TUTORING CENTER
FOCUS GROUP 2/16/11
(introductions done previously)
So…now that we know about it, we’re going to dive in to talk about the Tutoring Center and first of all we can just
kind of, you know, we did a nice job of going around, we can go around again and just talk about, um, what services
you have used at the Tutoring Center up to this point. And think about when you first heard about the Tutoring
Center. So there’s, you know, workshops or drop-in or evening or study groups or working with you know peer
advisors, so any of those types of…just talk about what your experience has been so far.
I use…sorry, go ahead.
I’ve used the drop-in for the evening and the day-time, I’ve never done-[inaudible].
I’ve been to a few of the, like, study groups, but I usually just use the drop-in.
Uh hmmm.
Um, I first found out about the drop-in winter quarter my freshman year when I was taking M112 and it was about
several weeks into my first, that was my first quarter taking math in college, and that’s when I started going and I’ve
continuously gone to drop-in day and in the evening, tutoring and study groups through Biology through the Tutoring
Center from winter quarter to spring quarter when I took Math 114 to fall quarter when I took bio and chem, to this
quarter when I took chem again. So…a lot. (Laughs)
Um, I first started using the TC winter of freshman year um, I was in Math 118 and I found out about it because I heard
there was a solution guide there that had even and odd answers (laughs), so I’d go there every day around the same
time and there was only one solution book and about four people from my class would go there at the same time, and
so we started studying together, so we kind of made our own study group in the Tutoring Center and then we had the
answer book and tutors there if we needed it so I was in there, I think, every day winter quarter and then now I’m, I go
in for chem., and, like, [person] and I, we do our chem. pre-lab every Sunday night in the library TC so that’s really
helpful. I’ve gone in there for Bio but most of the time it’s just chem. ‘cause bio tends to be rougher.
I first found out about it fall quarter my freshman year and uh found it just in class, um, and I went every day that I’ve
had math to do my homework in there and uh I go in there now for math every day and for chemistry about once a
week.
Um, I found out about the TC my freshman year, I really don’t remember when, but um, I now go there for econ, bio,
and physics, and um I’ve also gone there for math and for um chemistry.
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I found out about the TC last quarter, and I thought it was only for math ‘cause that’s how I found out about it but I think
it’s pretty cool that they offer all those different – [inaudible]—and I go there whenever my math book doesn’t have the
page that my assignment’s on, and—whenever I’m doing my homework and I don’t understand a problem I usually go
there in the morning before class and get some help.
I found out about the TC fall quarter of freshman year. Um, I generally go there for chemistry, um, that’s about it.
Um, found out about the TC last quarter when I was failing Math 112, which I did fail, but I learned enough there to do
well enough on the placement test to get into Math 114, which I’m currently failing, but spending a lot of time at the TC,
about 2 hours a day, and I have math class every day so that’s about 10 hours a week I’m getting my money’s worth out
of the TC.
Excellent. Nice.
Can hardly wait to start failing 156. (laughs)
So this is when you want to use your pen and paper if you’re that kind of, you know, it helps to write things down.
You’re not required to write anything down, but…if you were to think about all the times you’ve used the TC,
so…maybe a workshop like we were talking about, drop-in tutoring, in the day or at night, um, study group or perhaps
a study-skills appointment with a peer advisor, what are the first few words or phrases that come to mind when you
think about your collective experience, so if you were just to, like, think about all the experiences you’ve had, you
know, what words or phrases or images kind of come to mind, um, and you can take a moment to write those things
down. Yeah, so take a minute to do that. Just for fun we put together a diagram in case it might help to jog your
memory (Laughs. Paper rustling.) In case you want to, like, point, “So I was sitting here at table 7 and…”
I use the same table every day of last year. There was the same four of us, the same table, the same time every day and
the tutors all knew us and…yeah.
So what was, what did you write down, [name], what thoughts came up for you, or ideas…
I have “productive,” “dedication,” and then, “meeting study partners,” and I think “productive” is one of the main ones. I
like going to the TC to do my homework because, um, it’s a place to go where I told myself I’m not going to leave until I
get it done, and just, with math especially you have math every day, you have homework assignments just about every
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day, if they collect it, you have to do it but…um…just like, I’d get it done early in the day and then I wouldn’t have to
worry about it. Yeah, so I got things done in there and “dedication” you have to make it, like, a routine of going there
and everything. Meeting new people in your class is helpful because then you can meet and collaborate. Sometimes it’s
nice to try to work it out between yourselves before asking a tutor. The line can get pretty long on the white board.
What about some other things that came to mind?
Well, yeah, I mean dedication and being…when you’re in there. I mean, a lot of times I’ll go to the TC and won’t even ask
a question, I’ll just do my homework in there, um, especially for, I’m taking math this quarter, and chem. 122 and um
both of those I’ll just go in and do my homework in there and sometimes I’ll ask questions and sometimes I won’t, but I
mean the thing is if I need to ask a question I can just easily raise my hand and do it, and I don’t have to circle it and
come back to it later, which, if I do that, I won’t come back to it. It’s like, you know, I’ll just let it be and then, and then I
don’t know it for the test. Definitely, I mean, when I started going there originally, it was because I was failing my math
class and I definitely ended up passing that and my classes I’ve been up to use the TC for ever since, so, yeah, definitely
helpful.
It’s very relaxing to be in there and I feel like it’s math and chemistry for me, that’s cool cause I’m not naturally very
good in them but like you know when you’re in there, if you need help someone’s there and you don’t like second guess,
or I don’t second-guess myself as much. So…inaudible
I’d say generally it’s pretty chill in there but last quarter there was a few, like, during midterms right before finals um the
homework for chemistry is due, like, the same for all the classes, they were really full, and all this was super-huge and it
was kinda stressful.
