Heather -- Blog Post 7

What seems to me to be one of the most obviously challenging aspects of online tutoring is the hit or miss quality of context with which you, as the tutor, are provided. I have yet to engage in online tutoring through the Writing Center, but I would imagine the appointment process is similar to that for an in-person tutoring session, where the student is asked to list the instructor and give background on the assignment they're requesting help with. Since I've been tutoring enrollment students, I've had limited experience with walk-in or appointment tutoring, but remember that with the one appointment student I did have that we spent a good amount of the half-hour session, as many of you have said, in reading the prompt and figuring out how well the student understood it.  I think this would require more time for back-and-forth messages in an asynchronous environment, which might be a bit clunky, but ultimately wouldn't be horribly off-putting.

I was definitely interested in learning more about online tutoring, as I see many different benefits to the process. Much like telemedicine, and as this week's reading suggests, sometimes students are nervous either about their writing, to speak to a stranger about their writing, or any combination of the two (or of something else altogether...). Telemedicine is often touted as a way to remove what a patient perceives as "pressure" from a medical exam or counseling session because they are not required to so fully and formally engage with the doctor/expert/authority figure in an online environment. There's no eye contact, no awkward silence, no need to worry about bad breathe or a wrinkled shirt. I see these same benefits for tutoring in an online environment. It provides both the student and tutor the opportunity to thoughtfully respond to one another's comments and, as Joseph suggested, be sure you, as the tutor, have said all that you wanted to about the student's work.  I also like and understand the import of communicating suggestions through the comments function instead of via tracked changes. This practice gives the impression of collaboration without the above-mentioned pressures of sitting side-by-side. 

Comments

  1. DariusMarch 5, 2019 at 8:22 AM

    Heather, I hadn't thought about the benefits of a back-and-forth asynchronous tutoring session with a student. It would seem that if a student has time before an assignment is due, then continual emailing isn't necessarily such a bad idea; in fact, it might prove highly successful because of the measured pace. I do worry though that the tutor in that scenario--depending on how many other clients she has--would rather not juggle too many of these types of sessions at once since she would constantly have to be reminded of where in the process she and the student are (scrolling through older emails asking "what did we last talk about?" etc.). It seems so cumbersome, but then I'm also spoiled by the face-to-face engagement that yields more immediate results due to the synchronous nature.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Alina VamanuMarch 5, 2019 at 1:19 PM

    Heather, I tried to reflect on the benefits of online tutoring this week, and the issue of anxiety crossed my mind as well. As you well suggest, students who feel nervous about presenting their work to a stranger (especially in its incipient stages) might be able to relax in an online environment. This would give them the chance to work on their writing without the added pressure of a tutor sitting at the same table. I was wondering too if online tutoring might encourage students to bring in drafts, rather than simply show up to their appointment to chat about their upcoming assignments, as many do in face-to-face tutoring sessions.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Post #8 (Ian)

Interesting take on that timeless grudge match been academic and creative nonfiction, but cringed at Goedde's frequent use of what I'll call The Other B-Word, which raised its own separate set of questions for me about how we (as tutors) shape the way our students write about racism... Though the use of this word felt central to Loraine's story - and was further complicated by Loraine's own Mexican-American heritage - it was also impossible for me to imagine Goedde parroting it with the same zeal if, say, this had been a story about Loraine using the N-word, or any number of other xenophobic slurs. Not sure if others reacted similarly, but felt noteworthy given the particular necessity (and thorniness) of having students write about race at a place as overwhelmingly white as the University of Iowa. As for comparing this nonfiction case study to the more academic studies we've previously consulted, I feel like the pros and cons basically mirror those raised by Goed
Read more

Blog Post #1

Reading: The University of Iowa Writing Center Tutor’s Guide Question: The University of Iowa Writing Center Tutor’s Guide starts stating the most important goal the Writing Center, “to develop strong writers with positive attitudes toward writing.” I clearly see how through the Writing Center’s writing practices students can grow in confidence to write. Are there any specific practices addressing that vital part of the WC goal of developing positive attitudes toward writing? Reading: The Bedford Guide for Writing Tutors, Chapter 1 & 2 Given that a student’s version of what transpires in a classroom “may be incomplete or even inaccurate (Ryan & Zimmerelli, 2016, 3), how professional and even ethical is to facilitate and somehow promote procedures for registering a complaint (4)?
Read more

JJ 7

I have yet to begin online/asynchronous tutoring but my initial impression (prior to the readings this week) was that the non face-to-face methods is an ersatz tutoring style. I was partially convinced by the readings that there are advantages in a more distanced approach to tutoring that are lacking with in-person sessions. Specifically, there is an element of anonymity associated with online tutoring that I can see appealing to students that may not be confident or are embarrassed about their writing, especially students that are more introverted and non-confrontational. As a tutor, asynchronous tutoring would give me the time to really digest the writing and carefully formulate a response. Sometimes after an in-person session I think back about better ways I could have phrased a certain point but by then, too late. A major take-away from the readings is that I will formulate my responses through the comment feature and rarely using track changes, if at all. I believe that carefully
Read more