My guest blogger today is Travis Mann, from the department of Business, Government, and Technical Communications. I met Travis in the smoke from wieners cooking on a little grill during a River Bat Bash at Cypress. By the time we finished our conversation, they’d run out of hot dogs. Next best thing: a trip to the learning lab.
Travis Mann in his native habitat, the learning lab
They didn’t want to go. Audible sighs. Eye rolls behind my back. Quick checks of phones to see if they could find a last-minute excuse. Nothing would save them.
“Field trip!” I had announced after the break. “We’re heading to the Learning Lab to see how the tutors there can help you.”
Students grabbed their bags and slouched to the door as I tried to encourage them that this would be “fun” and “Interesting.” They obviously didn’t believe me. Earlier when asked if anyone had ever used a tutor at the Learning Lab, only one student raised her hand. The others simply looked bored.
This, I silently thought, is going to be one long semester.
I know about the great stuff that happens at the Cypress Creek Learning Lab as I became a tutor at the start of the 2017 Fall semester. When I was at Texas Christian University, I had managed the Writing Associates Program, a tutoring program that connected writing tutors with students taking writing-intensive courses. I know the benefits of someone reading through a text and offering suggestions.
When we entered the Lab, I began talking up the benefits. Not only writing help, but algebra, statistics, physics and pharmacology – we had experts readily available to help with myriad subjects.
My task, however, was to convince my Business, Government, and Technical Communication students that a writing tutor would help them think through and craft better Process Analyses, Instructions, Procedure Manuals, and other assignments I would toss at them during the semester.
“It’s FREE!” I always tell my students. “The Learning Lab is part of the student services fees that everyone pays, so not actually free. Almost without fail, though, students who use the Lab generally make higher grades on papers.”
That perked them up. I told them that tutors can help with using MLA and other styles as well as grammar, organization, and other writing issues that typically crop up with each new class.
Learning Lab head honcho Flor Mota stepped out of her office to tell the students even more about the lab. She reminded them that, no, writing tutors won’t proofread their papers. However, she reiterated what I had been telling them: tutors would help them find areas in their writing that needed work.
Finally, they seemed to grasp how they could use the lab for their benefit.
As we walked out, I was about to mention that the lab didn’t cost anything when a student exclaimed, “Yes, Mr. Mann, we know, we know. It’s FREE.”
Travis Mann, MA
Adjunct Professor,
Department of Business, Government, and Technical Communications
