How do I access the EOU Online Writing Lab website?

The url for the EOU OWL is http://www.eou.edu/writelab/

To find the site on the EOU Homepage, you can go to the "Student" page and click on "Student Affairs Site Map" and then click on "Online Writing Lab."

Who may use the OWL?

At present only EOU DDE students may submit drafts online. All EOU students may use the other services that the OWL provides, such as the "Resources for Writers" pages.

How does a tutor receive an online draft for responding?

Students who want to submit drafts must first register on the OWL. The registration process is simple. The registration form is on the "Submit an Initial Draft" page. Students need register only once per school year.

Students submit drafts by completing the "Submit an Initial Draft" form on the OWL (see attachment). When the student writer clicks on "Submit," the draft goes through the OWL to the "writelab" email account housed in the Writing Lab computer near the Writing Tutor Schedule Board.

The OWL manager checks the email account several times a day to record submitted drafts and send them on to tutors' email addresses (usually DDE submissions) , or leaves them on the writelab account for writing tutors to respond to from the Writing Lab, ideally working in pairs (usually on-campus student submissions).

With whom can I collaborate on my response?

Responding online can be very challenging, and it is hard on a tutor to work in isolation. To remedy this, a tutor has some options. First, the OWL manager expects to work with writing tutors who desire collaboration. This can be achieved by email or face to face dialogue in the Writing Lab, depending on the OWL manager's schedule. When tutors are working in the lab, using the Writing Lab computer, we will encourage and try to arrange for paired responses.

We encourage writing tutors to collaborate, for it is often in dialogue with each other that we can best serve the student writer and achieve excellence in tutor practice.

How much time should I spend responding online?

Although face-to-face sessions are usually 30 minutes long, we expect that online tutoring will take from 45 minutes to an hour. If at first responding takes a bit longer, do not be concerned. As you tutor more, you will develop your skills and take less time. Keep in mind that you are not expected online, just as you are not expected face-to-face, to respond to everything in the draft. Just as in a face-to-face session, a tutor needs to set priorities and find a focus for the session. It is best not to overload the student (see Guide for Responding section).

How do I keep track of my online tutoring hours?

Tutors should record their hours on a pink (instead of the face-to-face lab yellow) "Writing Tutorial Attendance" Sheet. As some of you will be working from home, you may take the pink sheet with you, but then you must be sure the pink sheet gets to Shirley Crabtree every Friday if the form is getting full, or otherwise every other Friday.

Be sure to also keep a purple "Student Writer Roster" on which you record student writers' emails and phone numbers, as well as other information from the submission sheet you think is useful.

What do I do when I have finished responding to a draft?

Email the response to 2 places: to the student's email address and copy your response to the OWL.
OWL email address is writelab@eou.edu.

Why do I need to copy my response to the OWL email address?

We are going to archive responses not only to keep a record of OWL use to get funding, but also in case a student pulls the "But I worked with a tutor" trick to get out of not owning a draft and not making recommended changes. Also, we will use the archive for training tutors, and will get your permission if we use your responses as models.