At the University of South Carolina, we have a robust tutoring program. It's extremely well-attended and student evaluations are almost uniformly excellent (usually, the biggest complaint is that the tutoring sessions are late in the afternoon, which is somewhat unavoidable because of the First Year Schedule). I believe a large part of the program's success is that my most important hiring criteria is whether I believe a potential tutor can handle tutoring without my constant supervision.
Years ago, I attended a conference where a professor was talking about her tutoring program. In that school's set-up, all tutoring decisions, handouts, presentations, etc. were made by her. She said that she spent the majority of her time managing the tutors and warned us that if we wanted to start tutoring programs, we'd probably find ourselves in the same boat.
When I inherited the tutoring program at South Carolina, I thought about that presentation and worried I wouldn't be able to focus on my own workshops, individual meetings, bar prep, etc. if I had to spend all my time watching the tutors. Then I had an epiphany. I realized that if I hovered over them and made them do exactly what I told them to do, I'd have 18 "mini-mes" running around, which seemed fairly pointless.
I read somewhere that advertising doesn't work until you hear about something three different ways — for example, a product advertised on television, in a newspaper, and then recommended by a friend. I think about the tutors the same way. A student may not truly understand something until they study it in several different ways and in several different formats (for example, professor, book, me, commercial outline, tutor).
I do have fairly regular group meetings with the tutors, sit in on their tutoring sessions now and then, give them materials and ideas they may choose to use, and speak with them over email or in my office, but I don't hover. I've trusted them, and so far, none of them have let me down.
The basic rules for tutoring are that the tutors are not to shadow teach or replicate what is done in the classroom. They must follow any and all directions given by the professors of the class they tutor for, send me weekly updates of what they are covering, keep roll, alert me to any students who seem really lost, and base the majority of their tutoring sessions on going over practice problems.
Giving the tutors freedom has led to some great work. The other day, I watched a tutor session with over 60 students (attendance is voluntary) where the tutor had them all break into groups to make-up hypos and then try to answer them for each other. The discussion was lively (for 4:30 on a Wednesday) and lightbulbs seemed to be going off everywhere. I didn't tell the tutor to do a session like this — he came up with it on his own, and it was great.
That's not to say there haven't been minor points problems I've had to address. For example, one tutor had the unfortunate habit of cussing during his presentations without realizing he was doing it. Another had the habit of trying to ingratiate himself with the students by using jokes that started out with "I don't mean to offend anybody, but …" He believed being an "equal opportunity offender" made it O.K., so I had to nip that in the bud. Another tutor made the offhand comment that a professor was "spunky," which the professor was pretty annoyed with once she heard about it. However, all in all, there haven't been any major issues where I have had to fire or reprimand a tutor.
I've also had a few minor problems from the students being tutored. Over the years, a few students, especially weaker ones, have wanted tutors to basically reteach them concepts outside of class or make outlines for them. Sometimes these students complain to me that the tutor isn't doing his or her job because they won't do these things. I simply point out the rules I've put in place for the tutors, and the complaint dies away.
I've been really proud of the tutoring program in this format, and I believe it's done a lot to help struggling students. (Alex Ruskell)
