Skip to Main Content
Student Success Excellence and Expertise

The Benefits of a Writing Consultant Classroom Visit

Classes are well underway at Miami University, and before long, students will have to write papers and projects to submit for grading. Faculty can better prepare their students for their written assignments by introducing them to the Howe Writing Center and the Howe Center for Business Writing. Faculty can have a writing consultant visit their classroom to cover what students can expect from writing consultations, the different types of consultations offered by the HWC, and how to schedule consultations.

Student Success Excellence and Expertise

The Benefits of a Writing Consultant Classroom Visit

Classes are well underway at Miami University, and before long, students will have to write papers and projects to submit for grading. Faculty can better prepare their students for their written assignments by introducing them to the Howe Writing Center and the Howe Center for Business Writing. Faculty can have a writing consultant visit their classroom to cover what students can expect from writing consultations, the different types of consultations offered by the HWC, and how to schedule consultations.

Ally Britton-Heitz, a consultant with the Howe Writing Center, frequently visits classrooms to inform students and faculty alike about the opportunities for writing support provided by the HWC. “[Visiting classrooms] is really interesting, to provide that opportunity and provide that understanding of what the Writing Center is and who it can serve,” she says. “There are students from a lot of different disciplines… and so there are students with a lot of different perspectives.”

Britton-Heitz also recalls her own experiences as a first-year student at Miami, including her first experience making an appointment with the Howe Writing Center. “The first writing center appointment I ever made was a live online my first semester… and I didn’t want to walk to King,” she says, citing the different modalities as a key highlight of working with the HWC. “You don’t have to meander over to King, and you don’t have to be an English major. You don’t even have to be writing a paper. You can be brainstorming. You can be doing a PowerPoint. [The classroom visit] just gives you a greater understanding.”

The peer-to-peer connection that a classroom visit provides can also benefit students and make a difference in their decision to seek out writing help. “A lot of the time, it wasn’t a professor telling us to go to the Writing Center or telling us to work on something. It was a peer who had the class before, or an upperclassman who was really good at looking over your papers, and you kind of wanted to give that to other people,” Britton-Heitz says. “This isn’t just some editing software your professor wants you to use. This is someone your age, perhaps someone who’s gone through a very similar experience, who is capable of helping you, no matter what discipline it is.”

What to Expect from a Classroom Visit

Classroom visits are great ways to introduce students to what the Howe Writing Center and Howe Center for Business Writing can do for them. Faculty can expect the following from a writing consultant classroom visitation:

  • These visits are short; they only last about ten minutes, meaning that they can easily fit into the day’s agenda and will not interfere with instruction.
  • The consultant will introduce themselves, show a PowerPoint presentation, and discuss the different types of writing consultation appointments students can make.
  • The consultant will show students how to make an account in the HWC’s online scheduling platform, as well as how to schedule a consultation.

How to Sign Up for a Classroom Visit

Signing up for a classroom visit is easy and can be done through the Howe Writing Center website. Simply go to the Howe Writing Center’s website and use the embedded form to request a classroom visit. Faculty can also find helpful syllabi and Canvas language to include in their instructional materials.

The earlier faculty can introduce students to the Howe Writing Center, the more time they have throughout their academic journey at Miami to leverage the services offered. Through writing consultant classroom visitations, faculty can effectively maximize their students’ potential to succeed with written assignments.