You can book an appointment with a tutor using our Penji schedule.

If it’s you first time using Penji, you’ll get a pop-up saying your account wasn’t found. Click “continue” and you’ll be brought directly in.

You can also download the Penji app for faster access to the schedule and other features, like the chat (let the tutor know if you’re running late) and notifications (reminders for upcoming appointments).

1. On the A&L Penji landing page, choose the type of appointment you need:

• Tutoring Session (60 minutes) — deeper feedback, longer pieces, getting work done together

• Quick Question Session (30 minutes) — a few specific questions and/or less than 1 page text

• Language Partner Session (60 minutes) — practice speaking and other skills in English, discuss new vocabulary

2. Choose the project or topic you want to discuss in your appointment.

3. Select a day and time (you can also filter by location: online or in person); then choose among the available tutors to work with.

4. Answer a few questions about the appointment, review all your choices, and confirm the appointment booking.

You can see all your upcoming appointments back on the landing page under “Your Activity.” Click any appointment to see the details and to share feedback by submitting a Session Log.

Weekly Tutoring or Language Partner Sessions are available. Reach out if you’re interested.

All peer tutors work with any student on any written, spoken, or visual communication project and English language questions within those projects. The online schedule will show the profiles of the tutors available, and you can always see their bios on our website.

Maya Krisnky, Associate Director for Multilingual Learning, and Maria Thompson, Multilingual Learning Specialist, provide English-language and curricular support for multilingual students. They are available for Language Partner sessions through our Penji schedule and for other supports via their calendly links.

Anne West, Grad Thesis Faculty Mentor, works only with graduate students on their thesis writing; to arrange an appointment with Anne, please contact us.

You can choose whether to meet in-person at A&L or synchronously online when making your appointment.

If you make an in-person appointment, you will meet your tutor at A&L: come to 15 West; in the lobby, use the second bank of elevators (past Portfolio cafe) to get to the 2nd floor; take a right when you get off the elevator and we’re at the end of the hall.

If you made an “online” appointment, you will find the Zoom link in the appointment details in Penji. Please log in from a quiet, private space where you don’t need to wear a mask; this will make video chat easier for you and the tutor.

Think about what you’d like help with and prioritize one or two things you want to accomplish. We can’t do everything in a typical one-hour session, so we try to hone in on what you feel you need. Follow-up visits, during which tutors review your progress, are encouraged.

Be ready to share your materials, including any drafts, outlines, and notes about what you're working on. For a class assignment, please bring the course syllabus, the assignment sheet, and any comments you may have received from your instructor already. For research papers, you should also know what documentation style your instructor prefers.

Yes, meeting regularly with the same tutor is a popular option. Weekly appointments provide the security of regularly scheduled meetings and the benefit of building a relationship with a tutor who understands your goals and needs.

If you wish to schedule a weekly Tutoring Session or Language Partner Session, please reach out.

We ask everyone to cancel appointments you cannot keep at least 24 hours in advance so that others have an opportunity to book that time. However, we understand that emergencies come up, and ask you to cancel even at the last minute.

To cancel an appointment:

1. Log in to our Penji schedule.

2. Click on the appointment you need to cancel.

3. Click the menu in the upper right corner (three dots) and choose “cancel this appointment.”

Please contact us if you need to cancel or reschedule weekly meetings.

If you don’t show up to an appointment or are more than 10 minutes late, it will be marked as a no-show. Three no-show appointments within 30 days will deactivate your account for the following 90 days.

This policy is vital to our serving as many RISD students as possible. Our schedule often fills up; when you don't show up to your appointments, other students are denied the opportunity to work with a tutor and the tutor's time is wasted.

You can share feedback about a specific session by submitting a Session Log. To do so, log into the A&L Penji and look for the appointment under “Your Activity.” Click the appointment and then “Submit a Session Log.” Write your thoughts and reflections in the question boxes provided, then click “Submit.”

We also welcome general feedback and suggestions about the center as a whole (with the option to remain anonymous).

We don’t charge for appointments with our tutors. Access to our services and resources is included in your tuition — so take advantage of it!

While everyone attending RISD expects to express themselves through studio work, we don’t always anticipate the many contexts in which we’ll be asked to communicate in other modes. Find out what kinds of assignments and situations on campus call for written, spoken, and visual communication.