, but this satisfaction is primarily
mediated by their familiarity with the technology.
Students primarily find out about online tutoring services at USM through outreach into
introductory courses during the first few weeks of the appointment, much like the introductory
presentations conducted by UWC tutors at JMU. There is also a short set of instructions on how
to use the service on its homepage. In addition, the Center for Technology Enhanced Learning at
USM contacts faculty they are already partnered with and let them know about the services,
encouraging them to put links to the online services on their syllabi or on Blackboard.
I interviewed Matthew Maez, Program Specialist at UNM, via phone call, also in early
February. UNM utilizes synchronous (chat room, virtual whiteboard, sending papers to tutors in
real time) and asynchronous (web submission form where tutors can view submitted papers and
provide feedback within 48 hours) online services. The service most comparable to what JMU
10. P a g e | 9
uses is the chat room, as well as the real-time essay review. We discussed the fact that online
services are much more prescriptive than face-to-face appointments. At a face-to-face session, a
student can either drift in or make an appointment, but can then remain at the location and
continue working. An online session, however, can sometimes require a more specific need and
often one that is quickly answered in a briefer exchange.
It is important to take into account that the majority of respondents in online learning
surveys at UNM are online or nontraditional students who needs are most likely met by online
learning; at JMU most students are traditional learners and/or live on campus, where they can
easily reach UWC services. However, the prescriptive nature of online services can still be
applied to the chat service at JMU because of its differences compared to face-to-face tutoring.
With regards to advertising online services, Maez told me that the UNM learning centers
underwent a major rebranding campaign that helped greatly with this, which could be
comparable to the JMU Learning Centers moving to the Student Success Center. He also noted
that students are told about online learning during their orientations, settling the idea in their
minds early on.
Based on my interviews, the importance of advertising to students early on is paramount,
as well as telling teachers to tell their students about it. In addition, there is a significant
difference between a tool and its use. In a chat system, students can swiftly be helped, but it's
harder to show rather than tell over chat, which is the main directive of writing tutoring at JMU;
with chat, students can easily walk away with their answer but not with the process.
Surveys
Quantitative research—with minor opportunities for qualitative answers—were also
conducted via informal surveys handed out to UWC faculty and JMU students. The student
surveys were given to students in single sections of WRTC336 and WRTC103, as well as passed
out randomly to students in the campus libraries. Survey structure and results can be viewed in
subsequent sections.
Chat Transcripts
Throughout the semester, I reviewed the chat transcripts recorded on the Lib Answers &
LibChat server during “chat with a tutor” sessions (see Appendix J for a full comparison of the
transcripts). As of the creation of this report, a total of 31 transcripts were recorded, although if
there is an accidental disconnect between tutee and student, the re-connected session is recorded
as another transcript. There were 17 chats recorded during the fall 2015 semester and 14 chats
during the spring 2016 semester. Below is a quick overview of the transcripts over time:
Types of queries:
Higher-order concerns: 10
Lower-order concerns: 19
UWC services concerns: 2
Queries by month:
Aug 2015: 0
Sept 2015: 7
Oct 2015: 4
Nov 2015: 4
11. P a g e | 10
Dec 2015: 2
Jan 2016: 3
Feb 2016: 8
Mar 2016: 3
Lower order concerns (asked 61.3% of the time) were classified as questions about
sentence structure, paragraph-level organizational concerns, grammar, and citation styles.
Higher-order concerns (asked 32.3% of the time) were classified as questions about overall
organization, brainstorming, comprehension and clarity, crafting stronger arguments, and better
understanding assignment prompts. Service-related questions (asked 6.4% of the time) were
those that concerned UWC services and hours of operation. As noted in list above, students often
asked questions about citation styles, likely seeing the ease with which such questions could be
asked over chat and desiring a quick, easy answer.
I also asked three students how they knew about the service at the conclusion of our chat
session. One student said she found it via the JMU website, and the second said she found it on
the UWC page while booking a face-to-face appointment. Another said he found the link to chat
while browsing the UWC website and said he was not previously aware of the service and that it
is worth spreading to a larger audience. This shows that students see the service via existing
sites.
12. P a g e | 11
Market Analysis
Product
The product in question is the University Writing Center’s tutor chat system, also known
as “Chat with a tutor.” It is a chat system similar to what is used by the JMU Libraries and the
Ask Your Peers services, utilizing the same software. Upon entering a query into the ask box, a
writing tutor on the receiving end—utilizing the username of Writing Tutor 1, 2, 3, or 4—
responds to the question and begins the conversation with the student. All transcripts are logged
in the LibAnswers & LibChat system used by the JMU Libraries and by the University Writing
Center. Below is an example of a UWC tutor (me) helping two students via the chat system (Fig
1).
(Fig 1: UWC Tutor Chat from the tutor’s perspective)
Place
Tutor chat is offered online, free from any locational or physical constraints other than
needing to have a computer and a reliable internet connection. Currently the chat system is
housed on the University Writing Center’s website, accessible through a clearly-marked button
towards the lower half of the homepage or on the sidebar (https://www.jmu.edu/uwc/) or through
the page labeled “chat with a tutor” on the sidebar menu to the left.
(https://www.jmu.edu/uwc/services/chat-with-a-tutor.shtml).
