Institute/Session Summary:

Purpose of the Institute:

Simply placing two students together, one of which has demonstrated better academic achievement, does not guarantee that effective tutoring will occur. A well-trained paraprofessional tutor must juggle many tasks, such as initiating conversation, establishing rapport, listening attentively, asking questions, remembering details, providing instruction, allowing for practice, making referrals, and terminating the session. Helping your tutors hone these and other skills takes quality tutor training. Research also suggests that the effectiveness of tutoring is strongly influenced by the quality and amount of training received by tutors (Boylan & Saxon, 1999). Combining resources from both 4- and 2-year public postsecondary institutions, the presenters will share effective tutor training formats and activities used to train tutors at their respective institutions. Both institutions have considerable experience adapting formats and activities to meet their institutional needs to train well-qualified tutors.

Outline for the Institute:

1. Introduction
2. Presentation of Unique Tutor Training Formats
   A. The Campus-wide Conference Model
   B. The Off-campus Retreat Model
3. Experiential Tutor Training Activities
   A. Learning Preferences: Interactions Between Tutors and Tutees
   B. The Bus Stop
   C. Traffic Jam
   D. The Circle of Trust
4. Wrap-up and Questions

Learning Objectives:

1. Upon completion of the institute, participants will have knowledge of developing a campus-wide tutor training conference and will be able to adapt the information received in the institute to fit their own institutional needs.
2. Upon completion of the institute, participants will have knowledge of developing an off-campus tutor training retreat and will be able to adapt the information received in the institute to fit their own institutional needs.
3. Upon completion of the institute, participants will have the abilities and skills to re-create the five tutor training activities experienced during this workshop.

Description:

Presentation of Unique Tutor Training Formats

Campus-wide Conference Model
Using the CRLA conference as a model format for tutor training, the campus-wide conference involves the training of tutors collaboratively from various learning assistance programs on campus (e.g. athletic academic center, campus learning center, writing and math tutoring centers, and TRIO programs). CRLA tutor program certification guidelines are used to develop concurrent session ideas on topics such as general tutoring "dos and don'ts," strategies for tutoring different academic disciplines, developing effective communication skills, working with diverse populations of students (e.g., first-generation, minority, non-traditional aged, disabled), and knowledge of regulations for tutoring special populations (e.g., NCAA guidelines for tutoring student-athletes). Typically, 15 to 20 sessions (in three to five rounds) are led by faculty and professional staff from the learning center and various campus tutoring programs. Institute participants will learn how to organize a tutor training conference, select appropriate keynote speakers and concurrent session leaders, plan meals, create special interest groups, secure funding, and market and evaluate the conference. Participants will receive sample programs and agendas from recently held conferences.

Off-Campus Retreat Model
Institute participants looking more for a model that focuses on team building and leadership development will find the Off-campus Retreat Model ideal for their tutor training program. Providing two days away from campus, tutors bond through both the structured format of training activities and informal recreation. This format provides a unique way for new tutors to assimilate quickly into the group as more experienced tutors serve as mentors. Topics discussed in this portion of the institute include designing a retreat agenda that addresses key tutor training topics as well as team building and leadership activities, guest speakers/facilitators, selecting the right location, housing and meals, transportation, staffing and security issues, and ideas for external funding. Participants will receive sample agendas from recently held retreats.

Experiential Tutor Training Activities

The following experiential activities are metaphors for learning. These team-building activities have the purpose of generating trust, conversation, and opportunities to dialogue about organizational issues pertaining to learning assistance and tutoring. To start this part of the institute, we will discuss key concepts that make experiential learning a success using Dewey's (1933) Model of Experiential Learning and Kolb and Fry's (1975) Theory of Experiential Learning. These activities create positive bonding opportunities and a feeling of shared leadership for tutors. The activities will also allow for a wealth of ongoing communication and learning.

Learning Preferences: Interactions Between Tutors and Tutees
Helping tutors discover their own preferences for learning and to consider how they affect the tutoring process can be an enlightening experience. Tutors learn about themselves in ways that facilitate teaching and learning, especially when tutoring students with differing learning preferences from their own. Institute attendees, who will assume the role of tutors during this activity, will assess their own psychological and physiological learning preferences, then analyze the impact of these preferences on their ability to effectively tutor students with like and differing preferences. Grouped by their own unique learning preferences, institute participants generate strategies for effective tutoring practices, taking into consideration the interaction between their (i.e., the tutors') and tutees' natural learning preferences. The two short assessment instruments used during this exercise are People Type and Tiger Stripes, 3rd edition (Lawrence, 1993), based on based on Carl Jung's theory and VARK: A Guide to Learning Styles (Fleming, 2001).

The Bus Stop
Sometimes choices are made consciously and some are made without much thought at all. Great teams (including tutoring teams) do not achieve success consistently through luck. Long-term success is achieved through the choices we make both as individuals and as a team. Through a guided activity, participants will make choices and express their opinions in front of the other participants. This will lead into a discussion about the power of making real choices that positively influence the tutoring process and the learning/tutoring center.

Traffic Jam
Participants will solve a human-sized puzzle as a team. The challenge requires the group to be patient and clear in communication. Participants will be given speaking tokens; each time a participant speaks, they must turn in a token. When participants are out of tokens, they are not allowed to speak again. Other participants will try to solve the challenge on paper and then have a chance to try to communicate the solution to the group. This activity will lead to discussion about effective steps in communication; an especially important part of tutoring.

