Toward an Inclusive Tutoring Ecology

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Toward an Inclusive Tutoring Ecology
Language: English
Authors: Maggie Laurel Boyd, Hunter Hobbs, Meiya Sparks Lin
Source: Communication Center Journal. 2025 11(1).
Availability: National Association of Communication Centers. 738 South Mason Street MSC 1023, Harrisonburg, VA 22807. e-mail: ccj_editor@uncg.edu; Web site: https://janeway.uncpress.org/ccj/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 14
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Tutoring, Inclusion, Research Universities, Tutors, Academic Support Services, Program Improvement, Educational Practices, School Personnel, Tutor Training, Access to Education, Private Colleges, College Students, Communication Skills
ISSN: 2575-694X
Abstract: Given our frequent interest in open dialogues, active listening, collaboration and peer-to-peer learning, communication centers are poised to be inclusive spaces, capable of transformative impact. But to actualize this potential, communication centers must make an engaged effort, lest these sites slip into enforcing hegemonic norms of "correct" writing or "good" speaking. So what might such an effort entail? Integrating insights from staff and tutors, this article explains and examines our recent work to center inclusion in our program. We categorize that work into two main pathways: (1) expanding tutors' vocabularies, which involved multi-step training, and (2) expanding students' access, which involved logistical updates to programs and platforms. Through these avenues, we aimed to focus on inclusion as essential to our success, making it a foundational element of our broader tutoring ecology--a term we use to denote the people and spaces that any tutoring session entangles, and the demands on one another that emerge as a result. We outline the practices we have developed toward an inclusive tutoring ecology in the hope that they might help other communication center staff cultivate inclusion in their own programs.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: EJ1499886
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:Given our frequent interest in open dialogues, active listening, collaboration and peer-to-peer learning, communication centers are poised to be inclusive spaces, capable of transformative impact. But to actualize this potential, communication centers must make an engaged effort, lest these sites slip into enforcing hegemonic norms of "correct" writing or "good" speaking. So what might such an effort entail? Integrating insights from staff and tutors, this article explains and examines our recent work to center inclusion in our program. We categorize that work into two main pathways: (1) expanding tutors' vocabularies, which involved multi-step training, and (2) expanding students' access, which involved logistical updates to programs and platforms. Through these avenues, we aimed to focus on inclusion as essential to our success, making it a foundational element of our broader tutoring ecology--a term we use to denote the people and spaces that any tutoring session entangles, and the demands on one another that emerge as a result. We outline the practices we have developed toward an inclusive tutoring ecology in the hope that they might help other communication center staff cultivate inclusion in their own programs.
ISSN:2575-694X