Primary Contact Name/Info:
Chesney Reich, Director, Catamount Academic Tutoring Center
Program Mission Statement:
The mission of Western's CAT Center is to promote the active and cooperative learning of all students by providing learning resources, skills workshops, and small-group tutoring sessions for 100- and 200-level courses. Trained peer tutors who have exhibited a mastery of the subject will be responsible for facilitating these sessions.
Statement on Alignment of Program Mission w/ University and/or Division Mission:
In the university’s central mission of teaching and learning, the Academic Success Centers represent a significant step between teaching and learning—between what happens in the classroom and the individual student’s success in learning. The tutoring experience offers students an individual invitation into the community of scholarship by building and reinforcing productive academic skills and strategies.
The centers are an important point at which students, faculty, and staff assume joint responsibility for student learning.
Program Goals/Objectives:
•
To increase undergraduate student use of the CAT Center’s services
•
To achieve a client satisfaction rating of 75%
•
To assist first-year tutors in developing an understanding and practice of effective tutoring
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Intended Outcome
At least 400 students from
100 and 200-level classes will choose to participate in small-group tutoring in the
CAT Center during the academic year.
At least 75 students will choose to participate in
CAT Center Academic Skill
Workshops during the academic year.
Fewer than 25% of students who participate in tutoring or academic skill workshops will be dissatisfied with their experience.
New tutors will demonstrate an understanding of effective tutoring practices.
Curricular and/or Co-curricular
Experiences
Students will learn about the tutoring program from:
• Faculty (as a result of regular communication between the CAT Center and the faculty teaching courses in which tutoring is offered)
• advisors who refer students to tutoring or workshops
• information students receive at
Orientation
• tutors or other CAT Center staff who visit classes to promote services
• the CAT Center website
( www.wcu.edu/catcenter )
• Students will learn about the Academic
Skill Workshops from:
• Faculty
• Advisors
• Information students receive at
Orientation
• tutors or other CAT Center staff who visit classes to promote services
• the CAT Center website
( www.wcu.edu/catcenter )
• the Student Handbook and Academic
Planner
Students will have satisfactory experiences in small-group tutoring sessions facilitated by trained peer tutors and in academic skill workshops facilitated by trained workshop facilitators or other qualified CAT Center staff.
•
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Method(s) of Assessment
Reports generated by TutorTrac at the end of each semester will indicate how many students were seen from all of the 100 and 200-level classes in which tutoring was offered. The results of these reports will be included in the Director’s CAT Center End-of-Year
Report
• Each semester, students who participate in tutoring will be asked upon logging into their first visit how they learned about the CAT Center’s services.
Attendance records will be kept for all of the Academic
Skill Workshops.
Workshop attendance will be included in the Director’s
CAT Center End-of-Year Report.
• New tutors must complete COUN 230 during their first year of tutoring in the
CAT Center.
• Students in COUN 230 will be exposed to skill areas outlined in the College
Reading and Learning Association
(CRLA) tutor training certification.
• Upon logging out from each tutoring session, students will respond to the prompt “Describe your tutoring experience” using a drop down menu with the following response options: o
I received useful assistance. o
I still have questions and will return later. o
I am not satisfied with my tutoring experience. o
Study Only, no assistance needed.
• Students will complete satisfaction surveys at the conclusion of each academic skill workshop.
• Results of both of these assessment tools will be included in the Director’s End-of-Year Report.
• At the end of the semester, both COUN 230 students and the instructor will complete a written assessment based on CRLA Level I criteria. This tool will assess tutors’ understanding of specific skills covered in
COUN 230. The director will discuss the results with tutors in individual conferences.
• Students who receive tutoring will have an opportunity to evaluate their tutor(s) at the end of each semester.
The evaluation tool assesses tutors’ demonstration of specific skills covered in COUN 230. The results of this evaluation are included in the Director’s End-of-
Year Report.
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