I really like the atmosphere, um, there aren’t many circles in which I feel pretty welcome, and certainly not many circles
in which my age and experience is so different from everybody else’s in the room and yet I feel welcome there. Um, I’ve
spent so much time there that when I walk through the door 3 or 4 kids will say, “Hey, [name], how ya doin’, come on
in.” And it feels really welcoming, I really like that greeting at the door. Um, uh, one thing as an efficiency guide that
struck me as I walked in the place was that I will hear 3 or 4 tutors working on the same problem at different tables, and
as a really inexpensive force-multiplier, you could put a black on, a whiteboard on one wall and then um a tutor could
work that problem while six or eight people observe it and learn from it and I really think that would save a lot of the
waiting and waiting while somebody else is getting help on the same problem that you’d like help with, you know, and I
do see that quite often. Um, um, I’ve noticed, recently I’ve come in there to study with one of my classmates, um, who
has an electric motor chair, um, and he has a really hard time navigating through there because there’s no, no place for
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him, really. He fits well on the tables, so the tables are okay, but getting to one that has room for him is a bit of a hassle
for him, um, so I guess one thing I would change is I would preserve the, not necessarily the table next to the door, but
prioritize the table next to the door for uh handicapped access, not just wheelchairs but people who crashed and burned
on Mt. Baker, you know, and are on crutches or something like that. Um…
…and we’ll be talking more about kind of different things that you would like to see in the future…
So those are the two things that struck me, actually three, cause I really like the place, so…
No, that’s great. What about some other people that we haven’t heard from?
What was the question again?
What, I mean when you think about all of your experiences at the TC, what are some, like, a word or some phrases
that come to mind, what that experience was like.
Well, certainly helpful. Without it I probably would’ve failed math, and instead I got a B, so that’s a huge difference.
Yeah, the differences in my grades from when I’m not going to the TC and from when I am, huge. I do a lot better on
tests. (Clears throat)
Do you have anything else to add?
Um, well, I just said “a lifesaver”, which is what everyone else said.
Yeah. Could you say more about that?
Well, I mean, I didn’t go to the TC for Math 118 and I ended up having to drop it cause I was failing it my freshman year,
and then I started going, um, for, well, I started going for Math 114, and then, uh, continuously I just kept going for all of
the subjects that were available. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t have done very well.
Anything that you wanted to add?
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Well, I’d say, it’s really quick, like if you need, if you have, like, a couple of little problems you need to finish before class,
it’s really nice to be able to just go in there, get few questions answered, and get out of there quick.
Mm hmm. So some themes I heard was just that it was really helpful in general, and I mean, it helped you do better in
your classes when…and you were able to, like, stay focused and get the work done that you wanted to get done,
ultimately.
I fail my tests by much less than I used to (laughter)
That’s an improvement! I was happy when that started happening
All right. So, you know, we just talked about some of your first impressions and your experiences of the TC, um, and if
you think about your experiences on a continuum, so you thought about all of our experiences, and on one end is like
the most positive experience and on the other end is the least positive, the least helpful experience, depending on
maybe the day, or the time of day, or who you worked with, um. For a moment think about the most positive
experiences you’ve had at the TC, and you know you can write these things out if you want so you’re thinking about
the most positive experiences you’ve had, and what are the factors that contributed to that experience? So…was it
the staff member, was it the study materials they offered, was it um you know…what about that experience made it,
made it positive? (silence) Does that make sense?
Well, a lot of times I feel like it’s the intelligence of the tutor, um like, it’s one thing to understand the material but it’s
another to, like, fit it together in your head and then, kind of like, ask questions to get myself to understand it with
them, um, and so they can do that in a friendly way it’s like, always the most positive experience for me.
Mmm hmmm, so it’s the interaction with the tutor and them being able to help you learn the material, ultimately
(student: yeah) and the way in which they do that, so how, what does that look like when they’re doing that well?
Um, generally to be able to, like, sit down and, they’ll, um, they’ll kind of like see the problem and they’ll go, like, “Oh
yeah,” and they kind of, it’s almost like a routine that they have for some of the questions. I know for chemistry, cause, I
mean, that’s like a really standard class, um, and it’s kind of cool, and you can tell that they’ve, like, thought about the
question before, and they kind of draw answers out of myself. They can kind of, like, prove that I know the material
sometimes, um, and if not they can offer helpful hints that make me feel like, I’m not being, like, just dragged along by
the tutor, but helped along.
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Yeah, I completely agree with that, um, I mean, it’s great that they have the books and the setting and everything, but
definitely the part of the TC that makes it worthwhile for me is having the tutors there who, when, like, there’s really
positive experiences when you know a problem’s solved and I understand it, I mean, that’s huge, and not just you know
being able to communicate it to me but being able to respond when they understand I’m not getting it cause you know,
like, a lot of times you’ll be going, “Uh huh, “ and, you know, they know you don’t understand it. So stopping and going
back and re-going over it, going over it a different way, um, like ME explain it then explaining it back, I mean, there’s just
so many techniques that a lot of them have there, you know, that just, once you get to know them, you get to know,
like, how they respond to you, which makes it so much more, so much more helpful when you come in there and you
just know how to get the problem done. Cause it’s, I mean, it’s stressful when people go in there, and they’re not going
in there cause they know stuff, they’re going in there cause they don’t, any time you don’t know something and you’ve
got a giant test coming up, it’s like, shoot (laugh) I wanna get it done. So, yeah…
I think patience is a really important quality in the tutors, like, sometimes if you’re not understanding they kinda get
irritated and they just kind of want you to get it, but then they don’t really, some of them don’t really know how to
explain it another way. And then you kind of get to the point where, I’ve had a couple times where I kind of just, “Okay, I
get it” and then I just kind of want someone else to come try and help me, and then usually the next person can explain
it pretty well, but...there’s been a couple times where, um, when I was in math 118 they, there were some problems
that were really hard and then the tutors ended up…they couldn’t really figure it out, and then they had to pull in
someone else and it actually made me feel a little better because it proved, that like, this actually really hard, like, the
tutors are having a problem with it and so it, it kind of made me feel better that way, but that’s I guess not really in the
general of “helpful,” that’s like a feeling (laugh).
