prep expert tutors

prep expert tutors

Effective Strategies for Preparing Expert Tutors

1. Introduction to Expert Tutoring

Based on a guiding question from the National Survey of Learning Centers (NSLC) project, this report provides recommendations for how learning center co-coordinators can mentor, coach, and professionalize tutors in their work. Hence, implicit to the following strategies are the following nodes: that many tutors in learning centers have a basic understanding of the pedagogy behind their area of expertise; after all, they have succeeded enough in the class or subject to warrant an invitation to tutor in it; and that relatively few tutors have a vast or nuanced understanding of higher education pedagogy. Hence, this report approaches a context where new expert tutors have yet to have conversations about their undergraduate learning experiences. Instead, they are generally focused on learning about their peers and tailoring their tutoring to different student learners.

How can a tutor be considered an expert? Who, what, and where is the expert tutoring? As someone taking the time to engage with this report, you are already interested in strategies for preparing expert tutors, so this introduction is just about laying down some definitions. In our current educational climate, any adult (or peer, or non-peer) who provides students with academic and social support can be considered a tutor, yet this report seeks to analyze the impact and strategies for preparing expert tutors. We define expert tutors as individuals who are specifically hired or selected into these roles (often engaged in quality improvement processes with colleagues or supporting diverse student populations in specific institutional contexts) or voluntarily pushing the professional boundaries of the work itself by managing these centers, teaching peers, leading an instructional section, and/or supporting an extended portfolio of students. Notably, while the tutoring that falls under the purview of this report is focused in learning centers, writing centers, and STEM study groups, many of the strategies will be applicable to other learning assistance contexts.

2. Qualities and Skills of Expert Tutors

There has been some literature examining specifically the care dimensions of what it takes to be an expert tutor. This paper is an attempt to detail these care aspects. Care involves making a personal, empathetic connection between expert tutor and student. The idea here is akin to a Whiteheadian view of mentorship, a teacher as an older friend. In practice, gender and the quality of the relationship between tutor and student affect the depth of that connection. Effective tutoring does not assume the perspective of a less competent agent but matches where a student is with what they do and do not know. This requires expertise in the subject through two different levels. First, it requires fluid expertise, that is, a capability to spot deficiency based on an amount of experience and course correction. It also requires deep expertise, or the habitual readying of examples to clarify any errors. Tutors’ academic and nonacademic organizational abilities also affect tutoring quality. This includes monitoring whether students understand problems and channelling them to productive activities, such as example problems or explaining their reasoning. The value of exams, or other curricular signifiers at telling the effectiveness of the aforementioned qualities is limited, needing further study. Such exams ignore other ways that tutors can help students with both the logistics (e.g. organization) and process (e.g. metacognitively active learning strategies). Such a tutor should be an effective chief learning officer. A tutor should combine their deep understanding of the academic subject matter with effective communication and organization skills; deeply effortful ability to understand others and resilient, empathetic, and flexible characters. A tutor should also be culturally affirming, as just as in the case of critical mentors, cultural consonance is effective. That is, if a tutor is from the same community a student hails from, that tutor is a preemptively effective tutor. In terms of Dozier and Lewis-Burleson (1995), expertise is also the ability to mediate between four language action types: representing and conveying information, arguing for and against a position, strengthening or weakening relationships, and working through problems. As for their character profile modelling, Gopnik (2000)’s TBBT Model is the backbone of concerns here in that there is interplay with more general considerations, which align with the above principles. These may somewhat conflict with Laswell’s higher-order model of an expert as well-rounded. Yet the mentorship considerations in Sohota et. al. (2021) give impetus to cover these considerations explicitly. Expert tutors were viewed by students as taking a transformational leadership approach.

The effectiveness of tutoring, expert or otherwise, is as much a matter of good communication as it is about teaching the subject. Noted physicist Richard Feynman observed that, too often, explanations are mistaken for understanding. What is the value of content expertise if you cannot convey that understanding to another person? This does not mean that subject expertise is an unimportant factor but reflects the necessity of the knowledge and skill necessary to communicate more effectively. Communication is doubly key in one-to-one and small group contexts. In theory, the smaller settings allow for an easier barrier to entry when first seeking help through a more informal setting and developing a rapport. Tutors should be able to listen to the students’ concerns, describe the content in a variety of ways, be said content, and overall “meet the students where they are”.

