Week 2 Questions

1. How does formality/informality translate into our online work? What are some of the markers of inappropriately informal behavior? How does formality/informality intersect with personality types and the ways that we as tutors wear the many different hats referenced in the Bedford Guide?

2. The guide asks us to avoid taking sides between students and their instructors, which seems largely to be great advice. How do we balance this principle with some of the hats referenced in the Bedford Guide, which seem to be well-suited to taking the student's side? Is there ever a time when that's appropriate?

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  1. Carol SeverinoSeptember 1, 2020 at 3:59 PM

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  2. Carol SeverinoSeptember 2, 2020 at 1:02 PM

    1) I can see a new Guide for videoconference tutoring emerging! The question about inappropriate behavior brings to mind videos on Zoom etiquette. Too much background noise like toilets flushing, lawn mowers buzzing, phones ringing. Interrupting a student. Holding side conversations with friends and family members. Not wearing enough clothing. Engaging in distracting behaviors like scratching, nailbiting, hair-combing, eating. The problem is when tutoring at home, we can't always control our background noise. For instance, my students have already heard chainsaws revving up, my chickens cackling, my 2-year old granddaughter screaming, and my husband talking on the phone.

    2) It's best to use your judgment. I wouldn't take sides over grades since grading is so subjective, but I would support the student if their teacher's feedback is mean-spirited. Many of the hats tutors wear have to do with being a resource for the student confronting other obstacles besides negative feedback and bad grades: they will ask the same kinds of questions they should be asking their academic advisors or counselors. We could briefly opine on them before we refer them to the advisor or university counseling: when to drop a class, how to get tutoring in a content-course they are doing poorly in (e.g. chemistry), how to resolve a dispute with a roommate, how to deal with a difficult home situation.

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