M E N T O R I N G W I T H P U R P O S E

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1 T U T O R. C O M O C T O B E R M E N T O R I N G W I T H P U R P O S E V O L U M E 2, I S S U E 7 F A L L I S H E R E Hi Mentors! Fall is here, sessions are picking up, and we are excited to continue the mentor newsletter. This month you ll find there are lots of good tips in regard to writing tutor reviews, watching the time management in Async sessions, as well as how to deliver actionable feedback when you are dealing with policy violations such as Acceptance Percentage. Also, we d like to take a minute to let all of our mentors that are located in the paths of the recent hurricanes that we are thinking of you and we hope you stay safe. Enjoy the newsletter! Joanna I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : TECHNIQUE A c c e p t a n c e P e r c e n t a g e, G i v i n g B e t t e r A c t i o n a b l e F e e d b a c k W h e n i t C o m e s t o P o l i c y S P O O K Y D a m i a n N e u f e l d, S e n i o r M e n t o r 2 POLICY/PROCEDURE W h e n t o u s e B e l o w, M e e t s, a n d E x c e e d s i n T u t o r R e v i e w s B o o o o o o o o! J e n B o l l e r, D i r e c t o r o f M e n t o r i n g & Q u a l i t y C o n t r o l 4 FLASHBACK A s y n c S e s s i o n s & T i m e M a n a g e m e n t S a r a h S n y d e r, P r o j e c t & Q u a l i t y A n a l y t i c s M a n a g e r 5 ANNOUNCEMENTS/REMINDERS C o m p l e t i n g S p o t C h e c k s S a r a h S n y d e r, P r o j e c t & Q A M a n a g e r 6 W h e n t o u s e S p o r a d i c T u t o r i n g S a r a h S n y d e r, P r o j e c t & Q A M a n a g e r 6 M e n t o r M a n u a l C h a n g e s : J e n B o l l e r, D i r e c t o r o f M e n t o r i n g & Q C 6 M e n t o r R e s o u r c e A r e a U p d a t e : J e n B o l l e r, D i r e c t o r o f M e n t o r i n g & Q C 7 S h a r e Y o u r I d e a s a n d G e t P u b l i s h e d : J o a n n a S i m p s o n, M e n t o r M a n a g e r 7 JUST FOR FUN M e n t o r A n n i v e r s a r i e s 8

2 Page 2 TECHNIQUE Acceptance Percentage, Giving Better Actionable Feedback When it Comes to Policy SPOOKY B Y D A M I A N N E U F E L D, S E N I O R M E N T O R The Acceptance Percentage metric is a guideline we expect our tutors to strive to meet for a positive student experience, so it can be easy to simply point it out and say the tutor needs to meet this mark. However, Accepted Percentage is one of those problems that usually has underlying causes. It's up to us as mentors to find out why the Accepted Percentage is low, and give appropriate actionable feedback. Are there a lot of missed sessions? You can advise the tutor about turning up their volume and shutting out distractions. Also check the tutor's Connection Info. Anything over 5% in the Tutor Failure/Crashed sessions categories could indicate a software or connection problem, and the tutor should be referred to Tutor Support. Examine the missed sessions for challenging content. Sometimes the tutor accidentally lets the time run out while trying to work out a difficult request, so it may be a content issue. Is the tutor declining requests with just "hi", blank requests, or otherwise little pre-session information? You can advise them to accept these requests and clarify the student's question. Are there a lot of expertise declines? Try looking for a pattern of declines within a concept. For example, if a tutor is declining a lot of requests about cell division, you can find a helpful resource on the topic and include it in the review. You can also look at the Session Decline Information. When a particular subject has a lot of declines, it could be an indication of content difficulty; if the situation has grown severe, it may be wise to recommend removing the subject to the tutor. Are there many shift declines? You can remind the tutor that trying to leave minutes of extra time beyond the time they plan to stop tutoring can ensure they will be able to accept requests received near the end of their online time. When they are not going to be able to finish a session, they should just set their status to Unavailable to avoid getting these requests.

Page 3 TECHNIQUE Acceptance Percentage, Giving Better Actionable Feedback When it Comes to Policy SPOOKY Con t B Y D A M I A N N E U F E L D, S E N I O R M E N T O R Is the tutor declining a lot of

