Spring Break
Good tutors are trying to work themselves out of a job
Joe Burke
Issue date: 2/15/04 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
Good tutors are trying to work themselves out of a job, says Learning Center Director Sharon Hendriksen.
"The goal of the Learning Center is to help students to be successful in their courses and to become independent learners," Hendriksen says. But "we don't want students to become dependent on us."
Twelve hundred students used the College's Learning Center during the fall semester, Hendriksen says.
One of them was sophomore Business Administration major Robyn Schrei. She uses the center, in CC-315, "all the time," she says.
Tutors usually explain "what was covered in class," which is helpful with math-based subjects such as accounting, Schrei says.
It is often important for Learning Center tutors to explain and reinforce information covered in class, says English professor Steven Werkmeister.
Often, if a student hears information from the instructor and then from "someone else with less grading authority, it clicks with that person," he says.
Werkmeister was once a tutor himself, he says. He helped students in a writing center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and at the local community college in Lincoln.
Tutors at the NCC Learning Center are well-trained professionals who must go through a "rigorous" training program, Hendriksen says.
English professor Stephanie Carpenter agrees, saying that tutors have "a great deal of experience in their field."
People underestimate the tutors at the Learning Center, Schrei says.
Many people would be surprised by how much it really helps to go to the Learning Center, Carpenter says. "I definitely remind students throughout the semester that the Learning Center is available to them."
It's through the instructors that Hendriksen publicizes the Learning Center and what it has to offer, Carpenter says.
A- students make use of the Learning Center, as well as those who are struggling, Carpenter says.
Werkmeister agrees. "The Learning Center isn't the doghouse," he says.
"The goal of the Learning Center is to help students to be successful in their courses and to become independent learners," Hendriksen says. But "we don't want students to become dependent on us."
Twelve hundred students used the College's Learning Center during the fall semester, Hendriksen says.
One of them was sophomore Business Administration major Robyn Schrei. She uses the center, in CC-315, "all the time," she says.
Tutors usually explain "what was covered in class," which is helpful with math-based subjects such as accounting, Schrei says.
It is often important for Learning Center tutors to explain and reinforce information covered in class, says English professor Steven Werkmeister.
Often, if a student hears information from the instructor and then from "someone else with less grading authority, it clicks with that person," he says.
Werkmeister was once a tutor himself, he says. He helped students in a writing center at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and at the local community college in Lincoln.
Tutors at the NCC Learning Center are well-trained professionals who must go through a "rigorous" training program, Hendriksen says.
English professor Stephanie Carpenter agrees, saying that tutors have "a great deal of experience in their field."
People underestimate the tutors at the Learning Center, Schrei says.
Many people would be surprised by how much it really helps to go to the Learning Center, Carpenter says. "I definitely remind students throughout the semester that the Learning Center is available to them."
It's through the instructors that Hendriksen publicizes the Learning Center and what it has to offer, Carpenter says.
A- students make use of the Learning Center, as well as those who are struggling, Carpenter says.
Werkmeister agrees. "The Learning Center isn't the doghouse," he says.