Reviewing Asynchronous Essay Writing Sessions - Tutor…filedepot.tutor.com/mentors/Mentor_Async_Review.pdf · Reviewing Asynchronous Essay Writing Sessions Mentor Guidelines to Reviewing

Reviewing Asynchronous Essay Writing Sessions Mentor Guidelines to Reviewing for Effective Quality and Efficient Time Management

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Contents Introduction........................................................................................................................................... 2

Reviewing Async sessions ..................................................................................................................... 2

Quality of the Session ........................................................................................................................ 2

Approach ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 2

Content Knowledge ................................................................................................................................................................... 3

Communication ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4

Time Management in the Session ........................................................................................................................................ 4

Providing Feedback to Tutors on Async Sessions ................................................................................. 5

Feedback on Tutor’s Approach .......................................................................................................... 5

Feedback on Tutor’s Content Knowledge ......................................................................................... 6

Feedback on Tutor’s Communication ................................................................................................ 7

Feedback on Tutor’s Time Management ........................................................................................... 7

Identifying Potential Concerns (Quantitative Data Review) ................................................................ 9

Sessions since Last Assessment table: ............................................................................................... 9

Declined and Transferred Sessions (Last 3 Months) table: ............................................................. 10

Individual Session Review: ............................................................................................................... 10

Feedback to Tutor ............................................................................................................................ 11

New Tutors .......................................................................................................................................... 13

New Probationary Tutor: ................................................................................................................. 13

Experienced Transfer Tutor: ............................................................................................................ 13


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Introduction

This document provides information for mentors pertaining to Asynchronous Essay Writing sessions,

including:

The components of a quality async session to review for.

How to provide feedback to tutors with regards to both quality and time management when

concerns are noted, and strategies to follow when completing tutor reviews that address

asynchronous session concerns.

How to use the quantitative mentor tool information to identify potential concerns.

The content discussed in Quality of the session is a condensed version of the guidelines

provided to tutors in Responding to Asynchronous Essays and Responding to College-Level

Asynchronous Essays in the Tutor Resource Center.

Reviewing Async sessions

Quality of the Session

Consider the assignment, the characteristics of the student’s writing, and the quality of the tutor’s

feedback. Your review should include feedback on the tutor’s Approach, Communication Skills, Content

Knowledge, and Time Management.

Approach

Taking into consideration the guidelines provided in the pre-session details and the characteristics of the

student’s essay, does the tutor take a sound approach when responding to the essay based on where the

student is in the writing process?

A. If the student chooses “Still working on it – not ready to turn in.”

Does the tutor provide sufficient guidance for this stage of the writing process?

o Does the tutor address the overall development of the essay in terms of content and

organization?

o Does the tutor point out any needed revisions in the thesis statement and/or topic

sentences?

o Does the tutor note any needed revisions in paragraphing and/or transitions?

o Does the tutor check to be sure that source materials are accurately presented?

o Does the tutor note any lower order concerns: stylistic, grammatical, punctuation

errors, mechanical errors, etc.? At this stage of the writing process, the tutor is not

expected to edit/proofread the essay since much of the essay may be revised to


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improve content and organization. However, if the essay contains repeated errors in

style, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics, the tutor should be calling the student’s

attention to these concerns using both the Word Comment feature and the Summary

Feedback Form.

B. If the student chooses “Ready to turn in – just need a final review.”

Does the tutor provide sufficient guidance for this stage of the writing process?

o Does the tutor address the overall “flow” of the essay (i.e., do all areas of discussion

flow logically into the next point)?

o Does the tutor note if content is clearly presented? Does the tutor recommend

needed revisions to improve clarity?

o Does the tutor point out problems with sentence structures, punctuation, grammar,

and/or mechanics?

o Does the tutor point out problems with citations and/or documentation?

o Although the student indicated that their essay was in the later stages of the writing

process when they chose “Ready to turn in – just need a final review,” sometimes the

essay still contains some concerns characteristic of the earlier stages of the writing

process. If the essay contains higher order concerns (concerns with content,

organization, thesis statement, integration of source material, topic sentences,

paragraphing, transitions, etc.), the tutor should be pointing these out to the student.

