By Moss Geren – Writing Specialist

I was sweating when Billie Jo Dunaway, our Writing Center Associate Director, told me I was going to be embedded in a few classes in Spring 2023. Tutoring students and working with social media came naturally to me, but something about embedding seemed far too fancy and technical. I was shadowing my coworkers during meetings and having them double-check my emails to professors– they were very patient with me. In short, I was a Writing Specialist with a bachelor's degree, but I was still adjusting to my new job under the guidance of people who have been here longer.

It was a relief when the students actually started visiting. Working with students is what I do, so it was super helpful to know their assignments beforehand. Yes, it was slightly different, but it was something I was accustomed to.

Still, there were the dreaded weekly check-ins where I would have to send out an email to students or post an announcement. We do this to connect with the students and share resources with them. I wasn’t sure what to send at first! I was spending way too much time in the course shells trying to figure out what would help the students with their assignments.

Strangely, as my list of classes grew, I became less overwhelmed by them. I didn’t have enough time to be super personal with every embedded course. Instead, I started sending links about writing in general– and discovered that’s what my coworkers were doing anyway. I sent them emails about Purdue Owl’s sample papers, DSC’s resume toolkit, and more. After that, my embedded classes started to become just another part of the job. It’s basically tutoring with a few extra gadgets.

I am far from an expert at this whole embedding business, but it’s much more transparent to me now; I’m at ease in the office with windows for walls that is the Writing Center.