Texas A&M’s CTL (Center of Teaching and Learning) division has the Student Tutoring initiative. It is an initiative where Students would offer tutoring to other Students on courses they have undertaken previously. There are two types of tutors in this division- a Peer Tutor and an SI Tutor. A Peer Tutor offers one on one sessions to help out a student in any part he/she may have trouble in a certain course. An SI Tutor offers revision classes, where they cover everything the current Professor’s in a course has taught. Both of these types of Tutors encompass the CTL Student Tutoring initiative.

I have been selected as a Peer Tutor for this current semester (Spring 2021). At the time of writing this blog, I have successfully completed 9 peer tutoring sessions, and it was a very different experience.

I always taught that it was easy to tutor other people, simply because I taught tutoring means just ‘saying stuff you already know’. However, within my first session, I instantly realized that wasn’t the case. I LEARNT that a good tutor has the ability to efficiently communicate information in such a way the tutee could easily articulate what the tutor is saying. The tutor should also be able to explain why something is like what it is, and a way to remember a certain topic or workouts. I definitely stuttered a lot during my first 9 sessions, as I was trying to encompass what a good tutor does. Thankfully, in the end, all my tutees were able to clarify their doubts to a certain degree, which was a big relief for me.

Additionally, I found out that the use of a Smart Tablet expedited the tutoring process by great magnitudes. This is mainly because we can access the textbooks they use, annotate on it, and use the plethora of tools that the note-taking application provides, to help communicate what we are trying to say to the tutee. Additionally, it would be much easier to export our notes and workouts to the tutee.

Therefore, I can confidently say that peer tutoring is a good skill that everyone would need, as it helps them to effectively communicate what they are saying in a Technical Workspace later on. If you would like to apply as a Peer Tutor (or an SI Tutor), head on to the CTL, and talk with our coordinators.