Standards, Outcomes, and Possible Assessments for ITTPC Certification
Introduction
Standards: These are broad statements that identify the knowledge and skills that tutors should acquire in their training and preparation. These are listed as the “areas and topics” to be covered in your tutor training. Specifically, they appear in Section 2B and the Summary charts.
Consider the following points:
1.Your training must include a minimum of eight topics for a minimum of ten hours of instruction at Level 1, eight topics for an additional ten hours at Level 2, including a review of Level 1, and six topics for an additional ten hours of instruction at Level 3, including a review of Levels 1 and 2.
2.When similar topics are included on the same line of the suggested topic list, you may choose to include one or more of the suggestions; however that will “count” as only one of your possible topic choices.
3.Be aware of how you are utilizing the minimum 10 hours of training. While the logistics of your program and your institution are important, the bulk of your training time should focus on the skill-specific content as suggested by the ITTPC.
4.Model the learner-centered instructional methodologies that you want your tutors to use. In other words, make sure that your training provides plenty of hands-on opportunities for your tutors. Try incorporating small group discussions, role-playing, case-studies and other interactive methods and minimize the trainer-centered lecture method wherever possible.
5.You may choose to include any number of “other” topics in your training. However only one can count towards the minimum number of topics.
Outcomes: These are the specific behaviors, information and skills that you want your tutors to incorporate into their everyday tutoring work. Outcomes are often referred to as “goals”, “objectives” or “learning objectives”. Outcomes are the intended result of your tutor training.
Consider the following points:
1.Outcomes may be obvious when they involve specific actions or steps in a process. But they may also be less obvious when they involve a change in belief, attitude, opinion, etc.
2.In order to be effective you must be able to observe and measure the outcomes over both the short and long term.
3.By making your intended outcomes very clear during tutor training, you will increase the likelihood that your tutors will learn and demonstrate the skills you are teaching. Too often trainers omit this important step in the training process.
4.Be sure your intended outcomes are specific. For example indicating that you want tutors to demonstrate effective tutoring skills is very vague and open to interpretation. However, stating that you want the tutor to greet each student at the start of the session, write down the specific goal for the appointment as articulated by the student and reserve two to three minutes at the end of the session for the tutee to state what s/he and the tutor accomplished, is far more specific and therefore more likely to be accomplished.
Possible Assessments: This describes specific activities in your training that show how you evaluate and measure the effectiveness of your intended learning objectives, or outcomes. Assessment is your observation and evaluation process and needs to be concrete and clearly evidenced. The most effective assessment strategies include both formative and summative evaluations, which, when used together, can help you determine whether your training results in a specific set of attitudes, behaviors and skill-sets for both short and long term tutor effectiveness.
Consider the following points:
1.How do you communicate specific learning activities and desired outcomes to your tutors?
2.How do you teach the specific skills and topics?
3.What materials and methods do you use to teach?
4.How do you determine that the tutor has learned and can apply the skills & topics and to what level of competency/mastery is considered appropriate to the learning task?
5.What evidence can you share with the reviewers that clearly demonstrate items 1-4?