Northwest eTutoring Consortium: A Multi-Institution Online Tutoring Service Bellingham Technical College Chemeketa Community College Clark College Clover Park Technical College Columbia Basin College Edmonds Community College Everett Community College Lake Washington Technical College North Seattle Community College Peninsula College Pierce College (Ft. Steilacoom & Puyallup) Portland Community College Skagit Valley College Tacoma Community College In collaboration with the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium Spokane Falls Community College South Seattle Community College Whatcom Community College Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges Washington State University: Distance Degree Programs, Pullman, Tri-Cities, Vancouver

A BOUT U S A Brief History of eTutoring.org NW eTutoring Consortium – Started January 2008 –Currently 19 schools are participating Building on the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (CTDLC) eTutoring Program – Started Fall 2001, funded by a grant from the Davis Education Foundation

E T UTORING S ERVICES Online Tutoring Services Offered: Synchronous Student-Tutor Sessions Drop in sessions scheduled 7 days a week Asynchronous Student Questions Response received in 24 to 48 hours Asynchronous Online Writing Lab Response received in 24 to 48 hours

E T UTORING. ORG A Collaborative, Aggregated Service: Tutors provided by each institution Tutoring hours are combined into one schedule Students at each institution access all tutors on this one schedule

T UTOR S CHEDULE

NWeTC Tutoring Schedule

E T UTORING. ORG P HILOSOPHY Tutoring Philosophy Our writing tutors are trained to follow the best practices for responding to student writing, including: o the prioritization of higher level concerns over lower level concerns, o an emphasis on global/systemic errors that resist simple correction in favor of explanations and examples, o a focus on the student as a writer rather than on a single writing assignment. Our synchronous tutors in math and other subjects o provide examples and options, o ask discerning questions, o guide students toward solutions rather than simply providing answers.

NWeTC Facilitates Quality Control Monitors Schedules Trains CTDLC Creates Platform ProvidesTechnical Support Hosts INSTITUTIONS Market Hire & Pay Tutors Meet Regularly Set Policy Collectively Choose Subjects Supervise Tutors Coordinators COLLABORATIVE TUTORING MODEL

P ROGRAM C OST Responsibilities of member institutions Washington institutions pay a $500 one-time setup fee Institutions hire and pay tutor(s) o Institutions determine tutor wages o Institutions initially provide a minimum of 5 tutoring hours a week to support 150 tutoring sessions a semester/quarter o Institutions increase tutoring hours in 5 hour increments for every set of 150 sessions students utilized in a semester/quarter over the initial 150. Institutions tutoring math purchase computer tablet (approx. $90) Institutional coordinator monitors its tutor and communicates with NWeTC Administrator Institutional Coordinator completes batch upload of institution’s students Institutional Coordinator attends semi-annual NWeTC Advisory Council meetings

F IRST -Y EAR C OSTS Each Institution’s Total Costs for the First Year of Membership: Tutors (usually writing tutors, sometimes another subject) for a combined total of 5 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. (At $10/hr., this amounts to $2500.) $500 one-time setup fee $2500 membership fee –The SBCTC elearning department will pay the $2500 membership fee for Washington community and technical colleges. The SBCTC’s generous contribution means that first year costs (including tutor wages and the set-up fee) amount to $3000 rather than $5500. Most schools assign a current tutor to eTutoring so the eTutor isn’t an additional expense.

C OSTS FOR C ONTINUING I NSTITUTIONS Each Continuing Institution’s Total Costs for Subsequent Years of Membership: 1.Tutors o The institution is responsible for providing one tutor (for five hours a week) for every set of 150 sessions over the initial 150. o For example:  sessions  1 or 2 tutors, 5 hours/week  151 – 300 sessions  10 hours/week  sessions  15 hours/week o We usually ask that institutions provide writing tutors first because the Online Writing Lab garners the most usage. However, after that point, you may add tutors in any of the available subjects. 2.The Institutional Coordinator will spend some time checking on tutors and conferring with the Northwest Consortium Administrator. You supply a tutor or two and just a little of your time!

T HE BENEFITS OF J OINING THE NW E TC Why Join the NWeTC? Compared to popular services like Smarthinking.com, eTutoring.org is very cheap! As a consortium with a large tutoring force, we can offer more subjects than most face to face tutoring centers. As a member of the NWeTC Advisory Council, you’ll contribute to the creation and revision of the policies and pedagogies that inform our practices. Tech support and platform updates are provided by the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (CTDLC) Tutors are hand-picked by institutional coordinators, but the NWeTC Administrator handles the scheduling and additional training

T HE C OLLABORATIVE E FFORT Why Build Collaborations? Cost savings Shared resources Build it TOGETHER, own it TOGETHER Flexibility in design The strength and size of the group makes more things possible

T HE D EVELOPMENT P ROCESS All Stakeholders Inform the Process: Tutors identify what works, what doesn’t, what’s missing Students let us know if our processes and systems are easy to use Coordinators identify tools they need: reports, student registration, eTutor supervision

Consortium-wide Support The NWeTC is a mutually supportive consortium. We encourage coordinators and tutors to contact one another to share ideas, ask questions, and support each other’s work. The listservs and the have been created for the purposes of this

E T UTORING. ORG ’ S H OMEPAGE A Quick Look at the eTutoring Platform: The Administrator’s View The Homepage:

A DMINISTRATIVE R EPORTS Administrative Reports

T HE S TUDENT ’ S P OINT OF V IEW The Student View

A T UTOR ’ S P OINT OF V IEW A Tutor’s Point of View

Contact Information That’s It! If you have any questions, please contact: Sarah Bergfeld, NWeTC Administrator Phone: Or Janet Kendall, Director of Distance Degree Programs Phone: We sincerely hope you join the exciting world of eTutoring!