Caitlin Robbins
New tutors navigate into their roles as one would into an unexplored frontier— eagerly yet nervously. They find themselves searching for ways to adapt to their new responsibilities and look forward to making a difference within their academic communities. Yet with many universities moving their functions online, this adds an entirely new frontier to the equation, which is tutoring in a completely online environment. Many institutions have the gut instinct to train tutors to adapt to this change with the goal of online tutoring mimicking the in-person experience as closely as possible. But for tutors who have never sat across from a tutee within the writing center, this raises the question: how does one recreate something they have never experienced in the first place?
This fundamental tension is embodied within a concept introduced by Jean Baudrillard in his work Simulacra and Simulation as the “hyperreal”: “…the generation by models of a real without origin or reality: a hyperreal” (Baudrillard 3). This is in essence the trap new tutors fall into if they attempt to make their online sessions replicas of an in-person session. They would be drawing from an experiential bank they do not possess. If they attempt to do so while they tutor, they may feel confused, out of place, or at the worst case inadequate. These troubles are natural in attempting to create an experience for which there is no basis: “The territory no longer precedes the map, nor does it survive it. It is nevertheless the map that precedes the territory” (Baudrillard 3). New tutors have a construct of the physical writing lab that they’ve erected in their minds, but this understanding of the writing lab is just that, a construction. As Baudrillard implies, it is impossible for new tutors to create an experience for tutees if they do not possess a basis of knowledge (or “map”) that enables them to do so.
It is therefore necessary for new tutors to view the goal of tutoring online as not to recreate the physical writing center, but to create their own unique subdivision of it. This subdivision will function under its own individual identity, with needs exclusive to itself, and conditions not shared with the physical form of the Center. It should function as a little blip on the map, as a location with a culture completely different from the surrounding area—its own hyperreality. Baudrillard gives a useful concept to illustrate this in the example of Disneyland. He explains that Disneyland is a part of the county of Los Angeles, yet when stepping foot into Disneyland, visitors are transported physically and psychologically into another world. It has different goals, functions, and conditions which separate it from the surrounding county, state, and country.
Each tutor can find their own Disneyland to use as their inspiration for building their version of an effective online tutoring experience. For instance, for those who grew up in New England, they can connect their online tutoring construction sites to Story Land, a theme park many children like myself remember fondly growing up. It was a land filled with fantasy, rides, and laughter. It felt like its own universe. When children walked through the brick-lined roads, they found themselves in their own hyperreal experience, and left feeling refreshed and renewed. When an individual is in a hyperreality such as this one, they do not find themselves thinking “I am in a plot of land in New Hampshire”; they think “I am in Story Land.” This should be the goal of new tutors: to build a psychologically and technologically sovereign online tutoring experience. It should have its own unique techniques of engagement and methods of delivery, and function as its own separate yet closely related entity. The new tutors are then, in essence, builders and architects, forging ahead unafraid into undeveloped land.
Some new tutors come into their roles with pre-existing struggles. It’s important to recognize these unique circumstances many upcoming tutors face when analyzing how new tutors can move forward in such a drastically changed tutoring landscape. Their respective fears and anxieties surrounding their roles may be compounded with the daunting task of playing their part to create the writing center’s Story Land. For instance, bilingual individuals may be extra hard on themselves and on their abilities regarding the languages they tutor. Tutors who suffer from anxiety may be terrified at the notion of having to participate in hours of online calls with tutees. First-generation college students may struggle with confidence in their ability to lead effectively, as referenced by Amanda Pickett in her article “Tutoring as Leadership Experience for First-Generation Writing Tutors.” Yet a point Pickett makes in this article serves as the first tool new tutors have to equip themselves with in this exploration of the frontier of online tutoring: the knowledge that tutoring is a form of leadership. Pickett discusses how tutoring can be transformative for first-generation college students through their ability to show leadership in a collaborative manner. Tutors who have pre-existing struggles can take Pickett’s wisdom into account. They can acknowledge that just by being a tutor in these unprecedented times and putting their energy towards this role, they are making a difference, and are becoming leaders.
Tutors can further equip themselves by using language introduced by Paula Gillespie in “To Boldly Go”: “There are times in our centers when we are the pioneers, the space explorers (literally), the innovators” (Gillespie 22). The idea of viewing the Writing Center itself as a frontier and approaching it in such a manner is empowering- it shows tutors that they do not need to hold themselves to a colossally high, perfect standard. This new form of tutoring is uncharted territory. Some actions tutors take may not be immediate successes, but all actions are revolutionary in that they attempt to map the unmapped. Further, Gillespie introduces the notion of tutors taking “moonshots” in order to meet the astronomical challenges that tackling a new frontier entails: “…we have to dream and imagine, challenge, assess, plan, plan, plan, assess, and then re-plan” (Gillespie 22). The builders of the writing center’s Story Land will need to take these risky moonshots and believe in their validity and necessity.
Tutors are thereby reminded that the power to create their session’s environment is and always has been in their hands and in their minds. Their creativity, motivation, and dogged persistence will be what creates this alternative form of the writing center. This form will then provide an escape for tutees, a way for them to find refuge from the uncertainty and stress, and a way to focus on their academic improvement. It is therefore vital for new tutors to remember their role as innovators and trailblazers- as builders of a theme park. They need to remind themselves that theme parks are not built overnight or without a few misplaced bricks. To successfully erect the writing center’s Story Land, tutors need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable in the hyperreality, and be confident in taking moonshots to turn the unexplored online frontier into a welcoming place of refuge.
Works Cited
Baudrillard, Jean, and Sheila Faria Glaser. Simulacra and Simulation. Univ. of Michigan Press, 2019.
Gillespie, Paula. “To Boldly Go.” The Writing Center Journal, vol. 36, no. 1, 2017, pp. 15–26. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/44252636. Accessed 20 Oct. 2020.
Pickett, Amanda. “Tutoring as Leadership Experience for First-Generation Writing Tutors.” The Dangling Modifier. May 2020.
About the Author
Caitlin Robbins is a sophomore majoring in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics at Suffolk University. She works in Suffolk’s Center for Learning and Academic Success as a peer tutor and a writing tutor. After graduation, Caitlin hopes to attend Law School, with a goal of extending her love of writing and of helping others towards working in immigration law. When she isn’t tutoring or prepping for the LSATs, Caitlin is usually found reading, hiking, or cuddling with her black lab named Boomer.