In search of the perfect e-tutor

by Clive Shepherd


Research is constantly reinforcing just how important the e-tutor is to the success of an online course. The courses that provide the best support also have the highest completion rates and the most satisfied students. But what makes an effective e-tutor? How would you know one if you saw one? Clive Shepherd goes in search of the perfect e-tutor and reflects on just what the job has to offer in return.

Contents
Why we need e-tutors
Qualities of an e-tutor
Where do e-tutors come from?
Recruiting the e-tutor
The e-tutor in the virtual classroom
A career as an e-tutor
A day in the life of an e-tutor - Niki Kearns
A day in the life of an e-tutor - Andy Cooper
Resources

Why we need e-tutors

There was a fair degree of consternation in the e-learning industry recently when Cedefop, the European Agency for Vocational Training, reported the results of their survey of trainers in Europe on the quality of e-learning. Alarmingly, 61% of respondents rated the overall quality of e-learning negatively, as only fair or poor. While not doubting the accuracy of this survey in reflecting the perceptions of trainers in general, the results simply don’t reflect the results being obtained from a select, but growing, number of really excellent e-learning offerings. Take You, Your Computer and the Net, an introductory course run by the Open University and currently enjoying its second intake of over 12000 students; or the Certificate in Online Learning, offered by the CIPD, where ‘unqualified learner satisfaction’ has been measured at 93% and completion exceeds 90; or the Sheffield College’s Online GCSE English Course, 55% of whose learners recently achieved A/A* grades, well over four times the national average. What these courses have in common is a commitment to the highest quality of support for students, provided by dedicated professionals who are willing to ‘go the extra mile’.

And learners are telling us just how important an online tutor can be. Way back in 2000, the MASIE Center reported that 88% of learners wanted a tutor assigned for a sophisticated e-learning course, equivalent to a 2-day classroom event. In October of 2001, a survey by the UK-based Campaign for Learning found that only 3% of the population wanted to learn online alone.

So, not surprisingly, we have seen an increased demand for e-tutors, providing new career opportunities in education and training. What’s more, as we have gained more experience in using e-tutors to support e-learning, we’ve begun to understand the profile of effective e-tutors and where we have to look to find them.

Qualities of an e-tutor

What qualities should you be looking for in an e-tutor? Hywel Thomas helps to co-ordinate the e-tutoring service for the CeLP programme provided by the Training Foundation, and he’s come up with the four Ps: ‘The e-tutor needs to be positive: to build rapport, generate enthusiasm, maintain interest and help when the going gets tough; they must be proactive: to make things happen, be a catalyst (if necessary) to help learners get going on a course, to recognise when action needs to be taken and take it; they must also be patient: to understand the needs of each learner as well as the group and to adapt to their timeframes as far as possible; they also need to be persistent: to keep at things, stop learners from drifting away, and deal with any technical or other problems.’

Julie Linn is e-Learning Manager for the Training Foundation and a highly experienced trainer of e-tutors: ‘The effective e-tutor needs many, many qualities, not least intuition, initiative and assertiveness. A tutor needs to have the ability to assess student needs by picking up on hints and reading between the lines. Things can go pear-shaped very suddenly – one minute everything is fine and the next minute a student could be ranting and raving! The thing is, people tend to put off putting in writing any minor problems – it's the major or most annoying ones that are documented, so by the time the student hints at a problem they could already be at the end of their tether! A good tutor will fix problems before they even arise, and they'll always be at least one step ahead to provide whatever the student will need next.’

Where do e-tutors come from?

What background would you expect an e-tutor to have? Thomas: ‘They should be experienced in facilitating learning in adult education. It also helps if they have IT skills.’ Linn is more open-minded: ‘I wouldn't rule any out - I've seen good and bad tutors from a variety of backgrounds – it depends on the person and their skills. I have noticed, though, that TAP-certified trainers and those who are technically competent seem more confident in tutoring right from the start and embrace tutoring skills very quickly.’

Jane Moore is an e-tutor on the Training Foundation team: ‘An effective e-tutor is likely to be from a training, tutoring or teaching background, with expertise either in their own subject, IT or soft skills. In my case, I have more than fifteen years of IT training experience in both the private and public sectors and have trained people from all backgrounds and of all ages, individually and in small groups. I have enjoyed IITT membership for more than five years and attained my Online Tutor certificate through them. For me, e-tutoring is a natural progression from my previous roles.’

Recruiting the e-tutor

Recruiting and training a small group of e-tutors to support an e-learning initiative would be enough of a headache for most of us. For Helen Millner, Director of Distributed Learning for UfI/LearnDirect, the challenge was somewhat greater: to build a nationwide database of e-tutors to support the 500,000 or so students currently registered with LearnDirect, a figure that could rise dramatically in the next few years. ‘We knew that the key to success in online learning would be the support given to learners, but we were also aware that there was no existing body of e-tutors that we could call upon. We knew the right people were out there, even if they didn’t realise it themselves just yet!’

An extensive recruitment campaign was undertaken to build the National Tutor Service database, currently capped at 3000 tutors. Millner: ‘It was important to us that applicants had relevant experience in education or training, as well as subject-matter expertise in one or more of the subjects in which LearnDirect currently specialises. We had very many high-quality applications which we followed up exhaustively by taking up references and with face-to-face interviews. We needed to make sure that applicants really understood the nature of e-tutoring work and that they had the IT skills and the necessary equipment to do the job effectively.’

‘Some tutors that we took on already had skills or qualifications in online tutoring, although we have provided all successful applicants with the opportunity to receive training in e-tutoring skills and in the particular system that we operate at LearnDirect. Our tutors are a really keen bunch and this is reflected in the feedback we are obtaining from learners about the quality of support they are receiving.’

