Tutoring

This semester I returned to the weekly assigned tutoring program. Last semester, I took the course that taught me the basics of how to do everything, and then this semester I'm sort-of on my own. But I do have a supervisor, and I do have to set aside two tutoring-sessions this semester to be observed by my supervisor. My first one of these sessions was last Friday. My supervisor is a very nice woman named Joy, and she observed me tutoring a student in Chemistry 201, quantitative chemistry. After the session, Joy and I met to discuss the session. She said I did wonderfully - that I used wait-time, guiding questions, closed-ended questions, helpful study hints, and delayed-positive reinforcement, things that other tutors had trouble incorporating into their sessions. We discussed the areas that I wanted to improve in, and then we talked in general about the tutorial program itself. I asked how many tutors there were total. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-75. That translates to less that 200 students who are able to use the weekly-assigned tutoring program (where one tutor meets regularly with the same 2-4 students all semester). I asked how many people apply for tutoring services per year. Over one-thousand, and the number has been going up every semester. That means that only about twenty percent of the students who apply for tutorial services actually receive them! They (the Undergraduate Tutorial Center - UTC) had been brainstorming ideas about how to increase that percent. One factor that contributes to such a low percent is the fact that some students apply for the WA program every semester. They have 4.0's, they are smart, they could get through the class just fine by themselves, but they want the security blanket of a tutor. They would do better visiting a sign-up tutor as they need it, or visiting one of the drop-in tutorial centers whenever the need arises. That would clear room for the students who don't think they'll need a tutor, and then several weeks into the course, around about the time they have their first exam, they find that they were gravely mistaken and need help. But by then, there are no more WA tutors, and those people are pretty much SOL. How to change that...? I had one idea...have two deadlines for the WA program. Let people apply early, and then assign them to one batch of Tutors. Then wait a month and assign the people that apply then to the other WA tutors - perhaps the tutors-in-training that are in the class. I wonder if that would work - Joy thought it was a good idea (that made me feel good). But ever since I heard that the need for tutors was so unmet, I have been thinking about how to change that. I'd like to see more students involved in the tutoring program as tutors. One way to increase that would pinpoint the classes that students need tutors for most often (mathematics, chemistry, physics, foreign languages). Then midway during the semester, just before registration, go and talk to several sections of each class and tell students about the tutorial center. Tell them that if they are doing well in the class, and they are enjoying the class, then they might want to help other people do well and enjoy the course in future semesters, and get paid while doing it. If they are interested in tutoring, they would still have time to register for the course (ECI 210: Introduction to Collegiate Tutoring). Just a thought. . .