During the fall 2015 semester, the tutor chat service was offered during all the hours that
the UWC was open (Mon-Thurs 10-5, Friday 10-2, and Sunday 5-8), though this was very much
dependent on whether or not a tutor was able to be online and not occupied with an in-person
client. During the spring 2016 semester, tutor chat times were changed to reflect the results of the
strategic planning survey and other concerns. The Writing Center hours became Mon-Thurs 10-
8, Friday 10-2, and Sunday 3-8 and chat hours were officially set for Mon-Thurs 8-10PM—right
after the physical Writing Center closes.
13. P a g e | 12
Price
The price of using the tutor chat service for students is nominal, if not free, though the
reference system does cost money for the university to host. The service does have a price for
JMU—the university pays for the subscription access utilized by the campus libraries. However,
the only cost of using the service for a student is to access the website and create a chat query.
As mentioned above, the only constraints on a student using the system are having a computer
that can utilize the chat service and being able to maintain an internet connection. In theory, this
price is less figuratively “expensive” than going to the physical University Writing Center,
though according to some survey data, it can be implied that the sole act of logging on is a price
that students are reluctant to pay.
Promotion
During the fall 2015 semester, the tutor chat service was not promoted. It was demarcated
with some clarity on the UWC website (shown in Fig. 2 and Fig 3 below), but it was otherwise
relatively unknown by students unless they had been directly told about it by a peer, a tutor, or a
teacher, or come across it in their perusal of the UWC site. This layout remained the same during
the spring 2016 semester and its use increased slightly—possibly due to it being somewhat better
known in its second semester of operation—but usage remained comparatively low. Fig. 2 shows
the upper half of the UWC website homepage (www.jmu.edu/wrtc/). There is a link on the left
side of the page for the chat service, but a visitor must scroll down further to see the large button
that also leads to the chat page, shown in Fig. 3.
(Fig. 2: upper half of the UWC site homepage, chat link indicated)
14. P a g e | 13
(Fig. 3: lower half of the UWC site homepage, chat hours and chat link indicated)
To gather attention for the service, I placed several print and digital advertisements
around campus. In spring 2016, flyers were hung across campus in various buildings in late
February and early March (Appendices F and G), a table tent was placed in Carrier and Rose
Libraries (Appendix I), and a digital screen flyer was circulated across screens in mid-March
(Appendix H).
Audience Environment
Currently, the chat service is being utilized highly sporadically. There were 17 chats
recorded during the fall 2015 semester and 14 chats during the spring 2016 semester. The
LibAnswers & LibChat system does not record the major or year of the students chatting, but
several conclusions can be drawn from the subject matter of the chats. The higher-order concerns
encompassed concerns such as argument, rhetorical analysis, brainstorming, and crafting
introductions, while lower-order concerns involved questions about sentence structure,
grammatical rules, and citation styles (APA was the most common).
Audience
The target market for the University Writing Center tutor chat service is any student with
a need that extends past the hours of the Writing Center, and/or any student whose concerns can
be—or must be, due to distance learning or physical limitations—mediated through a digital
connection. Concerns that can be discussed with a tutor via a digital medium include lower-level
concerns (sentence structure, grammatical errors, paragraph revisions, and citation styles) as well
as questions about the UWC’s services. Ideally, tutor chat can and should serve the entire student
body of JMU, but its primary audience is anyone with a quick question or a concern that can be
solved via a chat system.
Overwhelmingly, students prefer to meet with tutors and have consultations in person.
This, combined with the newness of the chat service, has affected the knowledge of the service in
15. P a g e | 14
the student population. Like any other academic service on campus, students must know about
the service before they can think to use it.
The reasons why this market has been targeted for the service have been derived from
chat transcripts, data from surveys given by the author, and data from a survey given to the
student body by the UWC in fall 2015, as well as conversations and interviews with various key
stakeholders and persons from other institutions with similar services.
16. P a g e | 15
Results andAnalysis
Surveys
The primary method of gathering data was informal surveys, which were distributed in
early January, early February, and early March. These surveys were given to UWC faculty (5
total), students in WRTC336 and WRTC103 courses, and at random to students in the campus
libraries (68 students total). The surveys can be found in Appendices A, B, and C, the student
survey results in Appendix D, and the faculty results in Appendix E.
The distribution of surveys was done strategically. Faculty surveys were distributed in
late January in order to understand the staff’s perception of the chat system, and in-class surveys
were distributed to students in mid-February before any advertising was done to understand
initial student perception of the chat system. Handout surveys were distributed in mid-March
after spring break to understand if student perception was different and if the surveys had any
possible effect on the chat service.
Faculty surveys
Results of the survey given to UWC faculty—distributed before all student surveys—
anticipated the trends found in student surveys. Three of the five faculty members noted that
grammar was a concern that students were likely to ask about, and another mentioned citation
styles, both of which are frequent student focuses. When asked, “How likely do you think
students will use the JMU ‘Chat with a Tutor’ service,” four of the five respondents claimed
“somewhat often,” while the fifth said “not often.” The service is recognized by faculty and
students as an unfamiliar entity, further indicating that establishing familiarity and emphasizing
usefulness is key in increasing usage. One faculty member noted that the chat service is a
“convenient option for getting small-scale feedback on writing,” highlighting that the
convenience of the system is a potentially attractive attribute to students.
Student surveys
The majority of students—over sixty percent in each survey and overall—did not know
about chat, which was unsurprisingly due to its novelty. However, quite a few students did know
about it, even those who were not enrolled in the tutoring writing course. Out of the students who
knew about chat, equal numbers of them found out about chat via the UWC website and through
referrals from their teachers.
Fifty-two out of the total 68 respondents—approximately 76.5% of students—said that
they find out about similar academic resources through their teachers, while 31 students (approx.
