Northwest eTutoring Consortium:
A Multi-Institution Online Tutoring Service
• Bellingham Technical College
• Chemeketa Community College
• Clark College
• Clover Park Technical College
• Columbia Basin College
• Edmonds Community College
•Everett Community College
• Lake Washington Technical College
• North Seattle Community College
• Peninsula College
• Pierce College (Ft. Steilacoom & Puyallup)
• Portland Community College
•Skagit Valley College
•Tacoma Community College
• Spokane Falls Community College
• South Seattle Community College
• Whatcom Community College
•Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
• Washington State University: Distance Degree Programs, Pullman,
Tri-Cities, Vancouver
In collaboration with the Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium
• NW eTutoring Consortium
– Started January 2008
– Currently 19 schools are participating
• Building on the Connecticut Distance Learning
Consortium (CTDLC) eTutoring Program
– Started Fall 2001, funded by a grant from
the Davis Education Foundation
ABOUT US
A Brief History of eTutoring.org
Synchronous Student-Tutor Sessions
Drop in sessions scheduled 7 days a week
Asynchronous Student Questions
Response received in 24 to 48 hours
Asynchronous Online Writing Lab
Response received in 24 to 48 hours
ETUTORING SERVICES
Online Tutoring Services Offered:
• Tutors provided by each institution
• Tutoring hours are combined into one
schedule
• Students at each institution access all tutors
on this one schedule
ETUTORING.ORG
A Collaborative, Aggregated Service:
TUTOR SCHEDULE
TUTOR SCHEDULE
NWeTC Tutoring Schedule
• Our writing tutors are trained to follow the best
practices for responding to student writing, including:
o the prioritization of higher level concerns over
lower level concerns,
o an emphasis on global/systemic errors that resist
simple correction in favor of explanations and
examples,
o a focus on the student as a writer rather than on a
single writing assignment.
• Our synchronous tutors in math and other subjects
o provide examples and options,
o ask discerning questions,
o guide students toward solutions rather than
simply providing answers.
ETUTORING.ORG PHILOSOPHY
Tutoring Philosophy
COLLABORATIVE TUTORING MODEL
NWeTC
CTDLC
Creates Platform
Facilitates
ProvidesTechnical
Quality Control
Support
Monitors
Hosts
INSTITUTIONS
Schedules
Hire &
Trains
Market
Pay
Coordinators
Tutors
Meet Regularly
Set Policy Collectively
Choose Subjects
Supervise Tutors
PROGRAM COST
Responsibilities of member institutions
• Washington institutions pay a $500 one-time setup fee
• Institutions hire and pay tutor(s)
o Institutions determine tutor wages
o Institutions initially provide a minimum of 5 tutoring hours a week to
support 150 tutoring sessions a semester/quarter
o Institutions increase tutoring hours in 5 hour increments for every set
of 150 sessions students utilized in a semester/quarter over the initial
150.
• Institutions tutoring math purchase computer tablet (approx. $90)
• Institutional coordinator monitors its tutor and communicates with NWeTC
Administrator
• Institutional Coordinator completes batch upload of institution’s students
• Institutional Coordinator attends semi-annual NWeTC Advisory Council
meetings
• Tutors (usually writing tutors, sometimes another subject) for a
combined total of 5 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. (At $10/hr., this
amounts to $2500.)
• $500 one-time setup fee
• $2500 membership fee
– The SBCTC elearning department will pay the $2500 membership fee
for Washington community and technical colleges.
The SBCTC’s generous contribution means that first year costs
(including tutor wages and the set-up fee) amount to $3000
rather than $5500. Most schools assign a current tutor to
eTutoring so the eTutor isn’t an additional expense.
FIRST-YEAR COSTS
Each Institution’s Total Costs for the First
Year of Membership:
1. Tutors
o The institution is responsible for providing one tutor (for five hours a week)
for every set of 150 sessions over the initial 150.
o For example:
 0-150 sessions  1 or 2 tutors, 5 hours/week
 151 – 300 sessions  10 hours/week
 301-450 sessions  15 hours/week
o We usually ask that institutions provide writing tutors first because the
Online Writing Lab garners the most usage. However, after that point, you
may add tutors in any of the available subjects.
2. The Institutional Coordinator will spend some time checking on tutors and
conferring with the Northwest Consortium Administrator.
You supply a tutor or two and
just a little of your time!
COSTS FOR CONTINUING INSTITUTIONS
Each Continuing Institution’s Total Costs for Subsequent Years
of Membership:
• Compared to popular services like Smarthinking.com,
eTutoring.org is very cheap!
• As a consortium with a large tutoring force, we can offer
more subjects than most face to face tutoring centers.
• As a member of the NWeTC Advisory Council, you’ll
contribute to the creation and revision of the policies and
pedagogies that inform our practices.
• Tech support and platform updates are provided by the
Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium (CTDLC)
• Tutors are hand-picked by institutional coordinators, but the
NWeTC Administrator handles the scheduling and additional
training
THE BENEFITS OF JOINING THE NWETC
Why Join the NWeTC?
• Cost savings
• Shared resources
• Build it TOGETHER, own it TOGETHER
• Flexibility in design
• The strength and size of the group makes more
things possible
THE COLLABORATIVE EFFORT
Why Build Collaborations?
• Tutors identify what works, what doesn’t, what’s missing
• Students let us know if our processes and systems are easy to
use
• Coordinators identify tools they need: reports, student
registration, eTutor supervision
THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
All Stakeholders Inform the Process:
• We encourage coordinators and tutors to contact one
another to share ideas, ask questions, and support each
other’s work.
• The listservs various_etutors@lists.wsu.edu and the
etutoring_coordinators@lists.wsu.edu have been created
for the purposes of this collaboration.
Consortium-wide Support
The NWeTC is a mutually supportive consortium.
The Homepage:
ETUTORING.ORG’S HOMEPAGE
A Quick Look at the eTutoring Platform:
The Administrator’s View
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS
Administrative Reports
THE STUDENT’S POINT OF VIEW
The Student View
A TUTOR’S POINT OF VIEW
A Tutor’s Point of View
Sarah Bergfeld, NWeTC Administrator
Email: sbergfeld@wsu.edu
Phone: 509-335-5157
Or
Janet Kendall, Director of Distance Degree Programs
Email: kendallj@wsu.edu
Phone: 509-335-3557
We sincerely hope you join the exciting world of
eTutoring!
Contact Information
That’s It! If you have any questions, please contact: