Good tutors are trying to work themselves out of a job

By: Joe Burke

Posted: 2/15/04

Good tutors are trying to work themselves out of a job, says Learning Center Director Sharon Hendriksen.

"The goal of the Learning Center is to help students to be successful in their courses and to become independent learners," Hendriksen says. But "we don't want students to become dependent on us."

Twelve hundred students used the College's Learning Center during the fall semester, Hendriksen says.

One of them was sophomore Business Administration major Robyn Schrei. She uses the center, in CC-315, "all the time," she says.

Tutors usually explain "what was covered in class," which is helpful with math-based subjects such as accounting, Schrei says.

It is often important for Learning Center tutors to explain and reinforce information covered in class, says English professor Steven Werkmeister.

Often, if a student hears information from the instructor and then from "someone else with less grading authority, it clicks with that person," he says.

Werkmeister was once a tutor himself, he says. He helped students in a writing center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and at the local community college in Lincoln.

Tutors at the NCC Learning Center are well-trained professionals who must go through a "rigorous" training program, Hendriksen says.

English professor Stephanie Carpenter agrees, saying that tutors have "a great deal of experience in their field."

People underestimate the tutors at the Learning Center, Schrei says.

Many people would be surprised by how much it really helps to go to the Learning Center, Carpenter says. "I definitely remind students throughout the semester that the Learning Center is available to them."

It's through the instructors that Hendriksen publicizes the Learning Center and what it has to offer, Carpenter says.

A- students make use of the Learning Center, as well as those who are struggling, Carpenter says.

Werkmeister agrees. "The Learning Center isn't the doghouse," he says.

Professors see students who use the Learning Center as giving extra effort to their studies, he says.

An unfortunate stereotype persists that those using the center are poor or "stupid" students, Hendriksen says. In fact, "It may be that the very best students come to the Learning Center."

The center has many resources to help students succeed. These include videos about study skills, keyboarding software, old math textbooks, and handouts on grammar and punctuation.

Theses resources are important, but "our biggest resource is the tutors," Hendriksen says.

Tutor Matt Wolfe says that the center "can tutor in just about any subject."

Wolfe says that he is an English tutor who gained three years experience doing this at Juniata College, where he graduated in May. He mostly helps students with English papers, making sure they refer back to their thesis and use correct grammar.

Appointments usually last about an hour, Wolfe says.

The most rewarding part of his job is helping someone who seems lost, Wolfe says. "We're trying to point them in the right direction and when we succeed, that's the best part."

Hendriksen says that her reward is hearing students say how the Learning Center has helped them.