Before accepting my role as Assistant Director of the California State University, Channel Islands Writing & Multiliteracy Center (WMC), I understood asynchronous tutoring as additional support for students to utilize when the incentive to attend a synchronous session was unavailable (either because of their schedules or other personal reasons). Writing centers in the past have offered asynchronous feedback through email exchanges and text-based comments left on student papers (Denton, 2017; Bell, 2011), yet what distinguished them from the synchronous sessions also provided was the inability for students to converse with tutors in a live setting. This was my understanding of the practice at the beginning, and it wasn’t until I began working at the WMC did I learn of a new approach the center was experimenting with.
In the Fall of 2020, my Faculty Director, Dr. Sohui Lee, and the Assistant Director at that time, Dr. Abigail Michelini, responded to the initial move to virtual learning by introducing a version of asynchronous tutoring that allowed students to garner feedback on their assignments without attending a synchronous tutoring session. With the opportunity to utilize the widely known platform VoiceThread, they began training tutors to provide feedback using video and audio recording options. Even though these sessions were recorded and then sent back to the tutee later, tutors provided feedback like they would in synchronous sessions. Within an hour, tutors were expected to read over the assignment prompt, identify what the tutee’s main concerns were (information provided beforehand in the appointment form submitted), and provide feedback. When tutors found themselves with too much information to share during their minute long recordings, they were encouraged to send detailed notes to the students with additional feedback. In addition, VoiceThread also allowed tutors to mark up the assignments and leave hyperlinks to resources students could refer to on their own time.
Yet like synchronous tutoring, training was crucial for tutors to learn how to provide adequate feedback with VoiceThread. Although training up until Fall 2022 (when I began my role) consisted of introducing tutors to our version of asynchronous tutoring through our tutor training course (UNIV 299: Multiliteracy Tutor Training) and training workshops provided at the beginning of the semester (“Asynchronous Tutoring”; “Tutoring Panel for Asynchronous tutoring”) the question of how confident tutors felt with it remained. Yet when posed with this question, Dr. Lee and I decided to approach it the same way we approached synchronous tutoring – by conducting observations.
With synchronous tutoring observations, WMC Directors observed either an in person or virtual tutoring session once a semester for every WMC tutor. Through these observations, we identified a tutor’s strengths, weaknesses, and how well they applied tutoring approaches in their sessions. Once synchronous observations were completed, tutors were then expected to meet with their observer and discuss the session and provide feedback. At the time, we didn’t have a formal approach to observing asynchronous sessions and it became apparent that the approach we had for synchronous sessions would not translate well. For example, while WMC Directors were able to carve out time in their schedules to observe synchronous sessions, it would be difficult to do this with the asynchronous sessions as this would require more time to observe each tutor’s 1-hour recorded sessions in addition to scheduling a meeting with them at a later day. With limitations on time and having enough observers being an apparent barrier, we were determined to experiment with a different approach and adopt a modified version of tutor observations. With this version, we looked to approach the observation asynchronously and created a system that could function on its own without the need for a synchronous observation from a WMC Director.
Instead of watching the sessions ourselves, we opted to create a Qualtrics survey based on the observation form used on synchronous sessions and required tutors to fill it out as they watched their own asynchronous sessions. In addition to identifying areas of effectiveness through a rating scale, tutors were asked to explain their reasoning for their rating.
This approach allowed tutors to reflect on their own abilities and identify how best they could improve for the future. Even when a tutor (especially a new tutor) had not conducted an asynchronous tutoring session, they were encouraged to conduct one with a returning tutor instead. Once the observation was completed, WMC directors referenced them during our end of-semester conferences where conversations could be held with the tutor. As of Spring 2024, asynchronous tutoring observations at the WMC have been conducted 4 times, with many tutors providing successful self-reflections:
“I’ve definitely improved my asynchronous tutoring skills. I have a routine that helps make sure I’m ticking off every box that’s required to do them well, and to cover all the tutee’s concerns. I take the first 20-30 minutes to make notes on the appointment request form, assignment prompt, and the assignment itself, so when I read through the tutee’s work, I have everything that they need/want in front of me. I also use the drawing tool often to highlight areas in the assignment and prompt so the student can know exactly what I’m referring to.” (WMC Tutor)
“[Tutor] overall did a great job. She was clear to address HOC’s and help the student understand why she was choosing to focus on specific elements of the paper. I think it would have been helpful for her to remind the student of what they asked for help in regard to the request form but besides that, her session was easy to follow, and she gave some really good tips and feedback.” (WMC Tutor)
Even with these positives, our approach to asynchronous tutoring observations still faces challenges. Even though it does not take as much time to coordinate observations, it does require WMC directors to carve out dedicated time to review every asynchronous observation and provide individual feedback to all tutors who submit theirs. With over 30+ tutors to observe and limited availability on the directors’ end, this can prove to be a large project in addition to our teaching and administrative duties.
However, we are optimistic for the future of this digitized approach to observations. Though we’ve only practiced it for a limited time, we look forward to continuing asynchronous observations and using its results to improve our training and how we approach asynchronous tutoring in general. These observations serve as an opportunity for tutors to self-reflect on their abilities but also provide our center the chance to come to a new understanding of what asynchronous tutoring and tutor observations can be.
References
Bell, L.E. (2011). Preserving the rhetorical nature of tutoring when going online. In C. Murphy & S. Sherwood (Eds.), The St. Martin’s sourcebook for writing tutors (4th ed., pp. 326-334). Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Denton, K. (2017). Beyond the lore: A case for asynchronous online tutoring research. Writing Center Journal, (36)2, 175-200. https://doi.org/10.7771/2832-9414.1831
