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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

tutoring techniques, online, face-to-face, environments

College

Humanities

Department

English

Abstract

Online tutoring is a commonly used, but rarely evaluated, pedagogical extension of the traditional campus writing center. Online tutoring moves one-on-one student/ tutor conferences from a familiar face-to-face environment to the less familiar environment of the Internet (via email, chatrooms, MOOs, etc.) I conducted a qualitative study, observing over the course of a semester the workings of UVSC’s online tutorial system. I initially planned to focus on the student side of the issue, to document how students were helped or hindered by tutorials in the online environment; however, because of low student involvement in my research project, my focus moved to tutoring techniques in the online vs. face to face tutorial. My study has led me to conclude that while the online environment does not seem to directly affect a tutor’s techniques, a tutor’s skills can be stifled by the unfamiliar environment. If a tutor is comfortable in online environments, then his/her skills will transfer smoothly; however, if a tutor is uncomfortable in the environment and unwilling to explore, the tutorials will fail.

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