45.6%) said they find out about them through JMU webpages (see Fig. 4). This means that
students do notice what is placed on websites and it may prove beneficial to advertise more
heavily on other JMU sites that would wish to partner with the UWC. However, the majority of
students do not typically utilize JMU academic resources, though I was not able to ascertain why
because the surveys did not include a follow-up question on the subject. The simple fact that
students don’t use such services indicates that they might see minimal use in an additional,
specific service tacked onto an existing, well-used one such as the UWC.
17. P a g e | 16
(Fig. 4: responses to survey question 3)
When asked how likely they were to use any chat system, twenty-two students overall
(32.4%) were neutral about using chat systems in general, while nearly half of respondents to the
handout surveys were unlikely to use them. This suggests that students do not see a use in a chat
system regardless of context, though it is important to note that nine respondents were seniors
and more likely to answer “very unlikely” or “unlikely” when asked about future use of JMU
resources. This lack of interest in the system indicates that students either do not see a use in the
system itself or do not feel as though they need writing help, which may be due to the fact that
they do not know how to use such a style of writing help. This is a trend reflected in my
February interview with Mr. Dexter from the University of Southern Maine. He noted that
students at USM are initially unsure of how to use Google services for tutoring purposes.
In stark contrast to answers to the previous questions, over half of students (55.9%)
agreed that the chat system “could be a useful tool for students,” and no respondents disagreed or
strongly disagreed. This suggests that students cannot imagine themselves using chat but can
understand the need for writing help, which may explain the paradox of students saying the
service is useful when they are asked but at the same time not wanting to use it. Such an attitude
may be prevalent because of the service’s novelty and the unclear nature of its potential uses.
When creating the surveys, I felt that “useful” generally meant “a potentially beneficial tool for a
student to look to for writing help.” But for a student, the word “useful” when applied to chat
meant “oh, that seems nice” or whatever else he or she thought it did, which affected the
answers.
When asked what questions they would ask in a chat session, the vast majority of
students chose citation styles and works cited, which is reflective of the trends present in the
existing chat transcripts in Appendix J (see Fig. 5). The service is used—and perceived—as a
short-form, quick-answer service, though higher order concerns can be and are well-addressed in
chat sessions. The primary concern with this perception is that students may begin using the chat
in a way that is more focused on product rather than process, which is directly at odds with the
UWC’s mission of creating better writers, not just better papers. The chat service can either
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
JMU webpages Teacher
referral
Peer referral Ad on campus Ad in
dorms/apts
Email Other
How doyou usuallyfindoutaboutresource centerservices?Checkall thatapply.
In class Handouts Totals
18. P a g e | 17
embrace this or attempt to move away from it, possibly by providing a set of instructions for
students on how to use it the service.
(Fig. 5: survey responses to question 8)
The majority of handout survey students (43.8%) claimed that they would “not often” use
chat, while 50% of in-class survey students answered with the middle-ground option of
“somewhat often.” Across both sets of student surveys, answers to “somewhat often” and “not
often” were equal (each at 41.1%), indicating that students are not likely to use the chat system
even though they do see its potential for help. The times that students would prefer to use the
service are reflective of both the strategic planning survey and of the current chat hours. The
service is offered from 8-10PM, Monday through Thursday, which is what students desire.
However, a surprisingly high number of students would also use the service during the late
afternoon, which suggests it may also be used during the indicated 3PM to 6PM time period.
The final question—only asked in the handout survey after analysis of answers to the in-
class surveys—asked why students wouldn’t use the system, and allowed students to mark more
than one answer. Equal numbers of students answered that they rarely use chat systems and that
they rarely ask for writing help (41.7% each), indicating that they are not inclined to use such a
service for a task that they do not often seek help with in the first place. This may be a case of
students not knowing what they need until they have it, which is often reflected in tutoring
sessions themselves.
Advertising
Advertising was done throughout the semester in a variety of locations. First, between
one and three flyers each (“writing emergency,” found in Appendix F) were placed in buildings
across campus during the week of February 15th: Carrier Library, the Student Success Center,
Harrison, Burruss, Rose Library, ISAT, Biology, HHS, Physics, and Festival Conference Center.
Campus regulations state that flyers can remain in place for two weeks, after which time they are
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Grammar Citations Organization Sentence
structure
Thesis and
argument
Other
If you wereto use the tutor chat system, whatquestions do you
think you would ask? Check all that apply.
In class Handouts Total
19. P a g e | 18
taken down. After their timespan ran out, a different set of flyers (“grid,” found in Appendix G)
were posted in the on-campus dorms during the week of February 22nd.
Two other methods of advertising that were used were digital signs and table tents. The
digital signs (“Need writing help?” found in Appendix H) began showing on screens in Carrier
Library on February 23rd, while the table tents (“Facebook Messenger,” found in Appendix I)
began showing on tables in Carrier and Rose Libraries on March 21st. All advertisements were
made on the graphic design website Canva.com (https://www.canva.com/). Another method of
advertising that was pursued but not utilized was the placement of stickers on Starbucks cup
sleeves.
20. P a g e | 19
Opportunity and Issue Analysis
Opportunities
A major opportunity with the chat system is for it to be a replacement for students who
used to utilize Write Nights at Rose Library. Due to its time (Mon and Wens, 7-10PM), Write
Nights primarily served students who were not close enough to the SSC Writing Center location
and needed help after the usual tutoring hours. The tutor chat service potentially replaces and
expands on this, cutting down by one hour (instead being offered 8-10PM) and being available
Mon-Thurs rather than only Mon and Wens. While higher-order writing concerns are difficult to
address in a chat format, such a session would not be impossible and has been done numerous
times. Also, the chat format does lend itself well to addressing lower-order concerns such as
grammar, paraphrasing, and the proper citation of sources and formatting of quotes.