The e-tutor in the virtual classroom

So far we have concentrated on the role of the e-tutor in coaching, assessing and providing subject-matter expertise, through media such as email, asynchronous discussion forums and chat rooms. But the e-tutor is just as likely to figure as an online instructor in a virtual classroom (according to CNN in June of this year, some 14 million people in the US alone are virtual classroom users), a role much closer to classroom training. Just how close is explained by Peter McLintock, e-Learning Director for Global Knowledge: ‘It’s important to remember here that on-line tutoring is not really different to classroom tutoring. It may be a new medium, but the best instructors are still the best instructors. E-tutors, as with classroom tutors, must be skilled and have proven knowledge with the subject matter. They must have good communication skills, be personable, adaptable and confident, with the course content as well as the delivery tool.’

Peter continues: ‘A clear voice that enunciates well gains increased importance in a virtual classroom, compensating for the absence of facial expressions and gestures. E-tutors need to convey all the enthusiasm through their voice and avoid sounding dull or downbeat - take two Red Bull and Vodka before the session! Some traits are in common with good telesales skills and also with the media industry. Actually we found that one of our early trainers who took to virtual classrooms "like a duck to water" turned out to be a radio ham in his spare time! Being an absolute expert in managing the technology is vital.’

As a frustrated participant in virtual classroom sessions, Piers Lea, CEO of e-learning specialist, LINE Communications Group, concurs that classroom skills are just as necessary online: ‘We’ve all experienced “death by PowerPoint” in a face-to-face session and somehow it’s even more stultifying online, particularly when the tutor is also fumbling with the technology. You can’t help but become distracted and can easily end up doing your emails instead.’

‘The tutor in a virtual classroom needs to be a dab hand with the technology and that takes practice. But there’s no excuse for boring the audience with one-way communication: the virtual classroom is just like its face-to-face equivalent – you stand no chance at all if you don’t involve your audience continually.’

A career as an e-tutor

So, opportunities are opening up for e-tutors, but to what extent is it possible to make a career out of supporting learners online? Seb Schmoller is an independent e-learning consultant, who whilst at Sheffield College, led the team which established the highly successful LeTTOL (Learning to Teach Online) programme: ‘The best e-tutors could make a very decent living, although the rather unvaried nature of the work would not suit everyone on a full-time basis. On the other hand, 5-10 hours a week would be ideal for those looking for part-time employment working from home, on its own or in combination with other work.’
‘On LeTTOL, we made sure the pay was reasonably high and, as a result, we got and retained good calibre people, and this makes a real difference. You need to know that your tutors are prepared to put in that extra bit of effort and, to do this, they need to feel that they are being properly rewarded. When the tutor is doing their best, it reflects on the students and they also put in their best effort.’

As they say, ‘if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys’ and it’s quite clear that, if perceptions of the quality of e-learning are to improve – and they need to – monkeys will simply not do. The effective e-tutor will be an experienced professional who really cares about adult learning and delivers wholehearted support. E-tutoring has much to offer in return: realistic payment, flexible working and grateful students – a package that will prove attractive to an increasing number of teachers and trainers.

A day in the life of an e-tutor - Niki Kearns

Niki started out as a teacher and is currently a part-time FE lecturer, which she combines with her role as e-tutor for the Training Foundation.

A typical day for me starts with the school run, followed closely by a quick tidy up and vacuum round the house. A cup of coffee (and cake) and then emails, emails, emails.... most communication is via email and making sure your inbox is managed is probably top priority.

Contributing to student forums, marking assessments and posting notices takes up a good chunk of time and there will usually be a scheduled chat session. I follow this routine again in the early evening and do any research or follow up that’s required Depending on the number of groups you have to work with (one of our groups is typically 6-8 students) will dictate how long all this actually takes, but with one group that’s about 2-3 hours a day.
Of course, only the chat session is scheduled, so being an e- tutor is very flexible. I can do this work anytime and anywhere. In fact recently I used a high speed phone card with my laptop to catch up with emails whilst in a caravan in remote west Wales; the group were unaware of my location and work went on as usual.

A day in the life of an e-tutor - Andy Cooper

Andy has a background in Further Education and is currently involved in training e-tutors at LearnDirect.

There is no such thing as a typical day in the life of an e-tutor and this is one of the things that makes the job so enjoyable. I never really know when I get up whether the day will be very quiet or very busy. The only constants tend to be e-mail and grading assignments.
To be fair, I suppose there is always a tidal flow to courses – learners tend to start out as quite needy, but as their confidence and their familiarity with the style of the course materials grows, most of them actually need you less and less.

Even so, there are sometimes site crashes and other technical snafus to jolly them through, not to mention last minute panics about assignments and forum postings. Also, lest we forget, whilst most learners are confident professionals there are always those who will need constant attention throughout.

The important thing - whatever their learning style, their circumstances or their other commitments - is that you are there for them when and if they do need your support. One of the most important functions of an e-tutor is to supply a small drop of humanity in an experience that could otherwise be lonely and isolating.

Resources

Training for e-tutors
Certified e-Learning Professional (CeLP), e-tutor track: www.elearningprofessional.com
Certificate in Online Learning (COL): www.cipd.co.uk/training/col/
Learning to Teach Online (LeTTOL): www.sheffcol.ac.uk/lettol/

E-tutor competencies
IITT competencies for e-tutors: www.iitt.org.uk/public/standards

Contacts
LearnDirect: www.learndirect.co.uk
Seb Schmoller: www.schmoller.net
LINE Communications Group: www.line.co.uk 
Global Knowledge: www.globalknowledge.com
Maisie Centre: www.maisie.com