For Tutors
Tutor Handbook

The tutor handbook is your guide to all of the policies of the tutoring department!

Here is the downloadable PDF version.

Welcome and Overview

Mission Statement

The mission of Academic Support at Samuel Merritt University is to promote academic success and critical thinking through peer-to-peer collaboration. We seek to provide a wide range of academic support that allows students to explore different avenues of learning. Another goal of the program is to not only provide high-quality support on subject related concepts, but for the tutors to model good study habits and promote metacognition.

Learning Outcomes

-Tutees leave a tutoring session with a sense of success that comes from fulfilling all or part of their stated learning goals.

-Tutors work to balance out a naturally-uneven power structure by reminding tutees of their own knowledge and skill sets, through an assessment of the tutees prior knowledge.

-Tutors create an environment where the tutee is comfortable asking questions in order to learn.

-Tutors and tutees work together to create, reaffirm, and deepen knowledge.

Professional Staff

Erika V. Sanchez Nelson (she/her), PhD, Director of Academic Support (enelson1@samuelmerritt.edu)

Hello all, and welcome to the tutoring program! I am so excited to have you here. Since I’m not sure when I can connect with every single one of you, I wanted to tell you a little bit about me. I started at SMU August of 2024, and I have worked in tutoring centers for about 8 years, first as a graduate tutor at Vanderbilt University in Nashville and then at CSU Maritime as the tutoring coordinator. Academically, my degrees are in religious studies, but the academic study of religion, not the devotional study of religion. Basically, I studied world religions to be a professor, rather than studied one religion to be a pastor. So if you want to talk about religion I’d love to! But I fell in love with tutoring and academic support while in grad school, and so here I am! I genuinely love learning and so I am here to support and guide you all in any way I can.

Originally, I am from Phoenix, AZ, and you will see a bunch of picture of cacti around my office. I moved around for school to San Antonio, Cambridge, Nashville, and now here! I currently live in San Pablo (north of Berkeley) with my wife, Rob, and our tripod dog, Tucker. I am a gal who loves her hobbies. I hike, bake, knit, and Irish step dance. So, I will definitely bribe you to come see me in person with baked goods and I’ll bug you around St. Patrick’s Day to go see some dancing.

I am super excited to be here, and I cannot wait to meet as many of you as I can!

Student Positions

There are two positions within the tutoring staff at SMU: tutor and tutor coordinator. The roles overlap in many ways, and both are dedicated to student learning through peer-to-peer support. It is now a requirement that tutor coordinators must also be tutors.

Duties Shared by Both Roles

-Hold 1-1 tutoring sessions through Upswing

-Attend monthly staff meetings

-Upload availability and keep track of appointments in Upswing

-Log Hours in Workday

-Work with TCs to deliver study sessions.

Tutor Coordinator Duties

-Complete all of the duties of the tutor

-Serve as the student contact for tutors and students in your program

-Hold group study sessions, with the help of the tutors

-Help support the cohort below you in whatever way you see fit, there is creativity in the role

-Correspond with faculty in your department regarding academic support

-Along with prof staff, keep an active roster of tutors in your program

-Help recruit other tutors and TCs through word of mouth and classroom presentations

Tutoring Programs

Tutoring Services at SMU offers two main peer-to-peer services: 1-1 tutoring and group tutoring. Additional resources, such as workshops and learning coaching are offered by the professional staff. You are encouraged to recommend students who express an interest in learning coaching to schedule an appointment with the pro staff, they can do so in Upswing.

1-1 Tutoring

The backbone of Academic Support is individual tutoring. This is a 1-1 session (or occasionally small group session) involving a tutor and a student(s). The student dictates the content and goals of the session, and the tutor facilitates learning and encourages the student to work towards their stated goals. Tutoring is not teaching, and while the tutor might engage in moments of content review, the student is the primary actor in a tutoring session. Tutoring will almost certainly be related to course content, but tutoring is not always based on individual courses, nor are tutors expected to have intimate knowledge of individual course requirements. However, many tutors will have taken the course before and may use their knowledge of course content to assist the student. Tutors may also tutor for non-course subjects like time management, study skills, and stress management.

Logistics:

-Students schedule tutoring appointments through Upswing

-Appointments are scheduled by subject and tutor.

-Tutors must maintain and keep track of their own tutoring schedule and availability within Upswing

-Tutoring appointments are set to 30, 60, or 90 minutes.

-Tutoring appointments are primarily held online, but they can occur anywhere public on your designated campus. You may select whatever format is best suited to your needs: zoom, teams, or Upswing are all acceptable.