Threats
A potential threat for the tutor chat service is the fact that students may not see any merit
in its use. While the service is easily used as a quick reference, it is offered during highly specific
hours, and according to survey results, a significant portion of students (46.9%) do not use chat
systems in general, much less for academic purposes.
Another threat to the chat service is the fact that it could be used only for extremely short
questions rather than fostering a productive, process-based session for the student. Because a
chat system is naturally a short-form medium, it may be difficult for students to use it for any
concerns beyond quick questions.
A third threat to the service is the fact that students overwhelmingly prefer face-to-face
consultations, which means they may be less willing to use an online service. While no students
reported any dissatisfaction with their online sessions, the chat service lacks the face-to-face
rapport and in-depth discussion that is more easily accomplished in a traditional session. A major
difference between chat and in-person sessions is that, if there is only one tutor logged on, they
may have to hold more than one consultation at a time. Notably, this happened to me during a
session (highlighted in Figure 1 from the preceding section). This could dissuade students from
utilizing the service because the time between responses does increase when a tutor must manage
multiple sessions.
Strengths
A major strength of the tutor chat service is its availability. It can be accessed from
anywhere because it is online, meaning that it can provide instant writing help to any JMU
students. The service also has a significant degree of versatility. While it is a short-form service,
the chat box allows documents to be attached and sent to the speaker on the other end. A tutor
could review a longer piece of writing for a student and return it with leading questions and
suggestions for improvement. Students could also send links to Google Docs, just as tutors can
send links to writing resources.
Based on chat transcripts from the fall 2015 and spring 2016 semesters, it is clear that
mediating a productive discussion through a chat connection is possible and can be done very
well. The unique medium of a chat system allows students and tutors to take more time in their
responses, and also doesn’t hamper the ability of tutors to provide thoughtful replies and
questions that don’t directly hand-feed students the answers to their questions.
21. P a g e | 20
Another strength of the tutor chat service is its visibility on the UWC site. Students who
were asked why they chose to use the service at the conclusion of chat sessions noted that they
saw the service through JMU webpages or the UWC homepage. This means that students are
perusing websites and that academic services are visible on them, so it could be advantageous to
have such advertising in other places.
Weaknesses
A major weakness of the chat system is its format. As shown in Fig 1, it is a short-form
chat system comparable to Facebook Messenger or a help service on a technology website. For
this reason, it is difficult to address the higher-order concerns that students sometimes want to
work on because the paper is not physically in front of both tutor and student simultaneously,
and any comments must be typed out rather than immediately spoken. The face-to-face rapport
established in a tutoring session in the physical Writing Center is highly important to a
successful session; while it is possible to establish a similar relationship over chat, trying to
explain concepts that are better left to in-person discussion can sometimes be a challenge.
The audience and nebulous purpose of chat remains a weakness. Students seem to
wonder what they would use the service for and who is meant to use it, which was reflected in
interviews with representatives from University of New Mexico and University of Southern
Maine. The only consensus in the survey research is that, according to students, the audience is
“not me.” In the surveys given in WRTC103 and WRTC336, 18 students (50%) agreed with
statement “"Chatting with a tutor could be useful,” but the same amount of students claimed they
would only utilize the service somewhat often, while 14 claimed not often. Similarly, twenty
students in the handout surveys (62.5%) agreed that the service could be useful, but the highest
number of students (14, or 43.8%) noted that they would not use the service often. This could be
because, while students can imagine asking questions about citations or grammar, they simply
“wouldn’t feel like” logging on to chat with a tutor, or would rather address their concerns in
person.
While it seems obvious to point out, another weakness of the service is that no one knows
about it, which means that students don’t yet know that it could be of use to them. The majority
of respondents to the student surveys (over 60%) indicated that they had not heard of chat, which
means they answered all following questions without previous knowledge about the service. But
the few students who were asked about the service during chat sessions claimed it was a useful
and surprising resource. The contradiction between answers of “this could be a useful tool” and
“I would not be likely to use it” could be due to the fact that none of them have utilized it yet; if
they were to use the tutor chat, their opinions may change.
22. P a g e | 21
Recommendations
General Recommendations
The vast majority of students find out about academic resources through official
channels; that is, via their teachers and through various JMU webpages. This means that it would
be helpful to directly ask teachers to advertise the service in some way. It would also be useful to
forward information about the UWC chat through word of mouth, according to phone interviews
and research. This would be accomplished in the following ways:
Conducting in-class presentations in the beginning of the semester (at the request of
teachers who request such a presentation from the UWC)
Asking interested teachers to tell their students about the service in class
Telling prospective students about the service during orientations, presentations, or tours
It may also prove useful to students to add additional features to the chat system. Students
do not seem entirely “on board” with the idea of using a chat system for help in any context,
which carries over to its use for writing help. This issue could be alleviated by utilizing the above
methods, and also by doing the following:
Creating a direct link in Canvas to the chat system (a button like "chat with a librarian")
Adding a long-form essay revision service or a video chat system
Conducting future surveys and focus groups that target student attitudes towards online
services attached to the UWC.
Numerous sets of student answers and research leads have the potential to spark
interesting conversations in the future. Notably, other schools utilize long-form essay revision
services and video chat, and students at JMU may desire something similar because of their
preference for in-depth and in-person interaction with tutors. Surveyed students claim to see the
use in chat but not for them personally, and in-person tutoring services are most popular at JMU.