Uh, I agree with that, just cause, um, I’ve had a couple tutors help me where I just am like, “Yeah, I get it,” but then I, I
asked them to put my name back on the board and I just really hope that someone, some other tutor helps me and
sometimes I’ll time it so that they’re just watching so, yeah, make sure I get a different tutor…
Yeah. So on that note, it sounds like not every experience is ideal. Right? So, what happened, I hear that there’s an
element of patience involved in you know tutors that are really good at what they do but when, when you’re working
with a tutor that isn’t working for you, what is that experience, you know, what is not helpful in that interaction?
What are the things that they do or say or like their attitude, you know…
Um, or there’s…
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One thing is checking comprehension, once an idea has been put forth by the tutor then the, they need a way to check
your comprehension, and just saying, “Do you get it?” isn’t really sufficient, because, if you are frustrated or intimidated
or whatever you might just be willing to say, “Yeah. I get it,” and call it, you know, and hope for another tutor. I’ve done
the same thing, you’re not alone. Um, by and large they are good tutors but, but one thing they might improve on is, is
finding a way to check your comprehension, maybe asking a related question to make sure you understand the concept,
or working it up until the last step and asking you to complete the process to demonstrate that you know how to do it,
because, um, that’s, that’s not quite a 100% there…
There’s one tutor that, uh, can’t remember her name, but like, she talked really, really fast and I just, I just kind of sat
there, like, “Yeah, I totally followed that.” (Laugh) “I have no idea what you’re saying!” I was, like, it was for math 114
and it later in the year so it was kind of you know harder stuff, and it was, like, “Okay!”
Yeah. So, like talking too fast?
Yeah and slowing down, I was going to say the same thing. Just, like, I mean just in general I know that a lot of stuff for
like 112 and 114, which , I mean 112 and 114 were, like hard for me, I’m not a good, I’m not good at math. I know a lot
of tutors in there are really good at math so when they come over and help me, you know, it’s this automatic response
that they know the answer, know how to do the problem, and they just go through it like that, it’s like, whoa! I’m not on
the same level as you.
Right, slow it down. Mm hmm.
I remember one time I was in there, and there was this girl at the same table as me, who had every single tutor trying to
help her, and none of them understood it. Just, like, wow!
Yeah. I mean, like, they don’t know everything either.
The point where I start to give up on a tutor for a problem is when they just start repeating themselves, so, they tell you
how to do the problem, you still don’t really get it, and then they do the exact same thing again, and then that’s when I
kind of start to get frustrated, like, “I didn’t really understand it the first time you did it; can you explain it in a different
way, maybe,” and then they just kind of keep…so that’s when I kind of try to get someone else, maybe, to make another
try at it.
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Humility is good. I’ve had experience today where the guy is, like, “I’m going to put you back on the board, cause I don’t
know how to do this,” (“Yeah!”) and there’s like this huge sigh of relief, like, “Oh!”
Or when someone is, you, kind of confused with the problem or understands that YOU aren’t understanding it the same
way they are and there, you know, there’s some kind of barrier there where them explaining to you is just not working
you know they say, “You know what, how about I just put you back up on the list,” it’s so, cause, you know, you don’t
want to be the person right afterwards who goes, “Yeah, I definitely get it,” and then raise your hand again, because
they know, you don’t get it, you know (giggles) That’s just awkward! So it’s just nice when they say, “I understand that
you don’t get it and you’re not understanding the way I’m explaining it, so I’m going to put you back on the list.” So you
can still get that help, but you don’t have to sit there hearing the same question repeated over and over the same thing
repeated over and over again.
Cause in contrast, I think some of the tutors kind of, like, they’re always put in place of authority, so like they’re always
like storming through you know this question and all of a sudden you kind of, like, interrupt their process, like
sometimes I can kind of sense they’re kind of like, “Oh. Like, you should get this by now.” I mean, I’m the TC to learn.
So I’m hearing patience, and humility…understanding the information and maybe being able to explain it in a couple
different ways if you’re not understanding it (student agrees)…
I’ve also found that if that if I’m, there’s been a couple times where um if the tutor gets kind of confused about what
they’re, like, they’re, they’re trying really hard to understand the problem themselves and work through it and then they
end up sitting with you, you, like, I start getting bored and looking around, it’s like, “I don’t really care about this
problem anymore,” and I’ve had a tutor, like, actually stay with me for about a half an hour, and I was like,” this is one
problem,” like I just kind of wanted to tell her, like, “Stop. I don’t need it anymore.” She’s like, “No, wait, I’m almost
there, and, I’m like, “Uh, I have an entire assignment to do.” So sometimes it’s like they need to maybe just pick up on
more of, like, they’re there to help us, maybe more of what we want, I mean, I could have said something, but she was
pretty…(voice trailing off)
So, listening to you…
I wanted kind of to just start doing the rest of them myself and she could go figure it out over there.
Mm hmm, you guys have anything else to add? Either positive, on the positive side, or the not positive side?
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The hardest part for me is like I know that for the most part they understand what we’re doing but obviously we’re in
the for a reason so we’re not like understanding something, and then they understand it so well that they have like a
really hard time breaking it down into things that we can understand. That’s the thing that I really don’t like.
Breaking it down enough…
…in terms that like we can understand.
Right. They sometimes presume that you have a better understanding of the process than you do and of course you’re
there because you don’t have that but in their experience, if you get something and you understand it, then there are
certain familiar steps that you can kind of jump over and, you know, you do them automatically in your head without
being explicit about them, but when you’re teaching someone who doesn’t know, then you have to be more explicit and
go through each of the steps, and uh I’ve found that to be the case though they’ll get halfway through a problem and
then answer it, “Well, of course you KNOW that,” well, of course I don’t know that. Would you go back to this stage and
showing me how you arrived at that and uh…
I would prefer when a tutor assumes too little, than assumes you know more…(yeah!)
Even if I just go over, like, the basics, like, yeah, I know that, but it’s nice to like see, okay, those were the basics I need to
know for this.