Group Tutoring

The Tutor Coordinators oversee the large group tutoring and/or study sessions for each program. The TCs work with the faculty in the department to determine when large tests occur, and what content is best to cover. The group tutoring

Logistics:

-It is ideal for TCs to determine schedule for study sessions at the beginning of the semester, but at the very least must be scheduled on a month-by-month basis.

-TCs will correspond with tutors to sign-up for which content they want to prepare and deliver during a study session.

-Study sessions schedule must be emailed to the cohort.

Training

All new tutors and TCs are required to attend pre-work training. The purpose of this training is to prepare the tutors and TCs to provide quality support to a range of students. The training covers pedagogical theories of learning and teaching as well as tutoring protocol and strategies. The tutor training also gives the new hires an opportunity to practice a variety of tutoring scenarios.

If a tutor or TC is unable to attend the training, they must schedule a makeup before they can start tutoring.

Policies and Procedures

Staff Meetings

Staff Meetings are held monthly and are required for all tutors. These meetings are a time to stay informed about what is going on around campus and for tutors to continue their training. Tutors are paid one hour for each meeting. Staff meetings will be offered multiple times a month to ensure availability.

While tutors are in clinicals, staff meetings are not required. Students who are not in clinicals and miss 2 or more staff meetings will be contacted by the professional staff for a review (see review section)

Tutor Hour Cap

Per SMU policy, students may not work more than 20 hours across all student jobs. It is the tutor’s responsibility to inform the professional staff about other employment. Typically, most tutors work between 3 and 10 hours a week.

Retroactive Appointment Policy/Non Upswing Appointments

All tutoring scheduling should be conducted on the Upswing platform. Tutors do not have to take appointment requests via email or text. You are well within your rights to ask the student to book their own appointment online.

However if you schedule a time with a student outside of the Upswing platform, perhaps when you meet in class, or perhaps you meet in-person for an impromptu appointment, that is allowed, but it must be documented in Upswing in order to be paid for that time.

Here’s how to report a tutoring session retroactively:

Click the “Calendar” icon on the left of the Coach landing page
Click on the “Schedule a past session” button
Complete the following information:
- The subject/course
- Date & time started
- Session duration (type in the number of minutes – eg if you tutored for an hour and a half, you would type in the number “90”)

Building (choose the appropriate campus of the student you worked with)

Tutee/Student name(s) (You can input more than one name if it was a group session; if you don’t see the student’s name in the drag down menu, then it means they haven’t logged into the system – please instruct them to log in once)

Click the “Create Session” button

Hiring and GPA/Grade Requirements

In order to be considered for the position of tutor or TC, students must have at least a 3.0 GPA and have a B+ or higher in all classes that they tutor for. Tutors must also provide a faculty reference who can speak to their skills in their anticipated tutoring subject(s). If a student has a B in a class they wish to tutor for, they must provide an additional recommendation from that instructor.

Tutors are allowed to tutor for classes that they are currently enrolled in, but they must provide a letter from the faculty member for that course that states their approval.

Returning tutors do not need to reapply for their position. However, tutors must maintain a 3.0 GPA. This requirement shows that the tutor is able to effectively manage their own academic work on top of having a job. if a student falls below a 3.0 GPA, they will be asked to take a break from tutoring to devote more time to their own studies. When they can regain a 3.0 they may rejoin the staff.

PA has the additional requirement of A in all classes and approval from the Director of Didactic Education.

Students who are any kind of probation, whether related to academic integrity or behavior, will be asked to participate in a review (see review section).

Tutoring for Courses you are In

Tutors are allowed to tutor for courses that they are currently enrolled in, provided that they maintain a B+ in the course and provide a recommendation from the faculty member.

Compensation

The current rate is $22 an hour. This rate is equal for all tutors and tutor coordinators.

Tutors are paid for the following:

-pre-work training

-all staff meetings attended

-any necessary prep time (see prep section)

-appointments with students

-study sessions that you help with

-meetings with professional staff (regarding evals or anything else)

TCs are paid for all of the above as well as:

-Administrative work, such as corresponding with professors or updating tutor lists

-Content prep time for study sessions or materials

In order to get paid, tutors must input in all of their worked hours in a week by Friday of that week. Hours for the weekend must be submitted by the following Monday. Hours are input through Workday. For further instructions, check this link: https://smuconnect.sharepoint.com/sites/Workday/SitePages/Clocking-In-and-Out-in-Workday.aspx

You must put a comment in workday, otherwise hours will be sent back.

