Traditionally speaking, there are two types of tutoring (and teaching for that matter!): 1) synchronous 2) asynchronous. Synchronous tutoring is your typical real-time experience, in-person or virtual. Students meet in and interact with their tutor, asking questions and receiving answers and feedback to their writing in real-time. This is, I think, what we most often envision when we think about tutoring writing. (It's also what I talk most about in my blog!) Today, I want to talk about the second type of tutoring: asynchronous (sometimes lovingly referred to as async). I want to do this (mostly) because I recently co-presented a workshop on async best practices to a group of online tutors, so async ideals are fresh on my mind. Also because async tutoring seems to be popping up more and more as online education grows and/or becomes more of a necessity. Lastly, I want to share my thoughts on async tutoring because I love it! It's a fantastic way to reach students who are extremely busy and cannot make an appointment in the Writing Center or are shy about meeting with a tutor or teacher in-person. Async isn't "new," (although some colleges claim that it is). After all, I first learned about async tutoring in 2004! But this type of tutoring is growing as our technology continues to become more and more advanced. Technology aside, at the heart of every tutoring session, synchronous or async, I believe there should be a good balance between "higher order" and "lower order" writing concepts taught and encouraged in a tutoring writing session. But I'm getting ahead of myself... What does an async tutoring session (aka: assignment review) look like? For lack of a better description, async tutoring is similar to your old-school pen paling days, except instead of writing a letter to ask about your pen pal's day, you're writing to a tutor and asking for help on your writing assignment. The writing tutor will then review your paper and give you a list of strengths and suggestions for improvements and, essentially, write a letter back to you so you can revise your essay before submitting for a final grade. This "letter" can take several forms. The classic is the "Dear [Student Name], thank you for sharing your [assignment title, i.e rhetorical analysis] essay for a review! Three strengths are...[include list of strengths]. Three things you might want to keep working on are... [include list of specific suggestions]. Keep up the great work! Sincerely, [Tutor Name]." You can also have "fancier" forms, namely by using a template. For example, the student's paper can be pasted (by the writing tutor) into the template and the tutor would give in-line comments (ideally full sentences packed with critical thinking questions or comments that guide the student into better organization, content, and clarity). Afterwards, the tutor could list the three (or more) strengthens using bullets and summarize the main suggestions using bullets points. The template might, then, include a generic "encouraging" closing, reminding students to submit again or meet with a tutor in-real time. Best practices During my training workshop, I shared a sample essay. (Oftentimes looking at examples the best way to learn, I think!) I was especially fortunate to have had a student who was happy enough with her review that she not only was willing to let me use the review in our training but also tell me what she enjoyed most about my review to her. I'll share a few of her favorite techniques throughout this post. Every tutor has their own style or personal twist to tutoring, I've noticed, but like in the training I did, I can share some best practices for async tutoring that will hopefully apply to most tutors wanting to improve their craft. Tip #1 Be specific! For one tutoring company I work for, we use a template and use the "review" function in Word document as we read the draft. This means that I can highlight specific moments in the document and make suggestions "in the moment." If you choose to do this, I recommend highlighting complete sentences or phrases, rather than a random word in a sentence. Not only do you want me to be specific with what you highlight, though, but also in your comments. If, for example, you're giving a compliment (eg. Nice thesis statement!), be sure to explain why the thing you are complimenting is working (eg. Not only is your thesis placed well, as your last sentence in your introduction, which most teachers like, but it also clearly states your position for your argument!) If you're pointing out an opportunity for change (eg. This sentence might not be the best topic sentence for this paragraph), explain wither why you're giving that suggestion and/or briefly teach (eg. Topic sentences, remember, don't usually work well when they're facts. I wonder if you can adjust this statement into a claim and/or move this as a supporting detail for your paragraph). Tip #2 Provide resources! My tutoring (and teaching) philosophy has always included autonomy, which simply means that I want my students to have what they need to do their work confidently on their own. So, if in an assignment review I see a need for a specific change (eg. incorporating topic sentences), I like providing brief youtube videos and/or webpages that give examples and further explanations. This technique was well liked by the student I talked to. She specifically mentioned that she liked that I provided so many resources. Providing links, as a bonus, often makes completing the review on my end that much faster. ;) Tip #3 Ask questions! Thoughtful questions often critical thinking faster than anything else. They can also help students see where readers might be confused or where they might need to expand their ideas. CRLA calls this technique use of probing questions. It's something I use a lot in live-sessions as well! These are just a few beginner tips. As in any writing tutoring session, you'll want to balance your feedback. Make sure your comments are mainly focused on higher order concerns (thesis statement, organization, unity, coherence, clarity, critical thinking, etc.) and not on grammar and spelling. Oftentimes, when I see a typo, I'll point it out, but I don't fix it. I'll say something like, "Oops! Make sure read out loud. This will help you find typos like this one." Or something like, "You might want to review verb tenses as it looks like you're using the present progressive when simple present tense is preferred when talking about habits." And then link them to a reliable resource!
Async tutoring is not editing. I think, too often, tutors think that if they don't point out every error the student will somehow be disappointed in the review. Yes, point out grammatical error patterns, but remember always that what you're looking at (as a tutor!) is a draft, not a final product. Your job is not to grade the paper. So look for those higher order things because (frankly) the grammar will shift anyhow after they change their thesis, incorporate topic sentences, expand their ideas, etc. If your a student, interested in submitting a paper for a review, be sure to give your tutor as much information about the assignment as possible, and always say when it's due. This will help your tutor tailor their comments to your needs better. Writing letters back and forth may sound archaic, but it's really oftentimes the best way to reach those busy-busy students that need a 24-48 hour turn around!
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