Better to err on the side of caution. Yeah.
But at the same time still listening to the question, cause I’ve had experiences where I’ve asked a question, I’ve had a
tutor come over and I know, I know they’re trying to help me with it, and I totally understand that, but at the same time
they’ll have me answer all of these other things that I feel don’t completely relate to the question, and really the
question is more of like a yes or no am I doing this right? And they’ll have me going through, like, all the steps and you
know, I’ll explain it and re-explain it and it’s like, so, yeah. And then I’ll just ask the question again, like, “Am I doing it
right?” and they’ll like, “Oh, yeah.” So I mean as long as there’s the understanding of like what the question is then
breaking down and making it smaller so that you’re not explaining something that I definitely already know. So I mean,
it’s definitely difficult, and I’ve had you know tutors who were really really good at that coming over and just sitting
there and like, having me talk through the problem and they’ll say, “Yeah!” or like, “Hold on” and stop me when things
happen and there’s also, you know, the tutors that come over and’ll just um you know kind of just take you off on a
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different track and you’re like, “Wait wait, hold on,” you know, um, and talk about the really really small things which
sometimes I think are kind of obvious but I know well, maybe they’re not.
I find that usually happens when um the list is really long and there’s a lot of people so they just start assuming that you
know those steps to get the answer and it’s, like, “No, I actually really need help.” Explain it further.
As for certain times of the day, where you sense there’s generally more people there? Do you try to like avoid there
being a lot of people and go in at different times, or what is that like, if…cause it’s sounds like that list being long um
contributes to a not so great experience. Yeah (from several students). Could you guys talk a little bit about that?
Mid-morning is pretty slow there, I usually wait less than a minute to get a help. In the afternoon—in fact I came here
from the TC—um, it was really busy. Not an empty chair in the place.
Starting about 3 it gets really busy…
Yeah, and then it can take quite a while to get help, and especially if you’re studying a subject that is in high demand, in
my case math 114, but um I presume there are other, maybe, less in demand ones that aren’t quite so hard to find a
tutor for. Um, but that does take a lot of time and I don’t know what you can do about that. You can’t clone tutors
necessarily but, um, but if you can go in during a quieter time I think it’s much more beneficial.
And also, um, Wednesdays Thursdays and Fridays are when it starts getting busier. Mondays and Tuesdays is usually
people aren’t in there as much cause tests tend to be at the end of the week more, cause bigger issues, especially, um,
on like Thursday nights when there’s like a test on Friday, there’s a lot of people coming in on Thursday night and it’s
usually all the same kids from the same class cause most of the same classes, like chem. classes have a test at the same
time, math classes have a test at the same time and that’s something just unavoidable, I mean you’re going to go when
you have a test and I mean that come to, a lot of it comes to student planning too, I mean it’s your responsibility to go in
a week before the test so that you’re not going in the night before freaking out when the list is like two feet long. So,
but, definitely there’s like different days different subjects that are going on at different times.
I’ve only been early mornings a few times but when I have been there it was like, some of the tutors was around
chatting with each other, looking very unoccupied, is that a trend? (Students: uh huh) Okay. In my head it kind of seems
strange that they don’t schedule out so there’s maybe take the people that are working in the morning
General mumbling about putting on more tutors when it’s busier. Yeah.
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They’re dependent on class schedules just like we are, though. The students that work as tutors, so, um, I think you have
a good idea, but it’s not, they’re not completely free to switch schedules.
Yeah, not necessarily morning people working the evening, but just like taking on additional employees or whatever
…to get it so the list isn’t so long.
Well the subject here was the worst and best experiences regarding the TC um so if I could come back to that
specifically. I had a couple of occasions on consecutive days when I got help on difficult problems and I got what I
believed was the correct solution only to find out later that it was not. That happened twice and it, it really bent me, so I
went to the TC and asked to speak to Ms. Quick and we chatted for about half an hour and I said, you know, “What kind
of screening do you do? How do know that your guys know what they’re doing?” And she explained to me that they
really do not only test them to ensure they get the cream of the crop as far as the students but then, once they have
that cream of the crop, then they teach them how to be tutors and how to recognize when um well how to recognize
special situations. I don’t know what those are necessarily, but it’s more than hiring good number crunchers and putting
them in a room with bad number crunchers. Um, I was very pleased with her response, you know with all the things they
do to make the best atmosphere they can. So, the worst was walking into class two days in a row and going “See?” and it
was wrong, and then the best was going to see Barb, and having her explain to me, “Well, sorry, but we’re really doing
this that and the other thing to ensure that happens as infrequently as possible.”
Well, and like every time I’ve done online homework for chemistry, like 121 122, I usually go into the TC to do it just so I
can make sure my answers are right and, you know there have been times when I’ve had two tutors sit there, and go,
“Oh yeah, this is…almost positive this is right,” and it’s been wrong, and that just happens and I totally understand.
You’re like, “Shoot! That’s my points,” you know, but at the same time every single time that’s happened the tutors have
just apologized and then you know totally didn’t understand how they got it wrong, and sat there with me and went
over it again, and not a single time have they ever been, “Oh, shoot,” and you know walked off. It’s been, you know, I
definitely feel like they care as much as you do about your work which, that means a lot, that means, you know, if you
asked someone in there who’s definitely, you feel has the emotional capacity to work for it, you know, you know they’ll
try their best and that’s great, that’s great to see, you don’t get that satisfaction.
So, overall, I mean it sounds like we’re talking mainly about drop-in tutoring. Is that what everyone’s talking about
pretty much? (agreement) So, like the next question is, what would you say is the most, overall the most important
service the TC offers?
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Drop in (universal agreement). Without a doubt.