Content Knowledge

Consider the tutor’s content knowledge as evidenced in the Async session.

A. If the student chooses “Still working on it – not ready to turn in,” does the tutor provide a

thorough response to the essay for this stage of the writing process?

Does the tutor address all concerns related to the early stages of the writing process

accurately (see Approach A above)?

If the essay is an early draft and needs significant reworking, then it is not necessary to note

every grammar, punctuation, and mechanics issue (or any of them unless there is a repeated

pattern). Remember, failing to comment on each of these types of errors in an early draft is

not indicative of “content errors” on the tutor’s part.

B. If the student chooses “Ready to turn in – just need a final review,” does the tutor provide a

thorough response to the essay for this stage of the writing process?

Does the tutor address all concerns related to the later stages of the writing process

accurately (see Approach B above)?


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Does the tutor address any lingering higher order concerns (see Approach A above) that

have not been corrected yet?

If the essay is in the later stages of the writing process, then it is expected that the tutor will

indicate errors in style, punctuation, grammar, and mechanics to the student using the Word

Comment feature. The tutor may do this through explanations, suggestions, examples,

and/or leading questions.

Communication

Consider the tutor’s communications with the student through Comments and the Summary Feedback

Form.

A. Comments. Does the tutor provide detailed responses using the Word Comment feature?

Does the tutor provide sufficient explanations, suggestions, examples, and leading questions

to ensure student understanding?

Does the tutor use a professional, positive tone throughout?

Does the tutor occasionally note what is positive (even before the Summary Feedback Form)?

Does the tutor avoid providing answers and simply correcting the student’s essay using the

comments?

B. Summary Feedback Form. Does the tutor provide a thorough response to the essay using the

Summary Feedback Form?

Does the tutor respond to all prompted questions in the Summary Feedback Form?

Does the tutor direct the student to helpful websites?

Does the tutor balance praise and constructive criticism in their response?

Time Management in the Session

Time Management and pacing are extremely important in Asynchronous sessions since responding to

the student’s essay and completing the Summary Feedback Form occur within the allotted session time –

20, 35 or 50 minutes.

A. Time Management Efficiency:

Does the amount of feedback provided through comments and the Summary Feedback Form

seem to match the amount of time taken to complete the session? (See Quantitative Data

Review below for specific guidelines on analyzing Time Management Efficiency.)

B. Utilizes Tools and Resources Effectively:


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Does the tutor provide the student with links to helpful websites such as Purdue OWL

(Purdue’s Online Writing Lab) that provide additional guidance to aspects of the writing

process?

Providing Feedback to Tutors on Async Sessions When reviewing the Async sessions a tutor has completed, there are several areas for which feedback can

and should be provided. These include:

Feedback provided through the Comments feature (both quality and quantity)

Response provided within the Summary Feedback Form (both quality and quantity)

Below we discuss some of the concerns you may detect when reviewing tutors’ Async sessions, and we

provide recommendations as to how you may address these concerns using the specific categories of the

Tutor Review Form.

Feedback on Tutor’s Approach

Several categories under the heading of “Approach” on the Tutor Review Form are of particular

relevance when providing feedback to tutors about situations of concern in Async sessions:

Tutor does not acknowledge or respond accordingly based on where the student’s essay is in the writing

process: “Still working on it – not ready to turn in” or “Ready to turn in – just need a final review.”

This concern can be addressed under the heading “Identifies the Needs of the Student”

Remind the tutor that it is essential to note where the student’s essay is in the writing process, and to

respond accordingly.

o If the student has selected “Still working on it – not ready to turn in,” the tutor should primarily

be focusing on higher order concerns. (See holistic approach discussion above.)

o If the student has selected “Ready to turn in – just need a final review,” the tutor should

primarily be focusing on lower order concerns. (See holistic approach discussion above.)

Tutor is simply providing corrections (editing students’ essays).