The prof staff will check all hours and approve weekly. If there is a discrepancy, pro staff will inquire further.

How to Set Up Availability and Use Upswing

To set up availability in Upswing, follow these steps:

Switch to your coach view
Click “tutoring” on the side menu
Scroll down to “skills” and add the courses that you tutor for
Go to up the calendar and click “edit”
Next to “recurring availability” click “add” and then your weekly availability!
Scroll down to add one time availability, exceptions, and vacation as needed.

When a student books with you follow these steps:

When a student books an appointment with you, you will get an email notification and then log in to upswing to accept the appointment. If you cannot accept the appointment, please inform the tutee why.
You may email or message the tutee if you prefer to use zoom, or if in person, what room to meet in.
If you do not use the Upswing platform to conduct your session, we are working on a way to ensure that it is not listed as “abandoned by tutor” but for the time being, login to Upswing briefly and then switch to zoom.

Tutors are encouraged to list as wide of an availability as they are able. The more availability you have, the more tutoring you will get booked for. I also encourage you to think hard about your profile. With so many tutors, a tutee might be overwhelmed in making a selection. Talk about your tutoring style, your personality, and anything that might help create a good match.

Availability Requirements

Tutors who are active (not in clinicals) are required to have at least 3 hours of availability listed on Upswing. This is to ensure that tutoring is available for all, and that sessions are able to be booked by people who do not know any tutors personally. The only exception to this is Tutor Coordinators, they can elect to focus solely on their TC responsibilities and not list any availability.

If you need to take a break from tutoring that is fine, simply email the pro staff to inform them that you are taking a break and the reason. In that case you will put a vacation hold on your Upswing availability, and you will not submit any hours for tutoring during your break.

Number of Tutees

Tutors may elect to tutor up to 3 people at a time. Any more than that is not allowed. This is because tutoring is intended to be individualized support centered on a student’s goals. If you have multiple students in a session, goals can be muddled or even conflicting.

Prep Time

All tutors are paid for any necessary prep time for their tutoring sessions. We understand that the need for prep time fluctuates depending on your familiarity with the material and the instructor, and as such there is not a 1-1 policy of prep time vs tutoring session. However, total tutoring session prep time per week may not exceed 30% of your total tutoring hours.

If you have 10 appointment hours a week, you may log up to 3 hours of tutoring session prep time, 5 hours of tutoring, 1.5 hours of prep, etc. If you have a specific instance in which you need more prep time, please contact pro staff to arrange something.

Remember that it is not your job to know everything about a topic before a tutoring session. You are not the instructor, and you are not expected to teach the material. You are working with a student to help them further their own knowledge. As such, it is not necessary to prepare for every possible question for every single session.

The 30% policy refers to preparation for individual tutoring sessions. When you are assisting the tutor coordinators with a study session, that is a different category and does not count towards your 30%. Please mark the difference on your time cards, as “prep for tutoring sessions” and “prep work for study sessions list study session subject”

Prep time allowances are different for tutor coordinators. Most of your work is preparing for study sessions and/or creating outlines, etc. Simply note the exact nature of your work as TC, and only write “prep time” for prepping for a 1-1 tutoring session.

Unsanctioned Tutoring

Tutors may not accept payment for personal tutoring that is provided outside of the official SMU Academic Support program. This policy is only in place to prevent legal repercussions and to ensure that all students on campus receive free tutoring services. If you need more hours due to a financial concern, please talk to the professional staff and we can work with you to meet your needs.

Randomized Tutor Evaluations

Every year, the professional staff will perform tutor evaluations. Given the current size of the tutoring staff versus the professional staff, there is not enough time to observe every tutor, so they will be randomized. However, if you would like to specifically request a tutoring observation you are more than welcome to do so!

These evaluations allow the tutor to get feedback about their work from the professional staff in a helpful capacity. The intention behind the evaluations is always professional development and is meant to encourage personal reflection. Tutor evaluations are not putative in any way and all tutors will receive an evaluation. The eval will entail two parts:

An observation of a full tutoring session by the professional staff
A conversation between the pro staff and tutor about strengths, and possible weaknesses, the tutoring strategies used, and the tutor’s goals for the future.

Tutor Absence/Cancellation Policy

If you have to cancel an appointment, tutors must contact their tutee at least 24 hours in advance, no matter the situation, a late cancellation will impede student success so cancellations should be for emergencies only. Please offer to reschedule with the tutee or suggest another tutor who is listed as available and could take the appointment.

