About Online Appointments
Online appointments take place in our platform, WCOnline, where you can text chat with a consultant and work interactively on a piece of writing. Some (but not all) consultants are available for voice/video consultations; you can find that information in their bios.
Online appointments are great for Northeastern community members who are on co-op, studying abroad, registered at NU’s global campuses, and taking classes online. We also sometimes offer online appointments when our physical locations are closed (mornings, evenings, and weekends).
Making an Online Appointment
You’ll first need to register for an account and visit WCOnline to select an appointment time. Under “Meet Online?,” be sure to select “Yes – Schedule Online Appointment”
You can attach your writing project to this form, but your consultant probably won’t have time to read it until your appointment begins.
You will get an automated reminder the day before your appointment. Don’t forget to cancel if you can’t make it!
What to Expect
Login to WCOnline at the time of your appointment and click on your appointment (in bright red). Click on: “Start or Join Online Consultation.”
This pulls up your online session. You can use the chat box to message your tutor, and you can copy and paste your paper into the whiteboard to work on it interactively.
Some tutors are available for voice/video consultations (though not all are due to location and other constraints). To launch a video consultation, click on the video icon. If you would prefer voice-only, you can disable or block your computer camera (e.g. with a piece of tape).
FAQ – Online Appointments
Absolutely! Look out for tutors who have “Available for voice/video” in their bios and select appointments with them. If you’re not sure who might be available, please call or email us with an inquiry and we can help set you up with someone who would be available for a phone or video call.
Your tutor may be encountering a technical difficulty; please keep an eye on your email or phone in case we try to reach out with an alternate plan. You can also call us during regular hours or email us if our physical location is closed (contact information is at the bottom of our website).
We recommend exporting your session or copy and pasting notes you’d like to keep into a document.
WCOnline automatically saves the session, and you can revisit your session any time during the semester by finding the appointment and clicking on “Start or Join Consultation” to pull up the old session. However, once we close the semester’s schedule, you won’t be able to find your session again.
The Writing Center seeks to accommodate writers who need special arrangements for whatever reason. If you feel you need more time in your session, please email k.gonso@northeastern.edu to discuss your needs. We can extend the length of individual sessions, the amount of weekly appointments, or the platforms we use for conducting tutoring, among other things.