This concern can be addressed under the heading “Avoids doing too much work for the student”

Offer suggestions for how the tutor can still engage the student without simply editing the work.

o Provide the correction, ONLY if an explanation as to the reason for the correction is also included.

Suggestions and corrections should be offered using the Word Comment feature, and not Track

Changes.


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o Summarize the issue that is being seen and provide information to help the student see what

needs to be done, without simply doing the work.

o If a recurring pattern is noted in the student’s work, provide the tutor with an explanation of the

scaffolding technique (in the beginning, start with providing an explanation, offer a similar

example, or provide a web resource. As more instances of the issue occur, the tutor should be

moving away from providing information and instead engaging the student to recall the

information to correct the error).

Tutor is providing only minimal feedback to students’ essays (few comments/ brief Summary).

This concern can be addressed under the heading “Ensures Student Understanding”

Often this occurs because the tutor is spending only a fraction of the allotted time within the session (for

example, spending 10 minutes in a 20 minute session and neglecting to provide needed feedback).

Encourage the tutor to offer more thorough feedback on the students’ essays using comments and the

Summary Feedback Form.

o Detailed feedback should be included using the comments feature to ensure that the student

understands the quality of their essay based on where they are in the writing process.

o Thorough feedback should be included using the Summary Feedback Form to ensure the student

understands the strengths and weaknesses of their essay, and the next steps they need to take to

complete their assignment. It is also beneficial for tutors to include links to helpful websites in

the Summary Feedback Form so that students can continue their inquiry into aspects of the

writing process that are of particular concern to them.

Feedback on Tutor’s Content Knowledge

The categories under the heading of “Content” on the Tutor Review Form are of particular relevance

when providing feedback to tutors about situations of concern in Async sessions:

Tutor is offering incorrect recommendations/ suggestions

This concern can be addressed under the heading “Demonstrates content knowledge in sessions

conducted”

Advise that the tutor quickly review the areas of content knowledge for essay writing.

Recommend that the tutor keep helpful resources on hand while completing Async sessions.

Tutor is failing to point out needed corrections

This concern can be addressed under the heading “Demonstrates familiarity with basic concepts in

approved tutoring subject”


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Often when tutors fail to identify a needed correction in an Async session, this is due to a lack a familiarity

with the basic concepts of essay writing. Perhaps the tutor did not point out a weak thesis statement or

notice that internal citations were done incorrectly.

Advise the tutor to become quickly familiar with the basic concepts of essay writing.

Recommend that the tutor keep helpful resources on hand while completing Async sessions.

Feedback on Tutor’s Communication

Two categories under the heading of “Communication” on the Tutor Review Form are of particular

relevance when providing feedback to tutors about situations of concern in Async sessions:

Tutor is providing minimalist responses

This concern can be addressed under the heading “Provides clear explanations and ensures student

understanding”

Remind the tutor to avoid one-word or few-word comments as they respond to a student’s essay. At

times, tutors are leaving the briefest of comments to students (“punctuation,” “grammar”), and although

this may indicate an area of concern, this type of communication does little to ensure student

understanding.

Remind the tutor to provide a thorough response in the Summary Feedback Form. At times tutors are

leaving brief or even no response at all (“N/A” for not applicable). Providing a thorough summary will

ensure that the student has a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of his/her writing as

well as changes that need to be made before continuing with the next steps of the writing process.

Tutor is using a commanding, condescending tone and/or focuses only on the negative

These concerns can be addressed under the heading “Demonstrates effective written language skills”;

they can also be addressed under the Approach categories of “Demonstrates professional behavior” or

“Provides positive reinforcement to build student confidence.”

Remind the tutor to use a positive, professional tone.

Remind the tutor to aim for a good balance of praise and constructive criticism.

Feedback on Tutor’s Time Management

Two categories under the heading “Time Management” are of particular relevance when providing

feedback to tutors about situations of concern in Async sessions:

Time spent on essay does not correlate with length of paper/amount of feedback provided

This concern can be addressed under the heading “Demonstrates time management efficiency”


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Point out to the tutor that there seems to be a discrepancy between the amount of time he/she spent in a

particular session (or in a number of sessions) and the amount of feedback that was provided to the

student/s.