3 Page 3 TECHNIQUE Acceptance Percentage, Giving Better Actionable Feedback When it Comes to Policy SPOOKY Con t B Y D A M I A N N E U F E L D, S E N I O R M E N T O R Is the tutor declining a lot of requests that are out of scope? You can remind the tutor s/he should accept the request and tell the student the concept they are asking about is not part of what we cover for that subject and end the session. They should not transfer the session, because the next tutor likely will also not be able to help and it can create false expectations and more frustration for the student. If the tutor knows the subject that would be better suited for the concept, they can recommend the student see if that subject is one that is available. Although we often disregard out-of-scope declines when making a status change recommendation it is important that how to handle them properly still be addressed. Is the tutor getting the same request more than once in a short time? The tutor should take the request and tell the student that is appears the other tutors are busy helping other students. They can encourage the student to try again in minutes. Like an out of scope session, these should not be transferred. Are there voice declines? You can advise the tutor to disable voice until they are able to use it again, being mindful of the expectation that tutors are voice enabled 70% of the time they are available to students. That way they won't get the voice requests when they are unable to take them. Is the tutor declining concurrent sessions? Remind the tutor that conducting concurrent sessions is optional, and they should stay Unavailable until they are certain they can handle a second request with the current session. It is important that we as Mentors do not judge a tutor more harshly or more leniently for the reason behind the declined sessions. All declines have the potential to increase wait times for students, so all decline reasons are important to address. For purposes of a status change or advisory decision, your Senior Mentor will want to know that you have discussed the underlying cause of a low accepted percentage with the tutor. So, as you can see, there is a great deal of actionable feedback we can give to tutors, beyond just "Bring up your Acceptance Percentage."

4 Page 4 Policy/Procedure When to use Below, Meets, and Exceeds in Tutor Reviews Boooooooo! B Y J E N B O L L E R, D I R E C T O R O F M E N T O R I N G & Q U A L I T Y C O N T R O L We ve noticed a trend recently with mentors scoring tutors as Below Expectations (BE) or Exceeds Expectations (EE), and our Meets Expectations (ME) is frankly not getting any love! We thought we d provide you with some tips when you are deciding between BE or ME, or ME or EE when reviewing your tutors. Let s remember that an ME rating is not negative. In fact, it suggests the tutor is doing their job well. They should not receive an ME if there are issues or if they ve performed in an exceptional (above and beyond) manner. It's okay to only have 1 illustrative session as an example for EE. You need to see the trend before it is marked EE, but one illustrative session works fine here. Also, it's okay to mark EE for a new tutor. Sometimes we have exceptional probationary tutors and they should be recognized for that! We do want to keep in mind the history of the tutor when one is available, and we normally wouldn't want to go straight to EE in an area that a tutor has had problems or been BE in recently. We also don't want to mark EE if a tutor looks like they might have problems with that area in other sessions, or if the illustrative session seems "unusually good for that tutor." For instance, if most of their sessions are very mediocre in terms of engagement, but there was one session where they had exceptionally good engagement, we would mark ME and perhaps contrast the good engagement against the mediocre engagement. Also, it is alright to move an EE rating back down to ME in the next review, if there is nothing about the reviewed sessions that are exceptional. ME is not bad it is a good thing that the tutor is meeting expectations we have many for them to meet! In general, we think that most tutors have at least one area where they are consistently strong, such as positive encouragement or using tools effectively, and it helps motivate them if we can mark this as EE in addition to providing positive comments about it. Of course, we don't always want to be talking about the same things, so it doesn't have to be mentioned in every single review. I believe that our "expectations" should also be a little different depending on the tutor's status. Evidence that might be sufficient to demonstrate EE in a probationary tutor might not be sufficient for a Tutor III. The main goal, should be, to provide easily parse-able feedback for both the tutor and other staff. Where is a tutor strong? What do they need to work on? That is the goal of the review and the purpose for using BE, ME, and EE.

5 Page 5 Flashback Async Sessions & Time Management S A R A H S N Y D E R, P R O J E C T & Q U A L I T Y A N A L Y T I C S M A N A G E R (originally published, Nov 2017) Many of you are working with tutors on your team who have one or more of the Async Humanities subjects (Career Help, Essay Writing, College Essay Writing, and Admissions). When reviewing these sessions, one of the aspects that Mentors should be evaluating is the tutor s use of their time. Specifically, are they managing their time effectively? It is important to note that our clients are paying for that time, and they can quickly become disgruntled when they see students using 50 or 80 minutes of that time on a two page paper. We need to make sure that the feedback provided matches the time spent. This is something that can assessed by comparing the time taken to complete the session with the quality/quantity of the feedback being provided. While there are times that tutors will need the entire time of the max session length guideline to review a session, it is not something that should be happening all of the time. Yes, there will be essays where the student needs a notable amount of assistance. There will also be times when the essays submitted for review are high quality, and not much feedback at all is necessary. A tutor who is reaching the max cap for almost every session may not be using his/her time effectively. Here are a few tips we can offer when completing a review for a tutor with one or more of the Async Humanities sessions: In the Sessions Since Last Review Table, sort the table by Max Review Length. Clicking the link twice will sort with the largest number at the top of the list. Compare the Max Review Length with the value in the Session Length column. If you see numbers that are very close, very often, it should raise a flag to review a few of those sessions for content, to ensure the feedback provided is consistent with the time being spent. A session that a tutor spends 50 minutes on should have more than a handful of comments on a 1.5 page document. If a pattern like this is noted, you should be addressing it with the tutor as a concern with Effective Time Management. Point out the discrepancy between total time spent to review the document and the amount of feedback provided (share specific examples from the session(s) to illustrate). Remind the tutor that the mark of a high-quality Async session is the thoroughness and accuracy of the feedback that is provided to the student (if the feedback provided does not move the student forward in their abilities, it is not a successful experience for the student). Provide helpful tips to the tutor that may help improve time management efficiency (e.g., avoid distractions, create prescripts, start by skimming before reading the essay in depth). If the pattern continues after addressing this concern with a tutor, you should discuss the situation with your Senior Mentor to determine an appropriate course of action. As a reminder, we have a set of resources in the Mentor Resource Area with guidance on how to review these sessions, so please be sure you have read through them. By ensuring our tutors are using their time effectively, we are able to help even more students with their writing skills.

