Beginning this semester, all tutoring services on campus will use TutorTrac, a new online system that hopes to allow students to make tutoring appointments with greater ease.
The Oral Communication Center began using TutorTrac to schedule students last spring, and this fall, other tutoring resources like the Writing Center, the QSR, and the Language Center are following suit in an effort to standardize the scheduling process for all Hamilton students.
Explaining the motivation to switch to TutorTrac, Jennifer Ambrose, Director of the Writing Center, says, “The OCC, QSR, and Writing Center have implemented online scheduling and appointment management through TutorTrac in order to make it more convenient for students across campus to use our services.
“The system uses the same interface for each Center, creating consistency in the scheduling process. It is also available on any digital device (including mobile and tablet). We hope that this will help students more easily find available appointments at times that work for them.”
Katherine Barnes ’20 attests to the convenience of using this new system, saying, “I love the ease of TutorTrac in making appointments with the OCC and Writing Center. The OCC used to have online appointments set up, but the Writing Center didn’t. Now, I don’t have to walk in or call. And I get to see what the schedule looks like while I’m making the appointment.”
Kyra Richardson ’21, a tutor at the Writing Center, notes that this new system is not only easier for academic centers and the students that utilize them but also helps tutors more effectively prepare for their appointments.
“As a tutor, I think the main advantage I see is that TutorTrac requires students to explain their goals for the conference,” said Richardson. “Writing out goals, as opposed to speaking them out with the prior system, allows you to really reflect upon and flesh out your actual purpose for visiting each center. Also, TutorTrac is just bureaucratically easier, particularly when determining which classes require which assignments.”
In transitioning to TutorTrac, academic centers around campus say they prioritized the students that use their services and the new system will offer a user-friendly, organized, and helpful scheduling process that encourages students to make appointments, reflect on their assignments, engage with tutors, and stay well-connected to the available resources on campus.
