Contact Information
Location: Pelletier Library
Phone: 332-2898
Email: learningcommons@allegheny.edu
Website
Professional Staff Services
The professional staff are available Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for assistance with study skills, time management, and academic advising. Students often meet with the Learning Commons staff to complete a four-year academic plan, develop a daily study schedule, get help understanding the nuances of syllabi, and discuss effective study strategies. The professional staff are available to go to FS classes to present on any of the before mentioned topics.
Academic Performance Reports (APRs)
Academic Performance Reports (APRs) are Allegheny College’s academic alert system. Built into WebAdvisor and accessible through class or advising rosters, this system allows faculty to share concerns with the Learning Commons and other appropriate staff in a way that is easy to track and archive. APRs are the primary means through which the Learning Commons and others become aware that a student may need additional help understanding course material or developing better study skills. Once submitted, APRs become part of a student’s official educational record and so are subject to FERPA.
Summary of APRs
- Course instructors and academic advisors should submit APRs when they have concerns about the level of a student’s work, if they believe that students need to be connected to resources, if students are missing significant amounts of class time, or if they have other concerns that they wish to document.
- Submitting an APR generates one or more e-mails, to the student if the applicable selection was made, and to the Learning Commons and other appropriate staff including varsity coaches. Students are NOT sent the specific concerns enumerated or comments made.
- Advisors should respond to APRs based on the nature of the circumstances, what they know about the student, and what the instructor suggests as a recourse.
- In defined circumstances, the advisor is the designated responder to the APR – in the Fall semester when a first-semester first-year or transfer student receives their first APR and when any student receives an APR advising they take an ‘X’ in the course.
- End of semester APRs are important, even though the term has ended.
- You may also submit an APR to refer a student for leadership/competitive scholarship/internship opportunities.
- APRs are subject to FERPA.
- Advisors should document APRs in a student’s file.
See Academic Performance Reports for an elaboration on these points.
Tutoring
The Learning Commons coordinates tutoring support in a variety of disciplines. There is course specific, drop-in and individual tutoring. Tutors are upper class students who have been recommended by faculty and trained in their roles. They are paid through the work/study program. There is NO additional charge to students who ask for a tutor. Because we have a limited number of individual tutors, the Learning Commons asks that all students attend drop-in and/or course specific tutoring twice before applying for individual tutoring.
Writing and Speaking Consultants
Drop-in consultation hours are from 3-5 pm and 7-11 pm Sunday through Thursday. Students may schedule appointments through the Google Calendar online scheduling service or go to the Learning Commons and ask to meet with a consultant on a first-come, first-served basis. Drop-in consultations last for 30 minutes and begin and end on the hour and half hour. Consultants are available to do brief (5-10 minute) class presentations in which they offer an overview of consultations and the processes for drop-ins and matches.
Writing Consultants
Writing Consultants assist and support writers of all skill levels at any stage of a writer’s process. Consultants are not professional editors or proofreaders; by acting as skilled audience members and rhetorical listeners, they help writers see their strengths and give them strategies to improve their shortcomings. Consultants actively engage with writers by asking questions, giving feedback, and demonstrating techniques that writers can apply to future writing tasks. Another option is to request a matched writing consultant. A writing match is a semester-long commitment, and works best for students serious about meeting regularly with a consultant to work intensively on their writing.
Faculty may contact the Director of Writing, Alexis Hart, to schedule in-class consultations in which two or more writing consultants conduct group and/or individual consultations with students during a regularly scheduled class meeting. Consultants are available to conduct workshops in class or outside of class on focused topics such as invention/brainstorming, thesis statements, organization, documentation, etc. Please contact the Director of Writing to request a workshop.
Speaking Consultants
Speaking Consultants are trained to assist students across the curriculum with crafting and improving an array of oral messages such as speeches, class presentations, and leading class discussions. Consultants are not trained to teach public speaking; rather, they act as an audience with knowledge of effective oral message design and performance, asking students to consider the efficacy of the communicative strategies in light of their audience, the occasion for the presentation, and its purpose. Consultants do not just address the performative dimensions (delivery) of oral messages, they can support and assist students at any point of the inventional process including: selecting a topic, generating supporting ideas, organizing ideas and questions. Faculty may contact the Director of Speaking, Jon Wiebel, to schedule a mock consultation in which two speaking consultants demonstrate the consultation process. Mock consultations, lasting (15-20 minutes), model the process students will engage in during a speaking consultation.
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