INSIDE DOUGLAS COLLEGE / OCTOBER 16, 1990

ELS LE aL ES MEE OT SE LI SN ELE EE Nas SS HE ES ESE GE YS TT PS DOT SAT

I believe that as a student it is sometimes
easier to translate and transfer information
to other students. Therefore, I gained from
having fellow students present different
topics in mathematics to me.

When you are assigned to do problems on
your own and explain them to the class, it
tests you to see whether you understand or
if you are capable of doing the problems.
You feel more obligated and will try to do
your best. Also you can benefit from it;

because as you explain it, students and
teacher can point out to you aspects of the
problem you might not be able to see or
understand. I think you develop a feeling of
self-confidence.

M. Inez Everest, Professor, Mathematics
For further information, contact the author at South

Central Community College, 60 Sargent Drive, New
Haven, CT 06511.

CCCCECE SE

Peer Tutors

A common dilemma facing both two- and four-year
institutions is publicizing the existence of tutoring
services on campus while increasing the legitimacy of
peer tutors for the general student population. As
Tutor Coordinator and Student Support Services
Counselor, I have recently explored some innovative
methods to meet both needs for campus tutoring
services. One of the most effective methods is the utili-
zation of peer tutors as facilitators for study skills semi-
nars under the sponsorship of Student Support Serv-
ices.

Initially, tutors helped with organizing materials
and publicizing the seminars through the use of
posters and memos to students and faculty. They
would also help with the organization of group activi-
ties for the seminars and evaluation process itself.

This past fall semester, several of the tutors ex-
pressed an interest in presenting at the seminars, in
addition to their other responsibilities. One of the
tutors had already demonstrated presentation expertise
by sharing information about the Tutoring Lab with
prospective students on visitation days.

I applauded the tutors’ initiative: presentations
would be opportunities to present themselves as au-
thorities and role models to the general student popu-
lation, and would be opportunities to better organize
the increasing numbers of students attending study
skills seminars.

I met with three of the tutors a week before the
seminar to compile a “script” for the presentations.
We wanted to be consistent not only with the study

skills information presented, but with procedures for
structuring group activities. Peer tutors were invited
to provide input, so that planning the seminars could
be a democratic process.

Final copies of all materials were provided for each
tutor. Each was to be responsible for a small group
(four to eight people), depending on the total number
of students attending the seminar. [In the past, when
large numbers of students—25 to 45—attended, it was

difficult (if not impossible) to carry out group activities.

With tutors dividing the large group into smaller
groups of four to eight people, then going into separate
classrooms, group activities were much better organ-
ized and executed.]

The result of this plan was that more students
became familiar with the work of the tutors, and the
tutors were viewed both as role models and as group
facilitators. In addition, seminar activities became the
small group experiences that we had sought to provide
initially.

Both the peer tutors and the Tutoring Center have
earned a well-deserved legitimacy in the eyes of the
general student population.

Mark E. Lockwood, Tutor Coordinator, Student Support
Services

For further information, contact the author at Spar-
tanburg Methodist College, 1200 Textile Road, Spar-
tanburg, SC 29301-0009.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor

September 21, 1990, Vol. XII, No. 20
©The University of Texas at Austin, 1990
Further duplication is permitted by MEMBER
institutions for their own personnel.

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD),
EDB 348, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, (5 o 471-7545. Subscriptions are available to nonconsor-
tium members for $40 per year. Funding in part by the W. K. Kellogg Fo!

Issued weekly when classes are in session during fall and spring terms and once during the summer. ISSN 0199-106X.

undation and the Sid W. Richardson Foundation.

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