Adding a “happy medium” could help spur interest in the system.
I suggest conducting follow-up surveys (ideally via Qualtrics) with JMU students in order
to determine what a wider range of the population would desire in an online service. Of
particular interests are questions on why students wouldn’t use the service, as well as what online
services they would prefer to use for tutoring, if any at all. It may prove useful to conduct
surveys or focus groups centered around online services to determine whether or not chat is
catering to student needs and if it should be expanded. Additionally, an automated post-session
survey can be sent to student at the conclusion of a chat to ascertain their immediate opinions of
the service after they finish using it.
Marketing recommendations
The marketing conducted within the project was done to gain a general understanding of
where students usually see information and whether or not traditional advertising techniques
would have positive results. According to survey results, 52 out of the total 68 students surveyed
(76.5%) note that they most often refer to academic, services based on teacher recommendations,
with the next highest result being JMU webpages, by 31 students (45.6%). Because of this, the
23. P a g e | 22
most effective ways to advertise in future semesters would be directly through teachers and
academic websites.
In-class presentations and orientation
A primary method of telling students about the chat service is via in-class presentations.
The UWC already utilizes an introductory presentation delivered in courses whose instructors
request it. The presentation discusses the UWC’s services, the various writing stages at which a
student can ask for writing help, and walks the audience through the steps of booking an
appointment and utilizing other UWC resources. Such a presentation allows students to learn
about the UWC at their instructor’s behest—and presumably with their commendation—which
means that using a presentation to discuss chat with students puts it at the forefront of their mind
with the added benefit of teacher referral. The existing presentation briefly mentions the chat
service, but it could be beneficial to have a slideshow solely dedicated to chat or to devote a
larger portion of the introductory presentation to the service.
In addition to presentations given in courses, more information on chat could be added to
student orientations. Prospective students tour the Student Success Center throughout the
semester, and mentioning the online service to those groups during the portion dedicated to the
UWC could prove useful for helping freshman students immediately know about the chat
system.
Faculty referral
Word-of-mouth is the most powerful tool that can be used to spread the word about the
chat system, and the most potent of these is faculty referral. According the surveys, students take
recommendations from their teachers into account, and asking teachers to place links to the
UWC chat in their syllabi and Canvas sites could be drastically effective; even verbal reminders
could increase future usage. In a similar vein, some students said that they do see emails, so
sending information emails over the JMU student listserv could also garner higher usage. Due to
the use of Canvas as JMU’s academic content management system, I also recommend partnering
with the Center for Instructional Technology to install a “button” that links directly to the UWC
“Chat with a Tutor” page on any Canvas sites who administrators request it.
The advertising methods employed over the course of this project were flyers posted
around campus, table tents in the libraries, and using digital flyers on screens in the libraries.
None of these avenues were harmful, so—due to the novelty of the chat system—I recommend
using traditional marketing in addition to the other methods mentioned. Using print and digital
forms of marketing early in the semester can allow the message to set in the minds of students. It
may also prove useful to utilize stickers to advertise the service on Starbucks cups. With two
venues on campus, it is no secret that Starbucks is visited often by students, so such an
opportunity could be useful.
Chat guidelines
The final recommendation for improving chat usage and perception is to add guidelines
for how to use the system. There has not been an instance of a student asking for help with major
higher-order concerns across an entire essay over chat, which means that students understand the
appropriate use of the system. However, it could be valuable to add guidelines for the system,
especially if usage begins to increase. Such guidelines would include instructions on how to use
the service, a reminder of its hours, and reminders about the fact that higher-order concerns that
24. P a g e | 23
the student may prefer to discuss in-depth with a tutor should be addressed in a traditional
session. These could be housed on the chat page within the UWC site.
25. P a g e | 24
Conclusion
The University Writing Center chat service has the potential to reach a wide variety of
James Madison University students, from traditional students who live on campus to those who
can only utilize distance learning services. Students who have used the service and been asked
about their opinion of it have said it is useful and more people should be made aware of, it which
shows a strong—if small—demographic of students who appreciate the chat system.
This project set out to answer a single question, with three sub-questions, which are
summarily answered below.
How can UWC chat be marketed JMU students?
Students primarily learn about academic resources through their teachers and official
JMU webpages, though they do notice announcements in traditional advertising venues.
For that reason, it would be most effective to push the chat system through JMU faculty,
who then tell their students directly through either in-class announcements, presentations
given by the UWC to individual classes, or through Canvas. Continuing to use
advertisements on campus would also be beneficial.
Who is using chat?
Due to its novelty and underuse, the tutor chat service is being used by a wide array of
students with a wide range of concerns. Topics of chat sessions range from brainstorming
for creative writing, to APA citations, to grammatical concerns. However, the one
attribute all users have in common is that were surprised by the service’s existence, and
some students would like to see it marketed more.
Why are they using it?
Students are using the chat system to efficiently solve their writing concerns. Those who
were asked how they found the service claimed it was because they were visiting the
UWC website and chose to use the chat to solve an issue; so far, the chat is not a sought-
after system.
What questions are they asking, and can these questions be answered effectively in that
medium?
Students are primarily using the chat service to address lower order writing concerns such
as grammar, citation styles, and sentence and paragraph structure. Rarely do students
address higher order concerns, but it is clear from chat transcripts and conversations with
other schools that this system can be used to address a wide variety of concerns.