Remind the tutor that the mark of a high-quality Async session is the thoroughness and accuracy of the

feedback that is provided to the student.

Suggest helpful tips to the tutor that may increase time management efficiency:

Avoid distractions in order to place your full attention on the review.

Design prescripts for commonly used explanations.

Skim first to get a sense of the context and quality of the paper you are reviewing.

Tutor fails to recommend helpful web resources

This concern can be addressed under the heading “Utilizes tools & resources effectively”

Remind the tutor to direct the student to helpful websites such as Purdue OWL (Purdue’s Online Writing Lab)

if they note particular areas that the student is struggling with (these may be higher order or lower order

concerns).

Additional Time Management Feedback

You may also encounter the following situations when reviewing tutors’ Async sessions. These concerns may be

addressed in the comment box at the very bottom of the Tutor Review Form.

Tutor routinely fails to complete Async sessions within the allotted time

Remind the tutor that sessions should be completed within the allotted time (20, 35 or 50 minutes).

Remind the tutor that in some instances it is not possible to completely respond to the essay within the

allotted session time. In this situation the tutor should indicate where they left off and encourage the

student through the Summary Feedback Form to resubmit the essay.

Tutor does not completely respond to the essay (runs out of time) and fails to clearly indicate where they

left off

It can be very confusing for a student when they receive a lot of comments at the beginning of their essay,

but then the rest of the essay is free of comments. They are left wondering if the rest of the essay is fine

or if the tutor stopped reading.

Remind the tutor that if they ran out of time and stopped reading, they should indicate where they left off

(they can indicate this with a comment).

Remind the tutor that they can encourage the student through the Summary Feedback Form to resubmit

the essay.


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Identifying Potential Concerns (Quantitative Data Review) The information available in the mentoring tools can often give mentors insight into if a tutor is using time

effectively. Below are some examples of data in the mentoring tools that can be quickly reviewed to see if there

may be a potential concern that should be investigated further.

Sessions since Last Assessment table: This table will include two columns of interest with regards to session length of Async Sessions completed.

1. Session Length: This column includes the actual length of the session.

2. Max Review Length: This column provides you with the session length guidelines in place for this session.

The guidelines for the Async Essay Writing subjects are:

1. Async Essay Writing: 20 or 35 minutes

2. Async College Essay Writing: 35, 50 or 80 minutes

To determine whether there is reason for concern regarding time management, use the steps below.

1. Sort by Subject so Async is at the top of the table.

2. Compare the values in the Session Length column to the values in the Max Review Length column.

3. If you see sessions for which the actual length regularly exceeds the value in the Max Review Length

column, or sessions that are consistently near the upper limits of the guidelines for Essay Writing and

College-level Essay Writing (noted above) it could be an indication that the tutor is not managing time

effectively.


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Declined and Transferred Sessions (Last 3 Months) table: In the Asynchronous Essay Writing resources, tutors are told:

“Should you receive a request for a session that you would not have time to complete, Decline the session, giving End

of Shift as the reason. Mentors are aware that such declines may occur well before the end of your scheduled shift.

Such declines will not be held against you. You may remain online and accept requests for shorter sessions after

Declining a request for a long Asynchronous Essay Writing session.”

When reviewing a tutor who has the Essay Writing and/or College Essay Writing Async subject, and you notice an

A% below 85%, you should review the reason the sessions are being declined. If a tutor is regularly declining Async

session requests for the reason of “Shift Ending” you should be reviewing the maximum review time information

that is listed in the “Question” column and consider the time the request was received by the tutor. While mentors

will not be aware of a tutor’s scheduled hours, this information can be used in determining what action, if any, could

be taken. For example, if you are seeing a tutor repeatedly declining a request with a maximum review time of 35

minutes within the first 15 minutes of the hour, it would be worth offering some suggestions to the tutor for how to

avoid this. A few suggestions you could offer might be:

Suggest the tutor be sure they are tutoring when they know they do not have commitments immediately

following their selected tutoring times.

