Keywords
Asynchronous, Tutor training, Rhetorical analysis, Nondirective feedback
Abstract
Tutors occupy a complex pedagogical space in which they are often asked to serve two masters: teacher and student. When the tutoring goes online, a new level of complexity is added to the web of power relationships. Tutors who have been trained well will not readily abandon the institutional goal of student learning. But even well trained tutors can end up working against, rather than for, the goals of the teachers whenever the tutors and the teachers operate under substantially different epistemologies. The advent of online tutoring has opened new avenues for research into peer tutoring in writing. Our interest in defining the role and determining the effectiveness of our online tutors led us to examine one seemingly proficient tutor and her practices. Our findings were opposite our expectations, and they may pose a challenge to conventional wisdom regarding technology as an aid to the reform of writing pedagogy. What follows is the story of our research and findings.
Citation Information
Type of Source: Journal Article
Authors: Patricia Ericcson, Tim McGee
Year of Publication: 1997
Title: “The Online Tutor as Cross-Curricular Double Agent”
Publication: Kairos, Volume 2, Issue 2