However, it may prove useful to introduce a secondary avenue such as asynchronous
tutoring or video chat.
The tutor chat service is a valuable service and appreciated by those who utilize it. If the
UWC chooses to continue having a chat system in place, I suggest marketing it through teachers
early on in the fall and spring semesters, and creating chat-specific presentations and guidelines
so that students can learn about the service from their instructors and understand how to use it
immediately.
26. P a g e | 25
Appendices
Appendix A: Survey (WRTC 336 andWRTC 103)
University Writing Center
Tutor Chat Service Usage Survey
Class (ex: WRTC204): _____________________
Year (circle one): Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior
Major: ______________________________________________
Q1: Before taking this survey, did you know about the University Writing Center’s tutor chat
service (also known as “Chat with a tutor”)?
Yes
No
Q2: If you knew about the chat system, how did you find out about it? Check all that apply.
University Writing Center website
Teacher referral
Peer referral
Advertisement on campus (online, print)
Advertisement in dorms or apartments
Email
Other (please state: _____________________)
I did not know about it
Q3: How do you usually find out about resource center services (such as the University Writing
Center, the Communication Center, Academic Planning Center, and the library’s various
resources)? Check all that apply.
JMU webpages
Teacher referral
Peer referral
Advertisement on campus (online, print)
Advertisement in dorms or apartments
Email
Other (please state: _____________________)
Q4: How often do you use resource center services offered by JMU (such as the University
Writing Center, the Communication Center, Career and Academic Planning Center, and the
library’s various resources)?
Very Often
Often
Somewhat Often
Not Often
27. P a g e | 26
Never
Q5: How likely are you to use a chat system for assistance (e.g. customer service, JMU
Libraries, tutor chat, and website aid)?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Neutral
Unlikely
Very unlikely
Q6: How likely are you to use the University Writing Center “Chat with a Tutor” service?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Neutral
Unlikely
Very unlikely
Q7: State how much you agree or disagree with this statement: The ability to chat with a writing
tutor could be a useful tool for students.
Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree
Q8: If you were to use the tutor chat system, what questions do you think you would ask? Check
all that apply.
Grammar and spelling
Citation styles and works cited
Organization
Sentence structure
Thesis, topic sentence, and argument
Other (please state: _____________________________________________)
Q9: How often do you think you might use the tutor chat system this semester?
Very Often
Often
Somewhat Often
Not Often
Never
Q10: What time of day would you be most likely to use the tutor chat system?
Early Morning (6AM to 9AM)
Late Morning (9AM to 12PM)
Afternoon (12PM to 3PM)
28. P a g e | 27
Late Afternoon (3PM to 6PM)
Evening (6PM to 10PM or later)
29. P a g e | 28
Appendix B: Survey (Carrier and Rose Libraries)
University Writing Center
Tutor Chat Service Usage Survey
Year (circle one): Freshman Sophomore Junior Senior Graduate
Major: ______________________________________________
Instructions: Please answer each question, and only check one answer unless asked otherwise.
Q1: Before taking this survey, did you know about the University Writing Center’s tutor chat
service, available Mon-Thurs from 8-10PM (also known as “Chat with a tutor”)?
o Yes
o No
Q2: If you knew about the chat system, how did you find out about it? Check all that apply.
o University Writing Center website
o Teacher referral
o Peer referral
o Advertisement on campus (online, print)
o Advertisement in dorms or apartments
o Email
o Other (please state: _____________________)
o I did not know about it
Q3: How do you usually find out about resource center services (such as the University Writing
Center, the Communication Center, Academic Planning Center, and the library’s various
resources)? Check all that apply.
o JMU webpages
o Teacher referral
o Peer referral
o Advertisement on campus (online, print)
o Advertisement in dorms or apartments
o Email
o Other (please state: _____________________)
Q4: How often do you use resource center services offered by JMU (such as the University
Writing Center, the Communication Center, Career and Academic Planning Center, and the
library’s various resources)?
o Very Often
o Often
o Somewhat Often
o Not Often
o Never
30. P a g e | 29
Q5: How likely are you to use a chat system for assistance (e.g. customer service, JMU
Libraries, tutor chat, and website aid)?
o Very likely
o Somewhat likely
o Neutral
o Unlikely
o Very unlikely
Q6: How likely are you to use the University Writing Center’s “Chat with a Tutor” service?
o Very likely
o Somewhat likely
o Neutral
o Unlikely
o Very unlikely
Q7: State how much you agree or disagree with this statement: The ability to chat with a writing
tutor could be a useful tool for students.
o Strongly agree
o Agree
o Neutral
o Disagree
o Strongly disagree
Q8: If you were to use the tutor chat system, what questions do you think you would ask? Check
all that apply.
o Grammar and spelling
o Citation styles and works cited
o Organization
o Sentence structure
o Thesis, topic sentence, and argument
o Other (please state: _____________________________________________)
Q9: How often do you think you might use the tutor chat system this semester?
o Very Often
o Often
o Somewhat Often
o Not Often
o Never
Q10: What time of day would you be most likely to use the tutor chat system?
o Early Morning (6AM to 9AM)
o Late Morning (9AM to 12PM)
o Afternoon (12PM to 3PM)
o Late Afternoon (3PM to 6PM)
o Evening (6PM to 10PM or later)
31. P a g e | 30
Q11: What are some reasons why you wouldn’t use the tutor chat system? Check all that apply.
o The chat system not fit my needs in a writing consultation.
o The chat hours do not fit my schedule or writing needs (currently Mon-Thurs, 8-10PM).
o The chat hours do fit my schedule but I rarely work on papers during those times.
o I rarely use chat systems for anything
o I rarely ask for or need writing help
o Other (please state: _____________________________________________)
Thank you so much for taking the time to answer these questions!