The Circle of Trust
This exercise is a simple and fun activity that allows participants the experience of trusting in the team as a unit. The group starts working with the rope circle, an activity that creates trust within the group, as everyone in the group needs everyone else to balance and support each other. Short debriefing will take place where the group will be asked to rate the importance of trust from 1 to 10 and to decide who is ultimately responsible for building trust within a group. Participants will also determine how trust affects a tutor/tutee relationship.

Significance for the Field and to Conference Attendees:

Since 1989, over 1000 colleges and university tutoring programs in the United States and Canada have received CRLA's International Tutor Program Certification (as cited by http://www.crla.net/tutorhistory.htm). This institute will provide formats and activities for educators involved in tutor training;especially for those wishing to begin the certification process and especially for those programs wanting fresh ideas for re-certification.

Audience Interaction and Engagement:

Participants will become actively engaged during the institute, especially during the "Experiential Tutor Training Activities" segment of the institute as we role-play and simulate the activities.

Media and Instructional Materials:

Sample programs and agendas will be provided for the two tutor training formats. Participants will be provided with materials that will cover the activities so they can be applied to their own tutor training programs. Other activities not covered in the session will also be available for the participants from step-by-step handouts. In addition, PowerPoint media will be employed.

References:

Boylan, H. R. & Saxon, D. P. (1999). What works in remediation: Lessons from 30 years of research. Retrieved April 11, 2007, from the National Center for Developmental Education Website: http://www.ncde.appstate.edu/reserve_reading/what_works.htm

Dewey, J. (1933) How We Think, New York: Heath.

Kolb. D. A. and Fry, R. (1975). Toward an applied theory of experiential learning. In C. Cooper (Ed.), Theories of group process, London: John Wiley.

Lawrence, G. D. (1993). People types and tiger stripes (3rd. ed.). Gainesville, FL: Center for Applications of Psychological Type.

Fleming, N. (2001). Vark: A guide to learning styles. Retrieved April 11, 2007, from Vark website: http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=products_S02 .

Presenter1 Name: Russ Hodges
Presenter1 Institution: Texas State University - San Marcos
Presenter1 Bio: Dr. Russ Hodges has worked at Texas State University-San Marcos since 1986 and coordinates the university's learning framework course, EDP 1350-Effective Learning, for the Department of Educational Administration and Psychological Services. Russ also teaches graduate courses in the Master's Program in Developmental and Adult Education and the Doctoral Program in Education. Russ earned his Doctorate of Education, specializing in Developmental Education, from Grambling State University in Louisiana. He is a past president (2004-2005) of the College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) and a member of the National Association for Developmental Education (NADE) having served as chair of the Constitution and By-laws Committee and co-chair of the Professional Liaison Committee. Russ co-coordinates the summer Technology Institute for Developmental Educators, now in its 9th year, sponsored by the NADE, CRLA, and Texas State.

Russ has authored / coauthored a combined 18 articles, chapters, monographs and was the recipient of the Outstanding Article in 2001 from the Journal of Developmental Education, Vol. 24); he has presented 3 conference keynote addresses, over 80 conference presentations, and has chaired or severed as member of 6 national committees in developmental education / learning assistance professional associations. His recent publication (co-authored by De Sellers and Carol Dochen) is a textbook titled Academic Transformation: The Road to College Success published by Prentice Hall in 2005.

Presenter2 Name: Carol W. Dochen
Presenter2 Institution: Texas State University - San Marcos
Presenter2 Bio: Dr. Carol W. Dochen, employed at Texas State University-San Marcos since 1979, is the Director of the Student Learning Assistance Center in the University College division. She also teaches undergraduate courses in both the University College and the Department of Educational Administration and Psychological Services. Carol earned her Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration, with a minor in Educational Psychology, from the University of Texas at Austin. Actively involved in state and national developmental education organizations, she served two terms as the first elected president of the Texas Association of Developmental Educators and was a founding member of the annual statewide College Academic Support Programs conference jointly sponsored by the Texas Association of Developmental Educators, the Texas chapter of the College Reading and Learning Association, and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Carol is a frequent presenter at state and national conferences and was recognized as a semifinalist for the Outstanding First-Year Student Advocate Award at the Annual Conference on The First Year Experience in 2004. She has articles in a variety of academic collections and has recently co-authored an Educational Psychology textbook, Academic Transformation: The Road to College Success and co-edited the University Seminar textbook, Your University Experience: The Next Step, for Texas State University-San Marcos.

Presenter3 Name: Todd Phillips
Presenter3 Institution: East Central College
Presenter3 Bio: Todd Phillips, M.A., Dev Ed Specialist, is employed at East Central College in Union, Missouri. Todd has been involved with assisting underprepared students for over 12 years. Getting his start working with at-risk and youth gang members in Los Angeles helped Todd prepare for his work in developmental education. Todd was hired as the director of the Learning Center at East Central College and is currently the Director of Title III Activity where he supervises Title III Staff and projects which includes: the First Year Experience program, Academic Improvement Management (early alert retention program), learning center training, faculty development pilots infusing technology into the curriculum, and several assessment, AQIP, and instructional technology projects. He is a Kellogg Institute Alumni, past-president of the Midwest Regional Association for Developmental Education, Chair of the NADE Political Liaison committee, and serves on the NADE Research committee. Todd teaches as an adjunct faculty member in oral communication, public speaking, and student success.