2012 Institute Mentors
Laura Sanders - Developing and Implementing an Assessment Plan
Director, Hesse Learning Resource and Assessment Center, Valparaiso University.
Laura earned a BS in Physics and Physics Education, a BA in Mathematics and Math Education, and an MS in Applied Optics. She has been a learning center professional in STEM-related academic support for over 15 years. She currently the Associate Dean for Student Success and manages all the recruitment, retention, marketing and assessment programs for the College of Engineering. She has shared her work in numerous presentations and trainings at national and regional conferences on topics like unique tutoring programs, learning styles, retention strategies, and best practices in assessment. She is currently serving on the NCLCA Executive Board in her second term as Publications Chair.
Ms. Sanders' sessions will focus on building and enhancing the components of a sustainable assessment plan for various academic support programs. Participants will be encouraged to explore assessment methods based on the mission and goals of their learning center, as well as student achievement and tutor effectiveness. Examples of assessment tools will be provided and the sessions will be highly interactive, allowing participants with similar programs to share additional assessment methods that have been successful in their learning centers. Upon completion of these sessions, participants will have the tools necessary to implement an assessment plan and to summarize the results to support the effectiveness of the program.
Johanna Dvorak - Establishing a Tutor Program - Tutor Training
Director of Panther Academic Support Services, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Dr. Dvorak served as President for NCLCA in 2004 and she was a mentorand presenter at the 2009 Institute. She has conducted 5 national webinars on tutor management, online tutoring, peer tutoring, and tutor training in the past 2 years. In addition to contributing to several tutoring publications, she authored a chapter in the upcoming CRLA Tutor Training Handbook on “Online Tutoring”. Dr. Dvorak earned her PhD in Educational Leadership and Information Studies form UMW, her MEd at the University of Texas at Austin, and her BA at Drake University. “I look forward to sharing my expertise, best practices and research on college tutoring programs and tutor training to help your students achieve academic success.
Dr. Dvorak will present on establishing and organiz- ing a college tutoring program. The key components of budgeting, organizing space, staff, and training will be addressed. One session will concentrate on various types of tutoring services: group or individual tutoring, walk-in or scheduled appointments, variations of tutoring services such as in-class tutoring, online tutoring, and combining tutoring with other services such as Supplemental Instruction, mentoring, and study groups. Another session will address standards and guidelines for tutor training. Participants will learn various training formats and methods. Participants will put the key essentials of the tutoring program together in a format that works on their campus.
Mark May - Communication at All Levels in a Learning Center
Associate Professor of Communications, Clayton State University.
Dr. May received his PhD in Organization Communication. He is currently a tenured faculty member in the Communication and Media Studies program at Clayton State University. He has made many presentations at regional and national conferences, including NCLCA, NACADA, NADE, CRLA and FYE, on topics related to communication and training peer tutors. He contributes regularly to a column on training that reaches 30,000 credit union employees.
Dr. May will help you improve your communications skills and help others do the same by offering several train-the-trainer sessions. He will demonstrate how to communicate more effectively and provide you with the materials to enable you to offer similar workshops at your institution for everyone from tutors and student employees to the director. The workshops will be relevant to learning center management, tutoring, educational practice and learning center operations. Mark will also seek to answer questions about challenging situations faced by learning center employees. Mark’s sessions will be highly interactive, making significant use of media and small groups activities and discussion.