32. P a g e | 31
Appendix C: Survey (UWC Faculty)
University Writing Center
Tutor Chat System Usage Survey
Writing center faculty
Job title: __________________________
Q1 Have you taught a course while the tutor chat system was available to students?
Yes
No
Q2 If so, what class level did you teach? (Check all that apply)
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Graduate
Q3 Did you refer your students to the tutor chat system?
Yes
No
N/A
Q4 How many of your students reported using the tutor chat system?
1
2
3
4
5+
Q5 What do you think tutor chat is used for?
Grammar and spelling
Citation styles and works cited
Organization
Sentence structure
Thesis, topic sentence, and argument
Other (please state: _____________________)
Q6 How likely do you think students will use the JMU “Chat with a Tutor” service?
Very likely
Somewhat likely
Neutral
Unlikely
Very unlikely
33. P a g e | 32
Q7 How often do you think students will actually use the tutor chat system this semester?
Very Often
Often
Somewhat Often
Not Often
Never
Q8 How useful do you think students perceive the JMU tutor chat system as?
Very Useful
Useful
Somewhat Useful
Not Useful
34. P a g e | 33
Appendix D: Survey Results (Students)
University Writing Center
Chat usage survey
Total respondents: 68 (36 in class, 32 handouts)
Year
In-class Handouts Totals
Freshman 24 6 30
Sophomore 8 9 17
Junior 4 9 13
Senior 0 8 8
Grad 0 0 0
Majors
Major # Major # Major #
Accounting 1 Health Services
Administration
4 Media Arts and Design 6
Biology 2 History 1 Music 1
Business Management 2 Hospitality 1 Nursing 4
Communications 2 Intelligence Analysis 1 Political Science 1
Computer Information
Systems
1 International Affairs 2 Psychology 2
Computer Science 2 International Business 1 Sociology 1
Economics 1 Interdisciplinary Liberal
Studies
3 Social Work 1
English 2 Justice Studies 1 Undecided 1
Finance 1 Kinesiology 3 Writing, Rhetoric, and
Technical Communication
9
Health Sciences 6 Marketing 3
Q1: Before taking this survey, did you know about the University Writing Center’s tutor chat
service, available Mon-Thurs from 8-10PM (also known as “Chat with a tutor”)?
In-class Handouts Totals
Yes 14 (39%) 11 (34%) 25
No 22 (61%) 21 (66%) 43
Q2: If you knew about the chat system, how did you find out about it? Check all that apply.
In class Handouts Totals
UWC site 11 2 13
Teacher referral 8 5 13
Peer referral 0 4 4
Ad on campus 1 5 6
Ad in
dorms/apartments
0 0 0
Email 0 0 0
35. P a g e | 34
Other 2 0 2
Didn’t know 21 21 42
Q3: How do you usually find out about resource center services (such as the University Writing
Center, the Communication Center, Academic Planning Center, and the library’s various
resources)? Check all that apply.
In class Handouts Totals
JMU webpages 16 15 31
Teacher referral 31 21 52
Peer referral 13 5 18
Ad on campus 14 8 22
Ad in
dorms/apartments
7 3 10
Email 1 12 27
Other 1 0 1
Q4: How often do you use resource center services offered by JMU (such as the University
Writing Center, the Communication Center, Career and Academic Planning Center, and the
library’s various resources)?
In class Handouts Totals
Very often 0 0 0
Often 2 4 6
Somewhat often 13 9 22
Not often 15 14 29
Never 6 5 11
Q5: How likely are you to use a chat system for assistance (e.g. customer service, JMU
Libraries, tutor chat, and website aid)?
In class Handouts Totals
Very likely 4 0 4
Somewhat likely 10 6 16
Neutral 13 9 22
Unlikely 6 12 18
Very unlikely 3 5 8
Q6: How likely are you to use the University Writing Center’s “Chat with a Tutor” service?
In class Handouts Totals
Very likely 2 0 2
Somewhat likely 8 8 16
Neutral 14 6 20
Unlikely 10 14 24
Very unlikely 2 4 6
Q7: State how much you agree or disagree with this statement: The ability to chat with a writing
tutor could be a useful tool for students.
36. P a g e | 35
In class Handouts Totals
Strongly agree 14 10 24
Agree 18 20 38
Neutral 4 2 6
Disagree 0 0 0
Strongly disagree 0 0 0
Q8: If you were to use the tutor chat system, what questions do you think you would ask? Check
all that apply.
In class Handouts Totals
Grammar and
spelling
18 16 34
Citations styles and
works cited
28 (77.8%) 22 (68.8%) 50
Organization 14 9 23
Sentence structure 13 9 22
Thesis, topic sentence,
and argument
21 17 38
Other 1 0 1
Q9: How often do you think you might use the tutor chat system this semester?
In class Handouts Totals
Very often 0 0 0
Often 2 2 4
Somewhat often 18 10 28
Not often 14 14 28
Never 1 6 7
Did not answer 1 1
Q10: What time of day would you be most likely to use the tutor chat system?
In class Handouts Totals
Early Morning (6AM
to 9AM)
0 2 2
Late Morning (9AM
to 12PM)
3 6 9
Afternoon (12PM to
3PM)
3 6 9
Late Afternoon (3PM
to 6PM)
10 15 25
Evening (6PM to
10PM or later)
31 17 48
Q11: What are some reasons why you wouldn’t use the tutor chat system? Check all that apply.
