Technical Communication Lab Tutor Manual

Technical Communication Lab Tutor Manual

By Leith McMillan

Table of Contents iii

Table of Contents

Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iii

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... v

Opening and Closing Procedures .................................................................................................... 1

Opening Procedures .................................................................................................................... 3

Closing Procedures ...................................................................................................................... 4

Familiarizing With Lab Orientations .............................................................................................. 5

Practicing Lab Orientations ......................................................................................................... 7

Most Commonly Requested Orientations ................................................................................... 8

Managing Common Student Scenarios ........................................................................................... 9

Helping Foreign and Aged Students ......................................................................................... 11

Helping Problem Students ......................................................................................................... 12

Preparing for Manual Season ........................................................................................................ 13

Common Problems .................................................................................................................... 15

Preparing for a Busy Day .......................................................................................................... 16

Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 17

Index ............................................................................................................................................. 19

Introduction v

Introduction This manual serves to help tutors acclimate themselves to the working environment of the Technical Communication Lab (TCL). If you are a new tutor, welcome. Training week covered lots of material regarding customer service and technical applications of the software in the lab. In this manual, you will find the most important points revisited, along with helpful tips to keep in mind throughout the semester. This manual by no means contains everything you need to know for your job as a tutor in the TCL, but it should provide help in common situations, as well as make you more comfortable with the lab’s procedures and policies.

Opening and Closing Procedures

Opening and Closing Procedures 3

Tutors must arrive at the lab at 7:30 a.m. to open it by 7:50 a.m. At the end of each work day, tutors will close and exit the lab at 10 p.m. (4 p.m. on Fridays). Opening and closing tutors have different responsibilities for the lab and equipment inside it at the start and end of each day.

Opening Procedures Before opening the lab for students, you must complete the following steps:

1. Disarm the alarm. The code to disarm the alarm is 1-2-3-4-5-6.

2. Unlock the lab. The keys to the lab are hanging on a hook behind the door to room 310.

3. Turn on all fans, printers, computer monitors, and projectors. To turn on a projector, use the power button on either the remote or the side of the projector.

4. Check the printers for paper and ink levels. The LCD screen displays ink levels—see picture below.

4 Technical Communication Lab Tutor Manual

Closing Procedures You must complete the following steps before closing the lab for the day:

1. Clean all white boards in the classrooms. You can find the cleaning solvent behind the tutor desk—pictured below.

2. Turn off fans, printers, computer monitors, and projectors. Projectors need to cool for one minute before shutting off completely.

3. Lock the lab. Check the doorknob to ensure the door locks properly.

4. Arm the alarm. The code to arm the alarm is 6-5-4-3-2-1.

Note: Male tutors need to walk female tutors to their cars if they work a closing shift together.

Familiarizing With Lab Orientations

Familiarizing With Lab Orientations 7

The department of Linguistics and Technical Communication has over 20 sections of TECM 2700, with an average of 25 students in each section. This makes it very important to be confident with the lab orientations to prepare for any questions students may ask.

Practicing Lab Orientations Many students do not use the lab in the first three weeks of each semester, so we recommend you use this opportunity to practice all the orientations and ask any questions you have. Practicing the orientations will help with your confidence in delivery, as well as remind you the ordering of the steps in case you get lost.

Note: Try creating a document a student might make, and see what kinds of problems you encounter.

When you know ahead of time that you will be giving an orientation, go through that orientation’s steps in the orientation binder (pictured below) to prepare. If you are giving a graphics orientation, collect enough stamped color cards for every student in the class.


Most Commonly Requested Orientations Professors request some orientations more often than others. The list below ranks the top 5 most frequently requested orientations that you should practice.

1. Opening Almost every class that uses the TCL requests the opening orientation to inform students about the lab and its policies.

2. Word Graphics Almost all TECM 1700 and 2700 classes will request a graphics orientation to give students color cards and introduce them to picture editing in Microsoft Word.

3. Word Manual Every TECM 2700 class requires some sort of manual project for the semester, and virtually all sections use Microsoft Word.

4. Weebly Almost all TECM 2700 classes use weebly.com to create e-portfolios, and some advanced courses will as well.

5. Word Brochure Most TECM 2700 classes require a brochure project, though not all of them—those that do typically use Microsoft Word.