I’ve been to one study group. That’s through the TC as well (Marli: Yeah) I’ve been to one and it, it wasn’t, I don’t know. I
think it was for PSY101? They had it, and it was kind of weird. There were about 15 people there and the person that
was running it um just about every question that was asked she couldn’t really answer. She had to flip through the book
and just like we would have done on our own so it wasn’t really very helpful. She didn’t seem prepared. I kind of haven’t
gone to another one because I know that probably not all of them are like that but that was just kind of a waste of my
time, and the drop-in is like you can cycle another tutor in, (right) and if you’re in a study group you’re stuck with that
one person for however long you’re there. You have to go to wherever that, like that was in the Environmental Science
building.
So what else about the drop-in tutoring do you think is why do you think that’s like the most important thing, or why
does it work for you?
Just all the resources. Just the answer books, the tutors, and just the atmosphere, even, which I consider a resource.
Super convenient. (Yeah. Lots of agreement)
Flexibility.
Open all the time. Get the one-on-one help…
VERY DIFFICULT TO HEAR
Like I know what you’re saying right here, all the same problem being reviewed, but if someone was writing on the
board with like six other people around me wondering about the same thing, we’re all going to have like different
questions. It’s nice, yeah. Raise your hand and they’ll be answering the same question they’ve been answering every
minute of the day, answering specifically for you.
At least if they’ve just answered it over and over again they’ll know how to do it. If you’re like the third person on the list
and they’re like I’ve already done this three times and you’re like, “Oh, good!”
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I’ve noticed that wears out the tutor too, after the twelfth time they’ve figured out how much you ought to be spending
for the top of your can and bottom of your can and sides of your can they’re like, “Oh, the can again. Yep, I’m on my
thirteenth can of the day.”
So it’s easy, it’s flexible, it’s convenient, it works, you know, you get that one-on-one.
A lot of times I go there and it’s really preplanned, it’s like, oh I have an hour between class I’ll just stop in there and a
study group is usually –inaudible—it’s at 3 o’clock, it’s at 5 o’clock, then you have to plan around it and attend and you
kind of feel weird sometimes going in. And yeah, like us students, you know, a lot of us, I don’t know, some of us work
and so there’s the job and there, you know, with the 15 credits or 16 credits or however many credits you’re taking and
those are at different times during the day and you may only have that one hour you know a certain day, then maybe
the next day you don’t have that, so to be able to go in any time and just get the help you need, or to stay, you know,
the other thing is study groups sometimes only last an hour to two hours, I think my Bio 101 study group is only about
an hour, or maybe it was two. It was like once a week. Whereas like this, I can go in there and you know, I’ve been in the
TC for four hours straight before. Just studying. Yeah. You have that convenience to stay as long as you need, there’s not
this you know set time for it. (Right, right)
And the other thing is in drop-in tutoring, a lot of people have more than one subject they’re working on and if you’re in
a study group it’s focused on that one subject and like so sometimes they’ll have, they usually bring chem. and bio in
there, and you can have a question for either. (Right).
Well, we’re going to switch gears real quick, um and talk more about kind of the possible areas of development that
the TC can work on and build and before doing that does anyone have anything to add about what we’ve talked
about?
I find that the best tutors are in the morning, like, at 8 in the morning when it opens, cause they do the ones that are
there that early are ones that can help with almost all the subjects, and so…they’re really good. Yeah. And they explain
things really well, especially since there’s only like one or two people in there and, yeah it’s definitely the best in the
morning.
I’ve definitely noticed that too.
I don’t…is that Math tutoring center in Bond Hall part of this TC?
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No. It’s just the evening drop-in and the one in OM. That’s good, that’s helpful. Um so maybe we’ve talked about
some of these things already, but um we’re going to talk about the different elements that contribute to a making a
successful learning environment, and we’ve kind of talked a little bit about it but…um…but for example if you think
about the location of the TC, the size and the layout of the space, the hours of operation, the types of furniture and
how it’s arranged, um the type and the number of books available, answer keys, or computers available, the number
of staff working, the tutoring style a tutor uses, the people around you and their behavior and so on…so there’s like a
lot, a lot of factors there. So if you think about all these things and other factors that you can think of that affect the
learning space, which ones do you think are the most important in creating the perfect space and experience for a
tutoring center? So essentially, what would contribute to like the most awesome learning environment?
It’s already an excellent learning environment. Quiet and warm but not roasting, I mean environmentally it’s pretty
good. Um, might help to have areas, physical areas in the room of concentration so you put the 114 --- here, and
chemistry guys over there, and that way if you have a question that other—in my case—114 guys have, well, you can
lean over and listen to a tutoring session that’s going on there and not have to listen to someone bonding molecules
over here. Um, so I think, areas of subject concentration in the room…
I absolutely agree with that, cause then people, I mean not have to sit in that area, you can sit wherever you want but
you know like you were saying before if someone could have a whiteboard starts explaining how to do something and
you looked down and say, “Hey, that’s my problem,” and if you want them to come back to you and explain it again you
have that option of course but you also have the option to sit there and listen to it. So that you get both sides of the help
there, so that tutor can maybe just do it once or if they do need to explain it again they can. But you have people around
you who are working on the same kind of stuff so you can just look around and get that help right away.
Even just sitting next to people who are working on the same thing you are can be helpful. “Can you just tell me how to
do this really fast cause there’s a really long list?” And they’re like, “Oh yeah,” and I’m like, “Oh, okay thanks,” and you
know, that’s that. I definitely notice that.
Well I know that um I know that there’s one person at the front during the evening tutoring who says, “Oh, there’s this
person that’s working on this subject, if you wanted to go join them,” so I know that someone in the TC does that, but I
haven’t heard that in a while.
…but not all the time.
No, it’s just in the evening drop-in is when I’ve heard it.
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It’s just like one of the front desk girls?
Yeah.