If a tutor has more than 5 cancellations a month, they will be contacted by the professional staff for a review (see review section.

During a Session

Where to meet? Location Related Policies

As we are still working in a hybrid environment, most tutoring appointments will take place online. Please use Upswing whenever possible. This helps us keep the most accurate records and doesn't require the tutee to jump between platforms. However if the Upswing glitches you can leave the Upswing room (click "complete" and then "leave") to move to another platform.

Individual and tutoring can also be held in any public place on campus. Tutoring may occur in an empty classroom provided that the door is unlocked and the room is not in use. Tutors should communicate with your tutee ahead of time about the location.

In person group tutoring will mostly take place on campus, please contact the pro staff or your department to book a room. TCs, please note that the anatomy lab is a frequently requested space so book ahead of time.

When to meet? Time related policies

Plan to meet your tutee at the time stated on the appointment. It is best practice to arrive 5 minutes early so that you can greet your tutee if they come early.

Tutoring appointments may only be booked in 30-, 60-, or 90-minute appointments. If a student requests multiple appointments in a day, please request that they select another day. Students are limited to 5 hours of tutoring per week, this is to ensure that they are not becoming dependent on tutoring and are building skills for independent thinking.

If a student wishes to extend their appointment, and you are available, you may extend up to 120 minutes, but no longer. And they cannot directly book a 120 minute session.

If a student requires more tutoring, they can get an exemption with either a letter from their department chair or as an accommodation from disability services.

Student No-Show

If the student has not shown up for the appointment by 5 minutes after the start time, the tutor must send a reminder through text or email (either student email or in Upswing). If the student still has not shown up after 20 minutes, the tutor may leave. Please document a no-show in upswing.

In case of student late-cancellations and no-shows, tutor is still compensated for prep time and up to 20 minutes of waiting time.

If a student late cancels (less than 24 hours in advance) or no-shows more than 3 times a week, or 8 times a month, they will be temporary suspended from tutoring for a month.

Student Evaluations

At the end of each session, the tutee may fill out an evaluation in Upswing. Please encourage your tutee to do so! It is a great tool for the pro staff to gather data. It is also helpful if you ever wish to ask for a letter of recommendation, as the pro staff can share your personal evals.

You may also request your evals at any time!

Tutor Conduct and Responsibilities

Harassment and Social Justice

The tutoring program at Samuel Merritt is committed to creating an equitable environment for all tutors and tutees. No harassment of any kind will be tolerated from any party involved in the tutoring program. This includes harassment based on actual or perceived sex, gender, race, sexual orientation, physical or mental ability, language proficiencies, and any other identities. Tutors will be trained on how to recognize these types of harassment when coming from others and handle it in the moment. However, tutors are not professionals in this area and are not expected to deal with the situation on their own. Tutors are encouraged to come to the professional tutoring staff to work together to address any situations of harassment from a tutee or nearby student. In these situations, the priority is always student safety and if the tutors are in a situation in which they are uncomfortable they can and should leave immediately, not matter what the tutoring context is at the moment.

If the professional staff receives word that a tutor has been engaging in harassment of any kind the professional staff will engage in an investigation of the validity of the claim. If the claim is true, then the tutor will be asked to leave the tutoring staff.

Overall, the goal of the tutoring program is to advance the causes of social justice by providing intersectional academic support to all students. While the bare minimum is to avoid harassment, the goal is to uplift difference of all kinds and celebrate diverse identities. The conduct of the tutors should reflect that goal through their openness, understanding, and encouragement of all students.

Title IX and Mental Health

As employees of the university, tutors and TCs are mandated reporters under Title IX. This means that if a student discloses an incident of sexual assault or harassment, the tutor must report it by law. What that means in practicality, is the tutor must tell the tutoring professional staff. This law exists to ensure an equitable learning environment. Part of equity is ensuring that students are safe from harm in their educational journey. Mandated reporters help further this mission by being a first point of contact for people who have experienced sexual assault.

In the unlikely event that a student discloses an incident of sexual assault to a tutor or TC, you must inform them that you are a mandated reporter so that they can make the choice whether to speak to you about it. However, even after a report is made, the student may choose to continue, or not, with the report. There is no requirement that the student continue to pursue a case once a report is made.

