Recruiting the e-tutor

Recruiting and training a small group of e-tutors to support an e-learning initiative would be enough of a headache for most of us. For Helen Millner, Director of Distributed Learning for LearnDirect, the challenge was somewhat greater: to build a nationwide database of e-tutors to support the 500,000 or so students currently registered with LearnDirect, a figure that could rise dramatically in the next few years. “We knew that the key to success in online learning would be the support given to learners, but we were also aware that there was no existing body of e-tutors that we could call upon. We knew the right people were out there, even if they didn’t realise it themselves just yet!”

A day in the life of an e-tutor – Andy Cooper

Andy has a background in Further Education and is currently involved in training e-tutors at LearnDirect.

There is no such thing as a typical day in the life of an e-tutor and this is one of the things that makes the job so enjoyable. I never really know when I get up whether the day will be very quiet or very busy. The only constants tend to be e-mail and grading assignments. To be fair, I suppose there is always a tidal flow to courses – learners tend to start out as quite needy, but as their confidence and their familiarity with the style of the course materials grows, most of them actually need you less and less.

Even so, there are sometimes site crashes and other technical snafus to jolly them through, not to mention last minute panics about assignments and forum postings. Also, lest we forget, whilst most learners are confident professionals there are always those who will need constant attention throughout.

The important thing - whatever their learning style, their circumstances or their other commitments - is that you are there for them when and if they do need your support. One of the most important functions of an e-tutor is to supply a small drop of humanity in an experience that could otherwise be lonely and isolating.

An extensive recruitment campaign was undertaken to build the National Tutor Service database, currently capped at 3000 tutors. Millner: “It was important to us that applicants had relevant experience in education or training, as well as subject-matter expertise in one or more of the subjects in which LearnDirect currently specialises. We had very many high-quality applications which we followed up exhaustively by taking up references and with face-to-face interviews. We needed to make sure that applicants really understood the nature of e-tutoring work and that they had the IT skills and the necessary equipment to do the job effectively.”

“Some tutors that we took on already had skills or qualifications in online tutoring, although we have provided all successful applicants with the opportunity to receive training in e-tutoring skills and in the particular system that we operate at LearnDirect. Our tutors are a really keen bunch and this is reflected in the feedback we are obtaining from learners about the quality of support they are receiving.”