Challenge - Developing tutor's communication skills

This webinar will help tutors develop the communication skill of active listening, which is necessary to ensure that their tutoring sessions are productive and interactive. However, active listening doesn’t always come naturally. This session will provide some strategies and approaches that tutors can utilize to communicate with their tutees effectively.

Key Takeaway

Webinar attendees will learn about utilizing key active listening strategies in peer tutoring sessions.

Overview

While research varies, some studies suggest that we remember only about fifty percent of what we hear. Consider this research finding. When we are in conversations with our friends, colleagues, and family members, we only pay attention to about half of what they say and vice versa. This research suggests that many of us do not know how to listen effectively. Indeed, our ability to listen effectively influences the quality of our relationships with others and how well we perform in the classroom and workplace. As a tutor, developing an effective relationship with your tutees is the first step to effective tutoring. Listening well is one of the most important skills tutors can develop. Listening well will also allow you to understand your tutees’ learning experiences and their challenges in the classroom. Developing these effective listening and communication skills necessitates a certain level of self-awareness. The good news is that you can become a highly skilled listener with some self-awareness and practice. What is a highly skilled listener, exactly?

A highly skilled listener is an “active listener.” Active listening is about building rapport, mutual understanding, and trust, all skills needed to be an effective tutor. In addition, active listening will enable you to understand what your tutees need to become better students and master their course material. Honing this skill will contribute to your productivity and success as a tutor.

Objectives

• Distinguish among different levels of listening
  
• Define active listening and understand its benefits in tutoring sessions
  
• Develop active listening and responding approaches to build rapport and assess tutee understanding
  
• Discuss nonverbal communication between the tutor and the tutee
  
• Identify roadblocks and obstacles to listening and understanding