Beyond the legal ramifications of mandated reporting, as tutors you are in a unique place to help care for the mental health of our students. If a student seems to be in a place where they are experiencing a mental health crisis, tutors are highly encouraged to walk the student over to SHAC. If the student seems to be struggling with mental health related concerns but is not in an active crisis, tutors are encouraged to let the students know what their resources are, which include SHAC, financial services, dean of students, etc. Tutoring Services is committed to providing holistic academic support and the tutors can do that through supporting the tutee through the barriers that might be preventing their academic success, including mental health.

Academic Integrity

Tutors will ensure that all work is completed by the student and that they maintain academic integrity at all times. When working through problems, tutors will ensure that the student is involved at every step and tutors will never give away an answer or complete the work for the student. For example, if working on writing, tutors will never create original writing for the student to submit as their own. Tutors may provide examples of a sentence, but the student must create original sentences based on your example. While the work of tutoring entails some collaboration, the outcome of the tutoring session must not be a collaborative piece of work, rather it must solely be authored by the student.

Another aspect of academic integrity involves tutoring for a friend. It is perfectly allowed (and encouraged) for tutors to tutor a friend, and for tutors to receive tutoring. However it is important that you as tutors uphold academic integrity by only billing for hours when actual tutoring is occurring. A study session where you and your friends work together is not a billable hour. Whereas a session in which you help another student achieve specific learning goals is a billable hour. Please be respectful and use your best judgement.

In an effort to create a fruitful learning environment, and avoid any instance of potential integrity violations, we do not offer asynchronous tutoring. That means that students must be present, either virtually or physically, for their appointment. We do not offer a “drop-off and pick-up” style of tutoring wherein the student would drop-of, or email, a piece of work and pick-up comments later. While some appointments may involve an element of proofreading, or “looking over” we are not a proofreading or editing service. All tutoring appointments related to correction must always involve a conversation between the tutor and tutee to establish existing knowledge and knowledge gaps, with the focus being on what the student needs to learn, rather than what the tutor needs to correct on a piece of work.

FERPA and Student Privacy

Peer tutoring is part of the private educational records of a student and thus protected by FERPA, which is the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act. FERPA protects the confidentiality of student records by governing the release and access to these records. Students must give permission for the school to share their educational records to outside parties such as another school, a job, or even to a parent (if the student is over 18). This intersects with tutoring because tutors may have access to information about a student’s record, namely their tutoring attendance. You may not share this information with anyone who is not a school official, either in verbal or written form. The same rule goes for any instance where a student may share their grades with a tutor. Even though the tutor does not have a student’s official record, their grade is part of their protected information, and tutors may not share it.

Beyond the legality of FERPA, all tutors must respect student’s privacy. Whether something is officially considered protected information or not, a tutor should never share the content of a tutoring session with others, with the exception of the tutoring professional staff. Tutors should similarly not disclose tutoring information about other students to professors. If the tutor is concerned about a student, they should approach the tutoring staff first, who can take appropriate action if needed.

Tutor Review

A major caveat with this section is that I have only had to use this tutor review policy once in my entire career. This policy is in place so that there is a system if something goes awry. I want you all to know how the process will go, and that you have a right both to discuss your actions and to have representation by your TC. This is also in place so that you know when I’m asking you to a meeting, there are never hidden agendas. If you are in a review, you will know you are in a review.

If a tutor conducts themselves in a manner that violates campus or tutoring policy, or does not perform their job duties, they will be required to participate in a review.

A tutor review consists of the following steps:

The transgression is sorted into the categories of major and minor fault. Major faults, such as those relating to academic integrity, harassment, title IX, or professional conduct, will be relegated to the conduct system of your department or campus.
Minor fault, such as missing required trainings, cancelling too many sessions, etc. will follow an in-house conduct process as follows:

Tutor is informed that they are entering the review process, and most importantly, will always be given the reason.
Tutor will meet with professional staff to discuss the issue and may choose to have their TC present as an un-biased observer.
Evidence of violation will be presented by professional staff. If evidence of violation came from an outside source, that source will be protected.
Tutor will be given a chance to explain their actions, or protest that they didn’t occur in the manner presented.
Depending on the outcome there are three possibilities:
1. No Fault Found: If the tutor’s actions were misunderstood by the accuser and/or there were extenuating circumstances that justify the tutor’s actions, then the review is not noted anywhere in the tutor’s record.
2. Minor Fault Found: For minor things, such as missing required trainings, cancelling too many sessions, etc, the review will be noted, and two minor fault reviews will result in termination.
3. Major Fault Found: If more information is uncovered that escalates the transgression to a major fault, the tutor will be referred to the campus or department conduct process.