I definitely think that’d be helpful, though, cause a lot of times when I go in there I go with like a group of friends and
we’re all in the same chem. class and even if I’ve already done a problem that they’re asking a question on, I stop
everything and I listen because I want to see how they did it in case they have like a better way and just sort of kind of
recap everything, so…I usually I mean if anyone has a chem. question around me, even if I know how to do it, I listen
anyway. So it would be kind of nice to have it sectioned off like that, especially since there’s a lot of tutors that have,
like, special thing that they tutor like you could have the chem. majors maybe help the chem. a little more and
something like that…
There’s some tutors that are really good at like, certain things, like I mean, and, you know it would…you know how you
always pick out your favorite tutor and like, you’re hoping that they’re going to come help you? Like, they’re helping
someone for math and you’re like, “Oh, you’re such a good chem. tutor!” And you just like, waiting for them to come
over. I mean not that they’d have to come to you but definitely it’d be cool if there was a chem. section, the, or, you
know, a math section and those who are really really good at math would more, you know, go towards that area and
those who—voice trails off—and they kind of do that already but I’m just thinking—it would be kind of cool to see
(yeah).
What about like the layout, or hours of operation…
Ooh, hours of operation…sorry I keep interrupting you every time.
So the thing that is always frustrating to me is when you have two questions and there’s like a list of names and they
help you with one of them but then they have to leave and put your name at the very bottom of the list, for like pretty
much the same problems, I don’t know—I just wish that they would be able to help you with all of your questions,
instead of just making you wait. (Marli: Huh. Okay)
I find that you can just ask them, “Oh hey, you know, just kind of sneak it in there,” and most of the time they’ll say,
“Yeah, I can help you with another question.” So…
If it’s really busy, they’ll turn around and like, “No, I have to go back,” and put you back on (yeah, yeah…)
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Just about every time you say, “Could you help me a little more,” they always turn around and look at the board. (Yeah!)
And then if there’s no one on there, they’re like, “Yeah, sure!” and then if there’s a long one they go, “Ehhh”….
A small thing is the attentiveness of the ladies at the front desk. (laughter) They’re not really bad about this cause they
do look up, but sometimes they get into a particularly riveting conversation and it takes quite a while to get them to
acknowledge you…(yeah) and um (giggles) but that’s not a deal-killer or anything, it’s not they don’t pay ANY attention
but, but, if they could scan maybe a little more frequently that’d be cool.
Yeah, it definitely depends on the person. Sometimes there’s, the girls at the front desk are like really good at it, I mean
literally I think they actually have like an interval of checking every two minutes or something and then there’s the other
ones that kind of like you know maybe you’re getting a little too into Facebook or something (laughter). Some look like
that.
There’s one girl I really like when she’s at the front desk, just cause she’s really attentive, she’s really friendly. (Mm
hmm) (Yeah) And then there’s the new person who’d always like “Huhhh” (sighing sound). It’s kind of disappointing just
‘cause it’s an easy job, but some of them do it so poorly (laughter).
What does “poorly” look like?
They just like sit there like you actually have to like, “Excuse me”…
So they’re not paying attention.
Yeah. Night tutoring is worse. (Yeah)
Maybe it’s because they’re more spread out or something.
I think it’s part of the layout with night tutoring, there’s that post… (laughter) Really, if you’re behind the post they’re
not going to see you. But like it was part of tutoring desk, but I also feel like some of the girls doing night tutoring,
they’re just…not paying attention.
Plus there’s also a bunch of tables behind the desk, so unless they like 360 degree like a lighthouse looking around, like,
they’re not going to see you, so…it seems like an odd room to put the TC in (laughter, agreement).
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They usually…inaudible…I’ll just go to the board and put my name on there myself.
So, I’m going to give you all a magic wand, okay, you get to like create the most ideal TC in your mind. Where would it
be? On campus, potentially…how would it sound, what would it look like, what would it feel like, what hours would it
be open, and what services would they provide, any other resources that are available, anything that would just
like…I mean, think outside the box, think outside, you know, go nuts (laughter). You could make it just like, “This is
the best TC ever! It’s really amazing!” What would that be like?
Um, it wouldn’t break between 5 and 6pm. (Yeah!) I commute 50 miles and I’m happy to work until 5 and I’d be happy
to work until 6, but doing…not being in a TC, working until 5 then breaking for an hour, that’s like, “No, I’m done, I’m
going to go home and get some dinner.” Um, but if I could get tutoring for that hour that would be idea so if instead of
breaking, they could stagger those so this guy opens when this guy’s closing this guy at the library or wherever it ends
up, that would be ideal for me. I’m just one guy and I…who lives in the next county but…
No, but that, I mean…yeah, go crazy, go nuts.
That’s kind of bothered me too, like if I’m working until 5 and then like I have to wait another hour, it mumble just like,
“Forget this, I’m going home.” (Yeah.)
My heart is really broken when I’m at the evening tutoring center and they don’t have a book that they know they have
at the other place. (Yeah)
They have it at the reserves.
The reserves?
The reserves doesn’t have a 112 book.
But like the fact they have it in a desk, easy access in their other building that’s shut down, then they’re over at the
library and they’re like, “Oh, we don’t have this, sorry.” It seems weird that they have to split it up in the first place, like,
in my dream world it would be in the library all the time cause that’s like really central and it’s also open way later and
earlier (yeah!) so they wouldn’t have to split it up. Um, plus I don’t know, I also don’t like the circular tables in the Old
Main location, but that might just be me…
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I kind of like the circular tables, it’s more community…
If you’re with a group, though; if you’re not with a group I feel like my elbows get like poking into people’s books and
stuff…
The circular tables are just awkward to sit around…
The long ones are sticky! (giggles)
You mean the varnish is sticky or people are like giving you free food?
No, I think the varnish is sticky. Um, it would be a really simple matter to fix the varnish, I mean, I’ve done it to my own
tables, but…yeah…
I think one thing that would be helpful in the Old Main TC is I don’t know if you can rent laptops in there, I mean,
especially for chem., and it would just be really helpful if that was available.
