Asynchronous Tutoring

I appreciated Remington's piece immensely. While I understand Kyle's concerns about establishing rapport, the beauty of asynchronous tutoring in that such rapport is of a different timbre. There's less pressure to perform the "tutor" or "writing expert" role and more time to shift between being a reader, a modeler, a focused professional, a sympathetic fellow student or peer.

I experienced a shade of this difference when I tutor appointment students, compared to returning Enrollment tutees. More rides on the Enrollment tutoring relationship because of its development over time. If I say something stupid, it means we may both be uncomfortable for weeks to come. The relational aspects of appointment tutoring allows me to get down to business more quickly. If the student thinks I'm a weirdo, it won't haunt us at every assignment we gather over together. As long as I attend to the student as writer, the student as acquaintance is happy and recedes.

I guess my positive feelings about asynchronous tutoring make me seem like I'm on the autism spectrum. Small talk intrudes on writing time. I think I'm also a better communicator when I'm not on the spot and I can think through writing. The questions I ask students are always better when I have time to formulate them on paper or screen, something I can't do much of face-to-face, or any of while TAing. My brain doesn't work out loud. My biggest fear for online tutoring is timing. How do you know when you've said enough? I suspect the Writing Center has timing recommendations, but hey'll always be the temptation to mark up more.

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