University Writing Center

Chat with us

Online Consultation Instructions

Consulting with Zoom

  1. At the start of your shift, log into your UWC business UTmail account and pull up the UWC Slack. You are expected to be available on Slack throughout all of your shifts.
    • Use Google Chrome because it has the best integration with Zoom
    • Tip: Log into your account in an incognito browser window so that you don’t accidentally switch back to your default personal account.
  2. Check Symplicity regularly throughout your shift to see if you have an appointment. Symplicity does not send automatic emails for all changes to appointments, so we expect you to check Symplicity directly for the most up-to-date information. Be sure to check Symplicity in the minutes leading up to each of your appointment start times.
  3. If you are booked, check the Appointment Type column too see whether this appointment is in-person or online/remote. Much of the appointment process will remain the same for both in-person and online consultations.
  4. If this is an in-person consultation, you will get the intake form when your student checks in. Once you get the intake form, that means that your student has connected with the desk. Then, you will get a second notification from the front desk when your student has physically entered the writing center for their appointment. Once you get the second notification, you may walk up to the front desk, greet your student, and guide them back to your station for the consultation.
  5. If this is an online consultation, you will get the intake form as usual when your student checks in. Once you get the intake form, that means that your student has connected with the desk. Even if your student doesn’t immediately join the video conference through Zoom, do not leave the meeting.
    • If the student doesn’t join the video conference a few minutes after you get the intake form, check whether the student has been invited to Zoom event for the appointment. If not, invite them using their email address listed in the intake automated email. You can also invite them directly to the Zoom meeting by clicking on the people icon in the top right corner and clicking “Add People.”
    • If the student still hasn’t joined after you take these steps, contact the front desk through the chat function to request additional help at uwc.utexas.edu.
  6. Once the student joins you and you have greeted them and explained our policies as usual, talk to the student about their priorities and goals for the consultation.
  7. Ask the student to share their screen so that you can see their paper.
    • If sharing the screen causes glitches (like the sound cuts out or the display looks weird), the first thing you should try is to have the student open a different browser (if they are using Chrome, try Safari, etc). If that’s still not working, the student may share the paper with you through Google Docs. However, only do this if screen sharing isn’t working. 
      • After the appointment, you will need to delete the paper from your Drive so you no longer have access to it.
    • If the student is having audio problems, they can call into the meeting using their phone while staying in the meeting using their computer for the video. If your student chooses to use both their phone and their computer in the same meeting, they will need to turn the volume all the way down and mute the microphone on their computer to avoid feedback.
  8. At the end of the appointment, ask the student to fill out the exit poll. The student should have received an email with the link to the form after they checked in for the appointment. You can also send them the link directly (you no longer need to fill out the first page for them. They just need to know your name to fill out the first page, just make sure the student knows your name.)
  9. Return to the intake email and click on the same “Edit Submission” link that you used to access the agenda section. Click on “UWC consultant filling out the note” for the first question to get to the note section of the form. Fill out the note as usual.

Create your UWC business UTmail

We don’t want you to use your personal email to do online consultations, so you are required to set up a business UTmail account to use for UWC online consultations. If you are an intern: you cannot create this new account until you are officially a UT employee.

  1. Go to https://utmail.utexas.edu/
  2. Click “Create an account”
  3. Click “Create an account” again on the next page
  4. Choose “Login using my UT Electronic ID (EID)”
  5. Log in
  6. Review privacy information and choose “I agree” at the bottom
  7. Create an account called “uwc[firstname][lastname]” @ utexas.edu
    • For example, uwcrachelforsyth@utexas.edu
  8. Create a password and choose BUSINESS use
  9. Create the account
  10. Email Michele (micsol@austin.utexas.edu) from your new account once you have created it.
  11. You must set up two-factor authentication, or you will be locked out of your business account.

If you have any questions about this process, contact Michele or Emma.