If happening frequently, the tutor’s schedule might not be a good fit for working with the Async service and

you might start a discussion with the tutor to determine if it is in everyone’s best interest to continue

tutoring the Async subject.

If a tutor is floating and not scheduling hours, mentors have no way of knowing what their schedule might be, or

when they may need to leave. For this reason, concerns with declining these Async requests should only be

addressed with tutors when it is being observed on a recurring basis. If you ever have any questions with the

information you are seeing, you can always check with your Senior Mentor or Manager.

Individual Session Review: When reviewing individual sessions you want to consider time spent on Summary Feedback From and the

document itself and whether the time spent was effective.


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o After you open the session, check the actual time that the document file was returned to the student. This

time stamp is located at the bottom left hand corner. The time when the file is uploaded to the student can

indicate a time management concern. For example, if the file was sent back to the student at the 27 minute

mark, but the session lasted for 50 minutes, this would imply that the tutor took 23 minutes to complete

the Summary Feedback Form (SFF). (However, sometimes the tutor works on the student’s document and

the SFF concurrently).

o When reviewing time spent responding to the document (time from start of session to time file is uploaded

to student)

Open the document and consider the quality and quantity of the feedback provided. Is the

amount of feedback provided in the body of the document indicative of the time spent?

Considering the example above, if 27 minutes were spent before uploading the document to the

student, it is expected that a considerable amount of feedback should be provided to the student.

o When reviewing time spent completing the Summary Feedback Form (most often the total session length

minus the time prior to returning the file to the student)

Open the document and review the session SFF to determine if the amount of feedback provided in

the SFF is indicative of the time spent. Considering the example above, if 23 minutes were spent

completing this form, it is expected that a considerable amount of feedback should be provided to

the student.

**Note** To determine effectiveness and efficiency, it is important to ensure you are using your good

judgement when reviewing the student documents submitted, the feedback provided, and the time being spent

on the various components of the session. Keep in mind that technical difficulties could also be

contributing to Time Management concerns. If this is a problem that you are seeing on a regular basis with

individual tutors, recommend that these tutors contact Tutor Support.

Feedback to Tutor Recurring concerns with regards to session length in Async sessions may require feedback from the mentor to help

the tutor address these concerns. It is insufficient to inform tutors that the time being spent in Async sessions is not

appropriate. It is essential that mentors are taking the time to review sessions and identify the root cause of this

issue. Possible scenarios that may support mentor feedback would include:

Time that session is closed is consistently above the session length guidelines provided (as indicated in the

"Max Session Length” column).

o When tutors are regularly exceeding the session length expectations, it could be an indication of

time management concerns…

Review a random sampling of these sessions to determine possible contributing factors.

Is the tutor responding appropriately to the needs of the student? Consider the

information provided in the “Responding to Async…” resources (Essay Writing and

College Essay Writing) and determine if the tutor’s approach is correct. For

http://www.tutor.com/cmsprotectedfiles/content/Providers/RespondingToAsyncEssayWriting.pdf

http://www.tutor.com/cmsprotectedfiles/content/Providers/RespondingToAsyncCollegeLevelEssayWriting.pdf


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example, is the tutor spending too much time in the session because s/he is

focusing on lower-order concerns and is attempting to provide too much feedback

on grammar, punctuation, and style when the student needs and is requesting

feedback on higher-order concerns? Also, consult the Time Management resource.

Is the tutor using the helpful strategies discussed there such as the use of

scaffolding, prescripts, preferred links, and informal templates?

