About St. Clair College and the Tutoring Services Department
Irene Stewart
About St. Clair College
St. Clair College is a vibrant college community with campuses in Chatham and Windsor, located in Southwestern Ontario. St. Clair offers over 120 programs in Business and IT, Community Services, Engineering Technologies, Skilled Trades, Health Sciences, Nursing, and Media Arts studies. In the Fall of 2018, St. Clair College had enrollment of over 10, 000 full time students.
For more information about St. Clair College, please visit: http://www.stclaircollege.ca/
About Tutoring Services
The St. Clair Tutoring Services department offers registered students the opportunity to apply online for peer tutoring in up to 3 courses per semester with access to one 50 minute session of tutoring per course per week in a one-on-one or small group setting. Tutoring Services also offers walk-in tutoring in a variety of core subjects such as Math and Writing Support per a published schedule where appointments are not necessary. In the past three years, Tutoring Services has received requests for tutoring in over 300 different courses for each of the Fall and Winter semesters, served an average of 10% of the full time student population and employed an average of 80 tutors across all campuses. Tutors are paid for their service and tutoring is free for students.
Tutoring Services is supported by a dedicated team of support staff and two faculty Retention Coordinators who are faculty advisers to the department and responsible for program and tutor development as well as a variety of retention projects to met emerging student needs.
Tutoring Services Purpose and Principles
Purpose: The purpose of Tutoring Services is to develop and maintain a credible and responsive system that:
• Gives students access to academic support in course specific material and core skills through individual and group tutoring, workshops and resources that support success and independence in learning;
• Encourages tutors to develop their tutoring practice and job skills through training, guidance, resource and support services while respecting their personal academic goals;
• Provides accurate, timely data and information to administration, the Student Services sector, and the Academic sector regarding student needs as well as individual and institutional barriers that impact academic success.
Principles: The Tutoring Services team has adopted the following principles to guide our professional practice to achieve our ultimate goal of fostering independence in our students and tutors:
- Respect
- Teamwork
- Accountability
- Communication
- Planning
- Professional Development
These principles can be applied to every role in Tutoring Services starting with the Tutoring Services team staff and extending to tutors and students receiving service:
Respect: We will strive to demonstrate respect for each individual, recognizing the value of each role, and acknowledging the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality and self-determination. This includes respecting cultural, individual, and role differences, including those based on age, sex, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language and socioeconomic status.
Teamwork: We recognize that by working collectively, with each individual contributing their knowledge, experience and insight, we can achieve our goals for ourselves and for our students. This principle of teamwork embraces the staff team and tutor relationship as well as the tutor and student relationship.
Accountability: The Tutoring Services team is accountable as employees to administration for the Tutoring Services system provided through our employment roles. However, we are also individually and collectively accountable to a variety of stakeholders for the success of the program. These stakeholders include tutors, students, other staff and faculty, senior administration, the student services and academic sectors and student government.
Tutors are accountable to the Tutoring Services team for the service provided to students and other tasks included in the tutoring role.
Students receiving tutoring are responsible for their own education and for participating in our services according to the guidelines set out in the student agreement.
We will demonstrate our accountability by taking responsibility for our actions and decisions and encourage others to do the same.
Communication: We are committed to improving our communication with students and tutors regarding our services. This includes providing clear information about our program, processes and limitations as well as receiving feedback that will help us improve our services.
We are committed to increasing our communication with faculty and other stakeholders regarding our program. This includes providing accurate information on activity, trends, and student needs as well as receiving information from stakeholders that will help us to ensure that we are responsive in our services.
Planning: We view planning as key to providing responsive service. We will strive to develop plans of action for each semester that anticipates the needs of students and provides for the best use of resources. In our planning activities, we will consider data and trends gathered internally, as well as information regarding best practices and research on student success from other jurisdictions.
Professional Development: Only through ongoing development of our individual and collective knowledge and experience can we improve our practice and the services we provide. We will increase our skills and understanding through a variety of educational opportunities.
Photo by Irene Stewart, 2018
