A Start on Peer Tutor Training

From 2 until 5 in the afternoon of the 29th of July we held the first of what we hope will be monthly face-to-face Peer Tutor Training sessions. A total of nine trainees attended what we all felt was a very worthwhile workshop. I would invite everyone who wishes to remain in touch to make a comment to this post with a link or an email address. This is not compulsory, as you may already be as committed as you care to be.

What I do ask is that you let me know--again, as a comment--whether you wish to follow up on last month's session. Specifically, are you interested in continuing the training as described below to gain a certificate by the end of the year? Here's what that will consist of:

1. Three appointments with a student that needs tutoring. You will be expected to keep notes of what you planned and accomplished with your student (for those of you who have already done some tutoring, this may be provided retrospectively).
2. Follow-ups with either Rose or William either in person or via emails or online regarding the three tutoring hours.
3. Keeping up with future posts on this blog wherein we will provide some readings to complete (or some such task). You will need to send in a comment that reflects on how you responded to the readings.
   

That, in a nutshell, is all. For those of you who didn't attend the workshop, we hope to run it again nearer the end of September. If you feel you might like to get on board, do let us know of your interest so that we can keep you informed.

Status of 2008 Peer Tutoring Course

We have had Peer tutoring at Otago Polytechnic for a number of years. In this post I'd like to clarify its current status according to my most recent understanding (does that sentence make sense?).

But before that:

1. We want it to occur (to benefit students who need help)
2. We want tutors to be financially compensated
3. We want tutors to have access to peer tutor training
4. We want tutors to receive academic recognition for above training
   

Of late (i.e. 2007) the training was provided and undertaken online via the blog Students Tutoring Students, set up by Helen Lindsay. It was provided as concurrent training (while tutoring). This year (2008) , tutors were given access to those online resources, encouraged to use them, and bring any concerns to me, William Lucas.

I had intended to enroll active tutors this September (2008) for the Peer Tutoring Course, but it is probably too late for that. This year, therefore, committing to a formal course will not be necessary (or possible).

In 2009, it appears that the model we shall most likely follow is as follows (attention students and staff who are planning to return!):

All volunteer tutors who sign up shall complete a path of study form that indicates their intention to complete the Peer Tutoring Course, concurrent with their tutoring, but will only be required to commence this after their first few hours of tutoring.

In practice this means that the first 'unit' of work must be completed after the first hour, the second after the second, et cetera, until the entire number of approximately 7 units have been concluded.

Overview

Welcome to One to one-to-one, 'on air' from the start of the second semester, 2008. This blog aims to support your peer tutoring. Thank you for taking part!

Think of this site as a communication portal. You may contact me through my email: WILLIAML@tekotago.ac.nz, or you may make a comment on any post.

Peer tutoring has been happening at Otago Polytechnic for several years. It used to be a face-to-face course that took place before the actual tutoring. Last year, in 2007, the course occurred largely online, and concurrent with the tutoring. Assignments were set, and credits were gained. This year you may enroll in the course, though as far as I know this is not compulsory (especially if you have done it before :-) Ask me if you are interested. Otherwise, I shall try and make all previously recommended resources available, but it is up to you to look at and study what you might need. Search this blog and its associated sites (see LinksList) for information that you need. I shall do my part, recommending material for you to take a look at through fortnightly posts.

May I remind you that this blog and any comments you make are open to the public. Please do not use the real names of the students you tutor, and perhaps use just your first name.

For now, I shall try and give an overview to enable you to explore this blog's features as quickly and as easily as possible.

From the top, I've explained the origin of the blog's name: One to one-to-one. I've raised your interest, I hope, with a celebrity morph. Next, if you look across to the top right, you will find a LinksList where 5 other sites are listed.

Otago Polytechnic takes you to the official O.P. site with which you are probably familiar

Learning Centre takes you to where we live within the above site (it's not so easy to find on your own!)

Peer Tutoring takes you a little deeper yet . . . (no 'red pill' needed)

Students Tutoring Students is the blog maintained by Helen Lindsay to host the online peer tutoring course in 2007. I shall be referring to it regularly so as not to reinvent the wheel.

In short, the peer tutors of that year worked through a series of seven assignments. They each created a blog of their own (the first assignment) where they would post, read and comment on each other's subsequent work. Every 2 or 3 weeks they studied Learning Needs Analysis (LNA), Communication [and more here], the use of Bloglines, Cultural considerations [and also here], the Maori Perspective and Tips for Exam Preparation. You may follow the red links above to any or all of these, if they appear useful.

Peer Tutoring Wiki is the online repository or memory bank where resources etc for peer tutoring are housed and added to.