Is the tutor providing too little feedback and simply managing time ineffectively? If

so, consult the guidelines above for providing feedback to tutors on Time

Management and Ensuring Student Understanding. See also the Time

Management resource, and the discussion of Time Management and Pacing in the

“Overview…” resources (Essay Writing and College Essay Writing)

Time that session is closed is consistently at the high end of the session length guidelines provided (as

indicated in the "Max Session Length” column).

o Students submit documents of various lengths and complexity that will require varying amounts of

time. If a tutor is consistently requiring almost the full amount of time to review every paper

received, it could indicate ineffective time management. When this situation is noted…

Review a random sampling of these sessions following the process noted above.

Time that session is closed is consistently well below the session length guidelines. (as indicated in the "Max

Session Length” column).

o When tutors are regularly well below the session length expectations, it could be an indication that

a thorough review is not being completed and sufficient feedback is not being provided. When this

scenario is noted …

Review a random sampling of these sessions to determine if this is the case.

Is the tutor providing feedback at the quantity or level of quality that would

provide the student with the information s/he needs to make appropriate changes?

If no, feedback should be provided with suggestions that would make the feedback

more effective. See the discussion above on Ensuring Student Understanding.

Also, see the “Responding to Async…” resources (Essay Writing and College Essay

Writing) for helpful guidelines on providing detailed comments within the

document and a thorough Summary Feedback Form.

Is the tutor missing areas of concern in the document reviewed and failing to

provide feedback to the student to address these concerns? If so, information

should be provided pertaining to taking the time to ensure areas of concern are

being addressed in each review completed. See “Feedback on Tutor’s Content

Knowledge” above.

** Note ** if you are unable to open the files via the direct links above, you can find them by following the

Async Tutoring Resources link in the Humanities section of the Subject-Specific Resource Table in the

Resources section of the Tutor Resource Area.

http://www.tutor.com/cmsprotectedfiles/content/Providers/AsyncEssayTimeManagementGuidelines.pdf



http://www.tutor.com/cmsprotectedfiles/content/Providers/AsyncEssayWritingOverview.pdf

http://www.tutor.com/cmsprotectedfiles/content/Providers/AsyncCollegeLevelEssayWritingOverview.pdf

http://www.tutor.com/cmsprotectedfiles/content/Providers/AsyncEssayWritingOverview.pdf



http://www.tutor.com/providers/login.aspx


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New Tutors When new tutors are onboarded and assigned an Async subject, they will likely have had only a small amount of

exposure to the nature of and expectations for working with Async sessions. As their mentor, it will be important

for you to be sure you are providing them with the resources and feedback they need to ensure they are equipped

to handle Async sessions successfully. Here are a few steps you want to be sure you take whenever a new tutor is

added to your team.

New Probationary Tutor: When you send your welcome email…

o Include a short paragraph that summarizes the Async experience for the tutor (one suggestion

would be to copy some of the information from the Overview document for Essay Writing or

College-Level Essay Writing).

o Include information to the tutor to help them navigate to the Async resources in the Student

Resource Area and let them know what resources are available to them.

o Encourage the tutor to review this information to ensure s/he understands the differences

between Async and Live sessions and how to create an educational experience in both.

o Provide your contact information and remind the tutor to contact you if s/he should have any

questions or need any clarification.

When you complete the tutor’s first review…

o Start by seeing if any Async sessions were completed; if so, be sure to review these sessions.

o If concerns with the approach to the Async sessions are noted, make this the focus of this first

review…offering suggestions and additional resources.

o Be mindful of the length of these sessions as well and offer suggestion here if recurring concerns

with time management are noted.

Experienced Transfer Tutor:

Skim through previous reviews to determine if any concerns with Async sessions have been addressed.

o If yes, complete your first review of this tutor with this in mind, providing information and

resources to help the tutor develop his/her skills.

Review Mentor Tool info for potential concerns with these sessions (e.g., excessive session length, etc).

o If concerns are noted, address concerns in first review completed.

Provide tutor with information for how to access the Async resources in the Tutor Resource Area and

what resources are available.

Documents

Reviewing Asynchronous Essay Writing Sessions - Tutor…filedepot.tutor.com/mentors/Mentor_Async_Review.pdf · Reviewing Asynchronous Essay Writing Sessions Mentor Guidelines to Reviewing