6 Page 6 ANNOUNCEMENTS/REMINDERS Completing Spot Checks B Y S A R A H S N Y D E R, P R O J E C T & Q U A L I T Y A N A L Y T I C S M A N A G E R Recently there has been some confusion about when to complete spot checks. The information in the Mentor Manual raised a couple of questions, so we have reviewed it and made the necessary changes. Please note when the time comes for a tutor to receive a Spot Check, you should complete it REGARDLESS of the number of sessions the tutor has conducted. This includes completing a Spot Check if the tutor has completed 0 sessions since the last review. Spot Checks in those instances should not take much time at all, but you will want to be looking for non-session signs of activity that might be a problem (excessive declines, connection issues, etc.). If you have any questions about this clarification, please reach out to your Mentor Manager. When to Use Sporadic Tutoring B Y S A R A H S N Y D E R, P R O J E C T & Q U A L I T Y A N A L Y T I C S M A N A G E R One other clarification made in the Mentor Manual is the removal of the suggestion to initiate the Sporadic Tutoring process if it comes to Spot Check time and the tutor has 2 or fewer sessions. The purpose of the Sporadic Tutoring process is to address two specific cases: Probationary tutors who are not tutoring frequently but are demonstrating quality concerns that are preventing a status change recommendation to Tutor 1 and any tutors under advisory who are not tutoring frequently enough to demonstrate improvement in the advisory areas. If you have any questions about this clarification, please reach out to your Mentor Manager. Mentor Manual Changes B Y J E N B O L L E R, D I R E C T O R O F M E N T O R I N G & Q U A L I T Y C O N T R O L We ve made a few updates to the Mentor Manual that we d like to draw your attention to. In the Tutor Spot Checks section, the following wording was added: Spot Checks should be completed according to the prescribed schedule, regardless of tutor activity level. Even if no sessions have been completed, a Spot Check should be completed to evaluate quantitative metrics that may not be di rectly related to activity level, such as excessive declines, connection problems, etc. In the During the Advisory section, the following wording was added: If no sessions have been completed after 1 week in the Advisory period, a Review should be completed for the purpose of reminding the tutor the importance of tutoring during this time. In the Advisory Follow-up section, a reminder of the following procedure: If a tutor is completing very few sessions, during the advisory period, a discussion should be had with the Manager before an extension is issued. The Manager can pull additional information pertaining to the details of the tutor's activity, and if necessary, send a Sporadic Tutoring addressing the concerns with the lack of tutoring during the Advisory period.

7 Page 7 ANNOUNCEMENTS/REMINDERS Mentor Resource Area Update B Y J E N B O L L E R, D I R E C T O R O F M E N T O R I N G & Q U A L I T Y C O N T R O L Updated Mentor Manual posted Updated Advisory Templates document posted Revisions made to the some of the references to 2-weeks being provided for the advisory, as some tutors will interpret this as a guarantee of this time. New wording is more general along the lines of during the Advisory period New resources for conducting Access mock sessions added, including: Access Practice Assignment Access Practice Assignment - Answers Access Project Database Share Your Ideas and Get Published! Take ownership of your mentor newsletter by sharing your ideas with us! Think about the things you do that make your job as a mentor work for you and let us know about them. If you idea is selected, you will have the chance to write about it and be published! You can add your publication as a line item on your resume or vita, to show that you ve published in an internal peer-reviewed journal! Submit your ideas to Joanna.Simpson@tutor.com with the subject line Mentor Newsletter Ideas and we ll let you know if we want you to turn them into articles to share with your fellow mentors. We can t wait to hear what you come up with!

8 O C T O B E R Page 8 JUST FOR FUN July-October Mentor Anniversaries 15 years Lisa Jackson 14 years Jen Warner 13 years Allison Strandberg 11 years Sarah Orlikowski Vickie Brinton Lavanya Krishnan 10 years Ken Matesevac Josh Riddell 8 years Ashley Cox 7 years Matthew Peck 6 years Christine Risell Deborah Vallely 5 years Cristi Miller Paul Capps Adam Richman Katy Purvis 4 years Helen Dunn Carrie Wands Zachary Moser 3 years Ginger Garner Scott Rizzo Mark Duncan Jonathan Owen Andrew Firriolo Colleen Trittipo Jessica Stevens Shawn Kelly 2 years Robert Starr Kirsten Armstrong 1 year Stephen Geiger Emily Belcher Laura Murphy Luke Crawford Marjolijn Bijefeld Kristin Mildenberger Catherine Sutton Debbie Nelson

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