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IntroductionTutoring is defined as providing a learner with supplemental, additional, or remedial instruction. Traditionally, it is delivered in a person to person communications between an expert and a learner. At most institutions, tutoring services tend to be focused on the acquisition of skills or knowledge associated with a course or discipline rather than a program. In part, this is due to the expense and difficulty in scaling tutoring services across the many courses found within a program. Organizationally, it is not unusual for educational institutions to concentrate tutoring services around basic skill courses within some kind of a learning resource center. Communication technologies associated with distance learning make the translating of traditional tutoring services into the online environment a relatively straightforward process. However, the cost of the underlying technologies and increasing pressures for institutions to be accountable in terms of program effectiveness and efficiency suggest that 'second' generation tutoring services need to be developed. Second generation learning support services need to be scalable and be more demonstrably capable of increasing a student's likelihood of program completion. HistoryThe Personal Computer RevolutionIn the 1980's, the personal computing revolution witnessed the widespread development of various forms of computer mediated instruction that provided tutoring in a variety of formats. These included programs designed to provide students with supplemental learning activities associated with drill and practice, subject based tutorials, and simulations. For the most part, these forms of tutoring tended to be individual learning activities. The Internet RevolutionThe emergence of the Internet introduced a rich communication environment to education. This environment includes communication vehicles such as email, listservs, chatrooms, bulletin boards, and instant messaging. Listservs began to create global learning communities by linking people with common interests together via shared email. Web based course management software contributed to the emergence of similar communities within a distance learning course by employing several communication technologies. However, the proliferation of distance learning courses triggered widespread concern over the ability of educational institutions to adequately support distance learners with both student and academic support services. Today, institutions are taking steps toward adapting these services to the web environment. Online tutoring has emerged employing a variety of web communication technologies. At present, the models currently employed are based on traditional tutoring methods that are not easy to scale. The PortalOne of the most recent products in the Internet Revolution is the portal, software that is capable of integrating a variety of standalone software and hardware systems. Users are presented with a single front-end interface to many information systems. Whether the portal becomes a revolution or not remains to be seen. However, as portals begin to integrate disparate information systems (a technology issue), they are also integrating services (an organizational issue). The challenge for many institutions will be to determine whether or not current methods for delivering services make optimum use of the technology and to provide the best quality of service possible. The portal represents an opportunity to more effectively integrate computer based tutorials and a rich communications environment into an institution's tutoring efforts. It also presents an opportunity to transition from course and discipline based tutoring strategies to one that is more program based. A program based strategy suggests that the sum of instruction within a curriculum and learning support activities are well integrated and more capable of insuring that students acquire the requisite skills and knowledge for program completion.
OpportunitiesInstitutionThe web based environment represents an opportunity for an institution to deliver a broad range of learning support services designed to assist students in achieving their educational goal – program completion. Tutoring services could be delivered in a manner that more effectively addresses critical student skill and knowledge gaps. They could also be managed in a manner that is more scalable – available on demand. It is suggested that the technologies associated with distance learning provides an opportunity to refine the definition of tutoring so that it is more outcome oriented: providing additional, remedial, or supplemental instruction to increase the likelihood of student success in an academic program. Faculty, Staff and StudentsIf one looks beyond the tutoring centers on campus, one is likely to find that faculty and staff are also engaged in providing some form of tutoring to assist and guide students through their academic programs. Because of cost, it is difficult to scale these services. Students also are engaged in a variety of activities to tutor themselves or one another. However, these efforts tend to be informal and not well organized and lack quality controls. The web-based distance learning environment presents an opportunity to more formally integrate these sources of tutoring into an institution's overall tutoring efforts through integration of information sources and communication channels among faculty, staff, and students. In this environment, one possible strategy for the institution is the strategic use of students and technology as first responders to learning assistance needs. An effectively designed web environment creates an opportunity to mobilize students into learning communities, study groups, and tutoring/mentoring relationships. This environment also creates an opportunity to bring together an assortment of web-based computer mediated instruction as part of this first responder strategy. Faculty and staff are positioned as a second tier of responders to learning assistance needs. In essence, faculty and staff could be repositioned to manage learning assistance and deliver more complex types of learning assistance. ChallengesThere exist two major challenges to the evolution of tutoring into a more complex and comprehensive learning support system. One is technological in nature, the other is organizational. The technological challenge is associated with the high cost of bringing the requisite technologies to bear to provide learning support. A well designed student information system, portal interface, and course management software are important components of a robust learning support system. Because of the costs involved, it makes little sense to limit use of the system to distance learners. Instead, the system must be designed to service all students and services need to be re-evaluated to insure that they are scalable. The organizational challenge involves reorienting organizational units to think about the delivery of learning assistance services from the perspective of the student and the student's educational objective. It is suggested that the scope of supplemental instruction needs to be expanded to: include a broader range of skills and knowledge than found in individual courses and to provide around the clock services. It is further suggested that services need to be integrated to: create a seamless web of services that make organizational structures transparent to the student and that students themselves are strategically integrated into an institution's overall learning assistance efforts. Issues
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