Update on the tutoring "protocol"

     1/09/11 — I spoke this afternoon with someone knowledgeable about the Learning Center and the new “protocol” according to which instructors who leave the box (that appears at the bottom of their rosters) checked thereby “refer” all of their students to tutoring.
     It is, I think, natural for faculty to suppose that the new “protocol” entails some process whereby each of one’s students is sent to the Learning Center to meet with a tutor. Evidently, that is not what is involved here. As the practice was explained to me this afternoon, the new protocol simply brings it about that  students who seek tutoring will not have to go to the trouble of acquiring their instructor’s signature; nor will the instructor be inconvenienced; for the signature/referral has already been supplied (if, that is, the instructor has left that box checked).
     Evidently, no “boondoggle” is involved in the increase in “referrals” (likely brought about by the “protocol"). That is because the Learning Center has a budget and it must stay within that budget when, for instance, it pays tutors. There is no opportunity for bringing in further monies by maximizing referrals to tutoring. At some point, the Learning Center provides an accounting of the number of tutoring hours that it has provided throughout the year (again, within the budget); and that amount is eventually reimbursed by the state (this is the apportionment). Again, there is no opportunity to spend money beyond what is budgeted each year.
     I have also been told that it is an error to suppose that the tutors of the Learning Center attempt to do what instructors do. In fact, they have been trained to provide assistance that emphasizes the nature and importance of study skills, preparing for classes, and the like. What they do is very unlike what instructors do and does not presuppose the sort of specific and deep understandings of an expert in some field.
     Further, it is in fact quite easy for a student to gain a referral for tutoring. Again, the point of the protocol was merely to eliminate the phenomenon of students hunting down and pestering their instructors for referrals.
     Briefly, I should add that this protocol developed over the last year at Saddleback College—not at IVC—and it arose as an opportunity for Irvine Valley College only three or so days ago. That is, IVC was simply brought into a scheme that had been the product of a lengthy process at its sister college. Perhaps that could have been handled better.
     It does appear to me that their have been some “failures to communicate” here that could have been avoided. But it does also now seem to me that there is no great problem afoot.
     No doubt, more clarity will be brought to this situation in the coming days. We should all probably relax. One possible benefit of this little brouhaha is that we are all reminded that there is indeed a Learning Center and that it does provide tutoring and that the tutors have been trained to emphasize study skills and the like.
     To learn more about the IVC Learning Center and what it offers, please go here. See also here for SC's Learning Assistance Program.

GP's pup