Another reason it would be great if it was in the library all the time (yeah). There’s just so many more resources there,
right there, like Zoe’s if you’re hungry and want food you don’t have to walk all the over to the Market or wherever
The only thing I think is…if it was in the library all the time it need to be expanded (mm hmm, from others) I think more
people would know about it if it was in the library, cause they’d walk by it all the time, and it’s kind of bad, but if it’s in
the Old Main, I feel like, there’s not as many people that know about it (giggles) so it’s not as crowded…
Ha ha, like keep it a secret! (laughter from all)
Yeah, like a secret spot that I mean that’s kind of bad cause it should be accessible to everyone
It’s like the farthest academic building away from campus (lots of people talking at once)
I live off-campus, so like walking to Old Main, it’s just like…
Oh that’s painful! (laughter)
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That part of the library move if they put it there the whole day, like, that’s people’s spot during the day…I’d be pretty
upset if they did (laughter).
I think that they should have a big room for it, instead of that’s just kind of like a –inaudible—of the library, it’s kind of
like a weird hallway type thing. If I could have like a perfect place it’d be a pretty big room, like bigger than the one in
Old Main, um, but I still like the square (uh huh) I don’t like the (L?) yeah. Um I’d have it like a little bit bigger just so
there’s more space and more tables um cause a lot of people at times when it like gets busy. Um, maybe a little bit
cooler cause it gets pretty warm in there when there’s a lot of people in there. (Umm hmmm, yeah).
And stinky (yeah, giggles).
Sometimes if there’s a lot of people they run out of uh books, um, and so maybe have just, even just a couple more, I
but I know they’re expensive. Um then maybe have like other seating options um instead of just sitting cause sometimes
you’re really tire of sitting in a chair all day and you just like want a bean bag or you want a couch or something like
that…it’s probably my ideal, so
Yeah, that’s what we’re doing.
They should have a microwave. (Laughing)
That’d be so distracting to me; oh my gosh! “That smells good” (laughter)
Yeah that’s true.
When I’m studying I don’t like to eat.
I’d rather keep the TC just for tutoring, (laughing chatter inaudible)
Although maybe a water thing in there would be nice. (Yeah!)
That would be good. A water cooler?
Should put it in Miller. They’re not doing anything with Miller.
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(Laughing) It’s still building.
Do you guys have anything to add to your ideal TC?
At least some hours on Saturday because like if you’re doing math or you’re doing chemistry you know you have a
question you want answered and it’s not open all day Saturday so you have to wait ‘til Sunday…and the evening that day
too.
And the chem. thing is due Sunday. Well we had it due Saturday…inaudible
Yeah, totally agree Saturday.
I agree Saturday (lots of talking at once).
If there were going to be hours on Saturday what time would you want them?
Not in the morning.
Nine to 5 (laughter). No!! Twelve to like five or something.
Even if was a really quick four-hour stretch.
You guys, isn’t it funny the library closes at like four o’clock and it’s like, oh…(that’s a normal time)
It like, “What, am I supposed to study on Friday night?”
Yeah, or Saturday…
I’d sort of like, like, twelve to five or something (yeah, that’d be good)
Cause, like, nobody’s going to be there late at night.
I would, yeah, Saturday past five probably not very many people.
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Well yeah because I only do my homework bas--, or my homework for like my statistics class and my chem. class in the
TC, I kind of lose a day on Saturdays because I don’t always cause you know I know if I go home and I do it by myself and
I circle a question I won’t ask it, so I just don’t even bother doing it, which I mean that’s also my responsibility but at the
same time it would be very convenient to have like Saturday….
You can keep thinking about that, and what I’m going to do…you can just take one of these brochures these are for
demonstration purposes only. Take a minute to like look through them and everything that has an arrow pointing to
it is something that doesn’t exist yet that they’re thinking about implementing and so as you’re looking through it,
um, I’m going to just ask for your reactions, thoughts, about those certain things.
Graphing calculators is a good idea.
The personal tutor listing is a good idea.
Well, yeah, personal tutor…whew.
Marli: Yeah? Say more about that—what are your thoughts about that?
Well just that I’ve been thinking about hiring a tutor but I don’t know how much it costs, like I’m really worried about
the cost, and I don’t know who to go to hire a personal tutor. There isn’t like a list of people.
So that might be a really beneficial thing…
The private tutor for $250 is actually that’s a really good deal, I think. Cause I know a lot of tutors have it or 50 or a
hundred dollars a session, which is really like on the cheaper end too. For a good tutor it’s really expensive.
For how long.
For like an hour or two—it’s ridiculous. (Just for an hour? Oh, god)
…and I’m not sure, I mean they might have discounted hourly rates and they would because they’ll be affiliated with
the TC and I don’t think they know exactly what that’s going to look like, depending on their qualifications there
might be a tutor that IS $50 an hour, but there might be another one that’s $20 or $10
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I overheard a guy talking this summer one of the tutors and he goes like $10 an hour for private tutoring
…so I think that there would be some kind of sliding scale, or you know a certain rate maybe for certain classes and
the higher the class the more it might cost, I don’t think they have completely figured that out but I think that they’re
curious if that’s something that students would potentially use and find really valuable ultimately.
I think if you did that, that it would really catch on, particularly because there are so many people in a given subject that
if they were to pool resources and make a deal with a tutor to tutor three or four people at a time, if we’re all doing 114,
we all have the same questions, we all have the same homework and the same timeline, why not double this guy’s pay
his hourly pay if he would only charge $15 or $20 an hour, offer him $40 an hour, divided by four people that comes out
to $10 per hour per student that’s a good deal for everybody. The tutor gets more, twice as much money as he could
make per hour otherwise, the student pays half as much as they would otherwise, and you get a tutor that is approved
by the school and is held to some level of quality…
I don’t know I’d rather have it everyone’s in this together, not pay for tutors. Cause I mean if you have a group of people
who already have help, I’d rather them just add another person to the staff and I don’t know…
I don’t think we’re suggesting that this would take away from the tutoring that exists…
It would be in addition to…so there still would be drop-in, there, drop-in isn’t going anywhere. That’s just an
additional service of people that might want to know want to work with the same person and week after week and
have that consistency (Okay). Um.
Is the TC not for profit?
No. (okay). They don’t make money.