3. Pedagogical Approaches for Expert Tutoring

“Explicit” theoretical or procedural knowledge. This strategy is particularly well-performed in face-to-face interaction, but a mode without direct contact such as “e-tutoring” is a good idea by inspiring “guided tutorials” where instructions are exchanged in carried interactive computer modes or web-based approaches. In this sense, the strategy must be able to induce the student to be the main character of “active learning,” to stimulate the figure of a “reflective learner,” and to enhance all usable “cognitive strategies.” In some cases, tutors prefer a system to match every new incidental question asked by the students with “homework to do.”

Pedagogical or learning strategies. Also known as “instructional strategies,” these are those actions taken by the teacher/tutor to communicate a certain subject. This kind of strategy uses part of the material at the disposal of the instructor. This strategy is important for both “explicit” and “implicit” knowledge development. In both cases, students learn certain learning strategies that will most effectively promote their expert and critical training during tutoring.

Some recent studies connect the figure of the tutor with a “learning-to-learn” perspective, presuming that metacognitive strategies and reflection on one’s own cognitive processes are at the base of every form of “expert” learning. Thinking aloud likely suggests some corrective methods to suit the current way of the student and to elaborate ad hoc devices to respond to his individual learning needs. Besides, the importance of “critical thinking” is crucial during tutoring activities.

Pedagogical approaches. The role of the tutor in the world of education has always been limited to a reduced number of tasks and methods that cover the most common learning devices. The methodologies and strategies that a tutor must know are not particularly dissimilar from a teacher, except that the tutor should have a better drive and a less teacher-centered approach. However, several educative ways can be effective in spite of some conditions.

4. Assessment and Feedback in Expert Tutoring

Formative assessment is generally conducted by the tutor with no form, and this practice is designed to help the tutor determine at what level of difficulty and what topics should be addressed in a student’s learning plan. Through formative assessment, the tutor can also gain a better understanding of the student’s learning style, approach to learning, and areas of strength and weakness, which can help the tutor understand how a student learns and processes information. Formal formative assessments, such as those that are required for someone seeking an external tutoring license, may be administered by a tutor or staff member trained specifically in diagnostic testing. These assessments help the tutor identify the specific learning issues that may need to be addressed in the sessions, and they also provide a critical baseline so tutors can note changes or progress as they continue work with the student.

Assessment and feedback are both essential components of effective pedagogy, as they provide information to the tutor about the student’s growth and their understanding or misunderstanding of a learning objective. Assessment can be accomplished through a variety of methods. At the most basic level, the tutor needs only to speak with the learner to find out what they do and do not know. Tutors can also use a teach-back methodology to help determine a student’s understanding of a concept. Rather than jumping from one topic to the next, tutors in our program have the opportunity to assess students in depth on the learning outcomes and objectives during the tutoring sessions, which fulfills part of the role of formative assessment.

5. Professional Development for Expert Tutors

Participation in regular communities of practice Once tutors have completed training, consider encouraging them to participate in communities of practice where they can discuss their experiences implementing these strategies. This would allow tutors to access new ideas and best practices from their peers as well as solve common problems experienced in tutoring sessions. Ideally, participation in these communities should be built into the schedule and requirements of being a tutor. Regardless of format, your selection and training strategies should show a connection between the workshop and tutor’s effectiveness as a part of your screening process. Regardless of the choice, stress the importance of engaging in the process and using the space to improve in the tutoring session. Tutors often feel they have no empty space to reflect; scheduling the time in person makes it harder to avoid. Only those with a genuine desire and need to improve are likely to follow through with the effort. Make sure communication is focused on helping to improve tutoring performance. Tutors may feel they do not have a space where they can voice any concerns they have or ask for advice in solving any problems they are running into.

Access to an ongoing training series Not all of your tutors will walk in the door fully equipped with all of these strategies. By offering an ongoing training series, you can allow tutors to build their capacity over time with the support of their supervisors, program managers, or faculty involved in training. Once the foundation has been set in training, an ongoing mentorship program could extend this work with more opportunities for practice, observation, and feedback in addition to more intensive review of data or problem-solving around challenges or problem areas. Training or consultation from a professional development expert You may also want to access support from others who are knowledgeable about strategies to prepare expert tutors. Professional development for expert tutors may also focus on strategies to support tutors as they grow and improve.

You’ve hired expert tutors, implemented systems and processes to support their development as expert tutors, and set them up with successful strategies. But you can’t just leave them at this point and expect them to perform at their best for the long term. Here are a few ideas for the professional development necessary for expert tutors.