[exclusive to handout surveys]
37. P a g e | 36
In class Handouts
The chat systemdoes not fit
my needs in a writing
consultation.
7
The chat hours do not fit
my schedule or writing
needs (currently Mon-
Thurs, 8-10PM).
5
The chat hours do fit my
schedule but I rarely work
on papers during those
times.
1
I rarely use chat systems for
anything
15
I rarely ask for or need
writing help
15
Other (please state) 2
38. P a g e | 37
Appendix E: Survey Results(Faculty)
University Writing Center
Chat usage survey
Total faculty respondents: 5
Q1 Have you taught a course while the tutor chat system was available to students?
Amount of faculty respondents
Yes 4
No 1
Q2 If so, what class level did you teach? (Check all that apply)
Class level Amount of faculty respondents
Freshman 3
Sophomore 2
Junior 3
Senior 3
Graduate 0
Q3 Did you refer your students to the tutor chat system?
Amount of faculty respondents
Yes 4
No 1
Not applicable 0
Q4 How many of your students reported using the tutor chat system?
Amount of students Amount of faculty respondents
One 0
Two 0
Three 0
Four 0
Five or more 0
Q5 What do you think tutor chat is used for?
Faculty respondents
Grammar and spelling 3
Citations styles and works cited 4
Organization 1
Sentence structure 2
Thesis, topic sentence, and argument 1
Other 2
(“I don't have enough experience with the
chat to know. Only once instance when I was
tutoring, did I writer use the chat to ask about
hours of operation.”)
(“LOC's”)
39. P a g e | 38
Q6 How likely do you think students will use the JMU “Chat with a Tutor” service?
Faculty respondents
Very likely 2
Somewhat likely 1
Neutral 1
Unlikely 1
Very unlikely 0
Q7 How often do you think students will actually use the tutor chat system this semester?
Faculty respondents
Very often 0
Often 0
Somewhat often 4
Not often 1
Never 0
Q8 How useful do you think students perceive the JMU tutor chat system as?
Faculty respondents
Very useful 0
Useful 2
Somewhat useful 2
Not useful 1
Q9 Ideally, what do you think that the UWC tutor chat service should be used for?
“Ideally, the chat service can provide the same kind of help the UWC provides in f2f
sessions.”
“I do not think many JMU students know about the UWC chat system. If they do know
about it, they probably know that there was no one available for chatting this past
semester. I did not point my first-year writing sections this past semester to the tutor chat
because I knew chat staffing would be unreliable/non-existent. This semester, with
regular dedicated chat hours (prime writing hours when the UWC is not open), I will be
very interested in the demand and the kind of concerns that writers present. I might
expect that the concerns will be last late order concerns, in which UWC tutors are asked
for help in addressing really local and almost impossible questions regarding citations,
with UWC tutors not able to appreciate--or to reference--the larger question or the
writing context. This is a low bar, but I would hope that a growing number of tutor chat
sessions are nothing like what I've imagined above.”
“Very specific questions and short interactions, but that depends on the writer's agency--
on holding ownership of the paper, and feeling confident on their own revisions.”
“A convenient option for getting small-scale feedback on writing. This will be especially
helpful for students enrolled in online programs (who don't live in Harrisonburg).”
40. P a g e | 39
Appendix F: Flyer (“Writing Emergency”)
45. P a g e | 44
21. Guest81619284 2015-10-28
19:30:08
13 min,
33 sec
Lower Citation (APA)
22. Brittany 2015-10-21
12:39:49
2 min, 32
sec
Higher Brainstorming/assignment
question (cover letter)
23. Guest68652496 2015-10-15
15:20:43
8 min, 28
sec
Lower Sentence structure (run-on
and flow)
24. Heena Chalishajar 2015-10-02
11:36:31
15 min,
34 sec
Services Help w/ high school essay
25. Susan 2015-09-23
21:18:08
2 min, 38
sec
Lower Grammar, sentences
(passive vs active voice)
26. Sean 2015-09-22
19:16:15
5 min, 18
sec
Lower Grammar, became a
referral due to lengthier
concerns
27. Guest29974716 2015-09-21
19:17:46
9 min, 6
secs
Higher Transitions and structure
(creative writing)
28. Guest98779417 2015-09-21
18:49:10
20 min,
27 sec
Higher Opening/brainstorming
(creative writing)
29. Tina (part 2) 2015-09-20
18:55:10
5 min, 42
sec
Higher Introduction writing
30. Tina (part 1) 2015-09-20
18:26:26
23 min,
49 sec
Higher Introduction writing
31. Stephen Lovern 2015-09-14
15:22:38
37 min,
25 sec
Higher Comprehension and
clarity, became a referral
46. P a g e | 45
Appendix K: Bibliography
Grabill, Jeff and Stacey Pigg. “The Writing Lives of College Students: Revisualizing
Composition Study Group A WIDE Survey and Whitepaper.” North (2010): n. pag. Print.
Naylor, Sharon, Bruce Stoffel, and Sharon Van Der Laan. "Why Isn't Our Chat Reference Used
More: Finding of Focus Group Discussions with Undergraduate Students." Reference &
User Services Quarterly 47.4 (2008): 342-354. Print.
Sun, Pei-Chen et al. “What Drives a Successful E-Learning? An Empirical Investigation of the
Critical Factors Influencing Learner Satisfaction.” Computers & Education 50 (2008):
1183–1202. Web.