Well, the tutors would be but…
Right, that’s part of your tuition.
Yeah.
And your mom’s taxes.
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I’m curious what your thoughts are about things like academic success workshops, um, and workshops in general,
whether I mean, I guess specifically we’re talking about the TC but do you feel like those I mean I don’t know have
you been to one?
I’ve seen the signs for ‘em.
Yeah, I’ve never been. They’re usually in the evening and by the time it’s evening I’m toasted, right, just done.
Well I went to one and it was just like…so I scheduled for um a workshop or some sort of information thing and it turned
out that it was just a one-on-one thing and this girl just gave me a pamphlet on how to study and get A’s in my classes
and then I was just like, “Well, that was helpful, I’m going to throw this away now,” cause—I don’t, like, I don’t know, it
wasn’t—
So it wasn’t helpful.
No it was like yeah, I’m in college, I know how to study I’ve gotten up to this point, I just need help with time
management skills and she didn’t really help me with that, she didn’t point out these strategies like on how to timemanage um she was just like “Here, read this.”
So there might be benefits to the workshops if they covered certain topics that you were interested in? In a way that
worked for you?
I’m not sure if it was through the TC, but at Summerstart, you can check out like different workshops you’d want to sit in
on and I think most people don’t actually attend those things but I did one of them that was a study skills one and I
actually still think about some of the things they talked about, like, I hadn’t really thought about before, like one I always
think of was they had this graph of if you review the stuff you learn in class that night your retention of the material and
then if you wait a week and then look over your notes you lose, like, 30 percent of what you’ve learned or something
and then if you wait until right before the test it like shows this graph of like how much you learned and it’s it’s really
horrible (laughter). But I think about that and it didn’t really change how I do things, but I think about it (laughter). I try
to study more, like, a little bit each day, but it’s hard.
What do you ideal times for, if there were to be workshops, what would be like the best time?
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I feel during the, at least for me, I mean, I don’t know how much I would be interested in one of these unless they
actually brought something to the table, I mean it kind of feels like blah comments and stuff but if they did bring
something you know it’d be interesting to go to, but I just feel like a lot of times during the week people are already…
With the workshops, um, my first impression was like this probably is going to be a big waste of time like schedule time
arrive sign in and whatever and if it turns out you like just handed a work –inaudible—I think that’s kind of silly um and I
think that like when I look at this list like it seems like most of this could just like be put online like a video or like
download the pamphlet um so the best time for me would be like any time, like, just kind of like skim through the video,
see if it’s worth it, cause, unless it’s like one-on-one it doesn’t have to be in a physical place…
And real quick, any thoughts about academic success coaching, the “full quarter of weekly private academic success
coaching.” Thoughts? Initial reactions about that?
$250? Don’t they have an EDUC108 or something? So you can take a class. So if you’re really struggling and want
something that’s going to take the whole quarter, wouldn’t you just take that?
I think some people might use it but it is kind of expensive, like, just for a student, cause you know I have no money in
my bank account right now, living off a bone so…most people are.
Yeah, I think if you were going to offer an enhanced service for $250 a quarter, pay a professional to provide it, then that
should be an academic subject. In my case, if I could get enhanced tutoring once a week for an hour one-on-one with a
math tutor, that’d be awesome. That’d be worth $250 a quarter.
So, it may, it might make more sense if that was specific to a course and not just like “academic success”.
Right. I don’t know, and I’m sure I would benefit from academic success strategies as well, I don’t mean to discount the
value of that, but for my $250 check, I’d like to get someone to teach me some math. (Right, right).
Um, so as we kind of wrap things up, um kind of one final question: tonight we’ve talked about some of the most
helpful, important aspects of the TC as well as the things that don’t work so well. We’ve also talked about what the
ideal TC would look like, and different things it would include. Out of all the things we talked about tonight, what
sticks out to you as being the most important thing that you want the TC to know?
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Have the different sections for like chemistry like have a section like work with other chemistry people and like help
each other out or just like be alone like the different sections would be really helpful.
And have a common point of instruction, a whiteboard for math, a whiteboard for chemistry so that people who are
interested in this subject can work in that direction and get common assistance. I think that would really lighten the load
on the individuals giving instruction and triple the value students get from it.
I think the Saturday hours were the most important thing for me.
Saturday hours? Yeah, absolutely! (laughter)
Just don’t take away the drop-in (laughter).
…and no gap in service between 5 and 6 (yeah, yeah).
I don’t know if we talked about this, but maybe like, do peer reviews of the tutors because I think that like certain tutors
work with certain people, but there may be some tutors out there…like there are certain tutors I want to see coming
toward me…others can just turn around.
Like fill out on the back about on a regular basis so like they getting regular feedback on how they’re doing…?
Yeah, ‘cause like TA’s and even TF’s get um like graded (like, evaluation or something) cause I’m a TF for geology 101 and
I get graded at the end of the quarter. (Yeah) So…and it’s a class.
And there are some tutors I would give super good grades to (yeah) ‘cause they’re awesome.
That’s a good idea.
Who else? Anyone else have an opinion about that?
That’s what I would say…peer reviews because…everyone else said it now…but there’s some you don’t want to work
with.
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There’s one who’s kind of a jerk, even though she’s like…and I was just like “Wow. Okay. You know I don’t understand
this; you don’t have to be mean about it. They have to have like people skills and math skills.
And the right tone of voice.
Tone of voice and patience.
I don’t even mind if they’re socially awkward, just as long as they’re not a jerk. (That’s true)
Did you have anything to add?
Well, I mean, um, just being able to explain things differently is really important, and also I think there should be more
econ tutors cause there’s only one and he only comes in 2 times a week, it’s really painful because he um not be hating
on him, the last time I was there, there were a lot of econ questions and that was just like, man, I have an econ test
really soon and I was getting really frustrated so he would leave me with half of the question answered. I’d be like
“Wait! Wait a second, I’m not done yet” and he was, I don’t know, just kind of rude…
Well…I know that time is running out.
CLOSE
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