Refer to Learning Centre Procedures in the Peer Tutor Handbook that you will receive from the Learning Centre Coordinator on your campus. This information will also include where to find:

• Tutoring Sessions Weekly Chart
• Bi-Weekly Time Sheet (A1026)
• Other documents as needed.

Our Roles

• A Listener. We listen to students’ input carefully, attending to body language as well as speech.
• A Questioner. We question student assumptions and turn students’ questions back to them. We break down big questions into smaller, more answerable questions.
• A Feedback Provider. We provide feedback on students’ work.
• An Explainer. We explain skills and strategies in terms students can understand.
• A Model. We model effective learning strategies and thereby help students learn how to solve their own problems.
• An Encourager and Confidence-Builder. We praise student strengths and show confidence in the student’s ability to learn.
• A Motivator. We help students develop goals and break down large tasks so they do not seem so daunting.
• A Referrer. When the student’s needs are beyond our skills, we refer the student to others who might be of help.
• A Team Player. We cooperate with other Centre staff to provide the best possible help to students. This includes helping other staff to do their best.
• A Co-Learner. We learn from students, other staff, and Centre resources.
• A Thinker. We reflect on tutoring experiences and tutor training to continue to develop our skills.

Our Rules

• Be on time for the hours you are working in the Learning Centre.
• If you are unable to work your shift, please call the Learning Centre Front Desk as early as possible; if no one answers your call, leave a message. You should keep the Learning Centre phone number in your wallet so you have it if you need it.
• It is ideal for you to be in the Centre for your entire scheduled time. If you need to step out for some reason, let another staff member know when you will be back. You do not need to stay in the Centre during scheduled breaks.
• If you must quit working at the Centre, give two weeks’ notice in writing so that a suitable replacement can be found and trained.

Our Ethics

• Confidentiality: We never discuss our students with anyone except for other Learning Centre staff. Any discussion of a student with other staff is of a strictly professional nature.
• We always assist every student to the best of our ability. We need to pace ourselves so that we have enough energy to give each student their full appointment time and to do our best at each session. This is an important reason for booking appointments that are 30 minutes long.
• We help students do their work but we don’t do students’ work for them. By ensuring that they do their own work, we do not put ourselves, the student, or the Learning Centre at risk of charges of plagiarism.
• We make every effort to help students become independent learners. We do not want to foster dependence in our students.
• We do our best to model learning strategies. If we do not know the answer to a student’s question, we admit it and model ways to find the answer.
• We treat students as the mature, capable adults they are.
• We never criticize a student’s instructor.
• We never predict grades for a student. Predicting grades puts our own credibility at risk because we have no way to know the grading criteria used by an instructor.
• We continually seek to improve our tutoring skills by: 1) reflecting on our own tutoring experiences; 2) using available time to increase our familiarity with Centre resources; 3) attending tutor training meetings; and 4) observing and being observed by other tutors and faculty.

KPU Tutor Certification

We offer the KPU tutor training program with three levels of certification:

• Essentials (Level I)
• Intermediate (Level II)
• Advanced (Level III)

All tutors who work at the Learning Centres are required to complete Level 1 certification; you will get this certification at the end of your first semester if you:

• Complete the Level I tutor training and development program with the additional 6 hours of integration exercises and debriefing.
• Attend tutor meetings as required.
• Write reflective journal entries for activities and then once a month for your tutoring.
• Participate in Moodle activities and discussions.
• Satisfactorily demonstrate your tutoring skills while being observed by a faculty member.
• Meet with you supervisor once a month to discuss how you are doing with your tutoring and your tutees, as well as review your progress through the online materials.
• Tutor a minimum of 25 hours at Level I – use the tracking sheets provided by your supervisor for yourself. Our Tutor Appointment system will be used to validate your contact tutoring hours.
• You will also be asked to fill in a feedback form about your training and progress
• Attend an end of semester meeting to wrap up your semester of tutoring and identify next steps.
• Complete the self-evaluation form and attend the final appraisal meeting.

The Fundamentals six hour training and the activities that you will complete during the first week or two of the semester are key parts of the Level I tutor training requirements.

You can earn Level II and Level III certification in later semesters if you do the work that is part of each of those levels.