Managing Common Student Scenarios

Managing Common Scenarios 11

Since many different majors require credit from TECM courses, various types of students will use the lab and need tutor assistance. Some of these students are not comfortable with computers and will need more careful instructions, while others may try to use the lab and staff inappropriately.

Helping Foreign and Aged Students The two groups of people that have the most difficult time understanding orientations and software are international students (who are in the United States for the first time to go to college) and aged students (who are over the age of 30 and unfamiliar with computers). Though these two types of students have different issues with technology, you can take a similar approach to helping both.

• State instructions explicitly With foreign students, you need to be very clear as to what they need to do, since they do not understand English based on context like a native speaker will. With aged students, clarity will help them follow the instructions better since they are unfamiliar with the software.

• Be patient These students often ask questions in which the answers seem obvious, either out of unfamiliarity or nervousness with computers. Answer each question respectfully so they can feel comfortable—if you make them feel like they ask dumb questions, they will only become more afraid of asking for help, and their performance will suffer.

• Give them ways to remember how to solve issues Foreign and aged students often ask for help with the same problem multiple times. If you notice this happening, phrase your response to help the student recognize patterns in the software so that they may understand how to solve problems on their own (i.e. “Every time this happens, click button X”).


Helping Problem Students Some students rely very heavily on tutor assistance, but only because they do not make an effort on their own. Even in these cases, your job as a tutor includes helping the students with the same courtesy you do others. However, your responsibilities only include help with the use of software and formatting. If a student asks for help with anything beyond that (most commonly with style, or a criteria on the rubric specific to their professor), you must remind the student that you help make formatting changes or fix technological issues. Even if you know the answer to their question, other tutors may not. Any additional help you give to students puts your coworkers at a disadvantage if another student asks them the same question expecting an answer.

Other times, a student may demand a printout related to a non-TECM course, or without a color card (if they printed in color—pictured below). Remind that they can only print documents for their TECM course, and that we must punch a color card before giving a color printout. If the student still insists on or attempts to negotiate getting the printout after this, rip the document in half and put it in the recycling bin. If the situation gets worse, tell the student that you are going to call the UNT Police to escort them out (and dial 3000 to call UNT PD if necessary).

Preparing for Manual Season

Preparing for Manual Season 15

Every semester in the week before finals week, the lab gets very busy from TECM 2700 students working on and printing their manual projects—the lab staff refers to this week as “Manual Season.” In addition to this, many students either did not pay attention during their Word Manual orientation, forgot the steps, or decided to create their own manual without the TCL template. This makes preparation for Manual Season extremely important.

Common Problems Most Word Manual issues pertain to page numbering and Page Breaks.

For Page Numbering issues:

• Ensure that Page Numbers are inserted via formatting, not typed manually.

• Open “Header & Footer Tools” to check that odd numbers occur on odd pages and even numbers on even pages.

• Update the Table of Contents to double-check that page numbers register correctly.

For Page Breaks issues:

• Make sure that the student has “Different Odd and Even Pages” selected in the Header and Footer Tools ribbon.

• Verify that all Breaks are Odd Page Breaks by turning on the ¶ tool.

• Unlink all of the headers for odd pages.

Note: You can access the Header & Footer Tools quickly by double-clicking in the header area of a document.


Preparing for a Busy Day When you know the lab has been busy, or will be busy, these provisions can help you assist students in the most efficient ways possible:

• Have a hole-puncher ready for punching color cards.

• Keep the back closet stocked with paper and toner in case either runs out.

• Show multiple students at once how to bind their manuals.

• Bring the additional binding cart from down the hall into the main lab.

• Check documents in the printing queue often—if one reads “Spooling,” make sure the student did not print from a flash drive.

• Stay attentive if you sit—someone will probably need help soon.

Conclusion 17

Conclusion Hopefully this manual clarified some areas of difficulty. Our mission is to serve students in the best way possible, and having prepared, confident tutors is a great way to accomplish that. If you have any questions not covered, or want something explained to you more in-depth, feel free to ask the lab manager or another tutor. Additionally, if you feel you have helpful tips or steps that might make this manual even better, consult our lab administrator about making revisions.

Index 19

Index

C

color card · 12

O

orientations · 7, 8, 11

P

professor · 12

T

TECM · 7, 8, 11, 12, 15

W

Word Manual · 8, 15

Documents

Technical Communication Lab Tutor Manual