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Meeting in the Cloud:Navigating online services for distance students
What are some pitfalls to avoid when transitioning to online or hybrid services?
What questions should you address before you ever offer that first session in the cloud?
How do you train your tutors (and students) to communicate online effectively?
Our Focus Today:
14,000 undergraduate students attend UNCG
About 3400 unique students use one or more service with our office in a given year, including: Peer Content Tutoring Academic Skills Instruction Supplemental Instruction TRiO/Special Support Services
Who are we?
A push to offer “comparable services” to all undergraduate students. “Mandate?” “Suggestion?”
An interest in technological advancements and staying “ahead of the game.”
Questions from non-traditional students and their allies
iSchool support requested
Why did we begin?
Labeled 2 master-level tutors as “online tutors” based on their interest and high-demand classes
Emailed the students about when “online walk-in tutoring” was available each week.
Used an existing system (Blackboard Collaborate) with which the students already had some familiarity.
What did we do?
Text-based, primarily. Video/screenshare capability was limited. Students could come and go– most stayed
for less than 5 minutes.
It looked like…
How did it go?“We used to have online tutoring program
once…”Also known as…
“I enjoyed getting paid to do my homework… I guess.”
It failed because: We did not encourage relationship between
students and tutors; sessions were impersonal and text-based.
"Walk-in" services were not appropriate for our campus.
We didn't do market research to see what our students and faculty were looking for
We didn't work with the Office of Online Learning
What did we learn?
After that failure, we shied away from peer tutoring for a little while.
However, we still wanted to assist distance students somehow…
What could we do?
Optimistic?
ONLINE WORKSHOPS!Let’s:• Work with OOL!• Move Asynchronous!• Hands-off Learning!• This will totally work!!!!
Lack of specific goals and audience Over-reliance on technicians instead of
learning specialists Looked good, technically-sound, not good
pedagogy Asynchronous services not appropriate for
the task Lack of mentoring, support, and
accountability Failure to recognize needs of the population TOOK A LOT OF TIME.
It failed because…
Why did we keep trying?Think big, plan small.
Research on online learning Research on technological options Small-scale pilots, beginning with professional
staff, then creating the training infrastructure "if available, would you prefer..." Did not limit it to just online sections.
appeal for on campus students with family obligations, etc.
How did we move forward?
Pro/Con?
Software evaluation
Primarily synchronous sessions. Our program works best when students think
our tutors are human beings, not answer-machines.
Tutors can offer online instead of cancelling. Online class emails at the start of their term. Tutors chosen based on proficiency and need
Not just master-tutors. Do extensive training.
Campus Decision-Making
In addition to the subject/pedagogy expertise, tutor must be able to: Clearly specify learning objectives and outcomes; Set learning agendas and scaffolding in learning; Welcome/embrace diversity of attitudes and styles; Provide different levels according to needs; Create an atmosphere of collaborative learning; Cope with/Resolve on-line conflicts and difficult behaviors; Encourage active learning through discussion, activities, debates; Provide extensive feedback and reinforcement; Advise on pace to avoid cognitive overload/anxiety.
http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/999/1/Maggie_MsP.html
What to focus on in tutor training?
Technological know-how/ Troubleshooting Creating intimacy through verbal and text-based
cues Preview/View/Review and other timing concerns Assertiveness and email etiquette Online resource evaluation strategies
Memorable and repeatable; Follow-up, Evaluate
What to focus on in training?
You watch– I do. (videos, web quests, etc.) You help me. (“what would you do if…”) You do with my help.** (we use roleplay here) You do– I watch. (observations, testing, etc.) You teach.
All our training materials are posted on our Bb for them to re-review.
How do we train?
Reflection: How does online tutoring fulfill the mission of our
center? What types of students use online tutoring? How
can you adapt to each type? In what ways must you modify your tutoring
during online sessions? List 4 different strategies you can try and when you would try them.
What should you do if…?
Training Assessment Strategies
What behaviors are we looking for? It depends on our OUTCOMES, but might include:
Greeting, agenda-creation, activating prior knowledge.
Use of a variety of learning modalities Accommodations for technological needs Question types, wait time, repetition, paraphrasing,
etc. Review and discussion moderation… Critical reflection modeling Speaking clearly and deliberately.
Observation and Evaluation
Written, audio and video-based instructions Self-created AND through other avenues
FREE tech calls through ITS Appointment-based with automatic email
reminders Opportunities to evaluate progress and tutor
as needed (with a little push every 3rd session…)
Option to “switch” to in-person if needed Tutor emails to “flagged” students?
How do we train our STUDENTS?
1. Attendance: Are people showing up? Do online sessions have similar attendance
issues?
Student Participants 2012-Current:
Is “online” working?
SUMMER FALL SPRING
2012-13 8 19 25
2013-14 11 53 48
2014-15 27 37** N/A
Another way to look at it…
FA 12 SP 13 SU 13 FA 13 SP 14 SU 14 FA 14 (as of 10/30)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
Skills SessionsTutoring Sessions
Things to look at: Enrollment over that time period Tutor hiring difficulties Requested versus Fulfilled Comparison to f2f Analysis of tutor notes When are students getting into tutoring? NSCXL rates?
Wait… Services are decreasing?
How is the student doing? What did you cover? How did you cover it? How did the student do? Do you have any concerns?
These are reviewed and flagged daily.
Session Records Require…
2. Other Comparisons: Do online participants achieve similar
grades? Yes. Do online sessions get rated favorably?
Mostly. Do we see more “preparation” flags?
Not Really.
If we do see a problem, how do we investigate further?
Is “online” working?
3. Observation and evaluation: Pre/post tests on skills material and
instruction Observation of sessions using assessment
rubrics Journaling by tutors with supervisor feedback Can we keep online tutors? What do tutors
think?
Is “online” working?
Nope.
Can Shawn get the video to work?
“Love the flexibility of being able to meet online when my child was sick.”
“I think I was a better online tutee– I was more focused!”
“Online tutoring was more personal and involved than my online classes. I loved that [the tutor] would help me learn how to approach the material!”
What do the students think?
Already stretched to our limits with staffing and budget, we had to control the growth of this component: We resist marketing campaigns. Our sessions are small group sessions, when
possible. Our relationship with other offices includes
caveats that we will not guarantee. Our staff are not required to offer online, but all
are trained.
What if it gets too popular?
Blackboard Collaborate Skype Google Hangouts
Video, chat, screenshare and whiteboard YouTube Screencast-o-matic EduCannon Starfish Connect**
What programs have we used?
One dedicated room for conferencing online Reserved via Google Calendar Additional Library Space reservable
4 iPads purchased with tech funds can be reserved
Logitech webcams Web-based Session Records (Tutor and
student complete separately)
Hardware and space issues
There are many all-in-one programs for e-tutoring Do you want to use your own tutors? Are you willing to pay for support and
licensing? Will your students feel comfortable with it? How will you control your data collection?
In the end, weigh the pros and cons, and talk to your campus partners.
Should we purchase a product?
