Gaining from Training?: Designing an Online Training Module for University of Hawai‘i-West O‘ahu Peer-Tutors

The No‘eau Center, a learning center at the University of Hawai‘i-West O‘ahu (UHWO), provides supplemental support services to UHWO students through peer tutoring. In order to offer this service, the No‘eau Center hires UHWO undergraduate students and prepares them for tutoring through a rigorous training program. Following the guidelines of the International Tutor Training Program Certification (ITTPC), the center is qualified to provide Level 1 tutor training, which focuses on foundational tutoring elements for peer tutors. Having completed the requirements of Level 1 training, returning peer tutors have expressed a desire to broaden their tutoring abilities. In order to obtain Level-2 certification from ITTPC, issued by the College of Reading and Learning Association (CRLA), the No‘eau Center is required to provide training on ways to enhance the learning environment of a tutoring session.

The purpose of this project was to create and evaluate an online tutor-training module to educate peer tutors on ways to structure and modify the learning environment of a tutoring session. Using best practices identified in literature, an online module was created using Google Sites, a free web development platform, as well as a combination of tools including: Google Docs, Google Forms, and YouTube. A constructivist framework was used to develop the module’s design and content. Anchored instruction and the theory of scaffolding were pedagogies also integrated into the design. This study involved a total of 11 participants ranging in ages from 18 to 26. All data collected from the project was analyzed and reported through the use of statistical analysis. The results of the data suggest that after completing the online tutor training, participants’ knowledge of tutoring strategies increased. Opportunities for future research regarding online tutor training for advanced tutors were also identified.