Abstract
This chapter chronicles a rapid pivot in community engagement from in-person tutoring to remote (also called virtual) tutoring and a gradual shift back to in-person tutoring during the COVID-19 pandemic. The chapter provides reflections from both staff members in a community engagement and service-learning office and college students who served as tutors of local children and youth during the COVID-19 pandemic. Readers are encouraged to reflect upon two main areas of interest in this chapter. First, dynamics between parents and tutors altered during COVID-19 as children and youth received virtual tutoring from home. Second, the importance of training and professional development for tutors regarding how to use different technologies and engagement strategies for virtual tutoring is imperative. Lessons learned from the Tutor Corps program are shared via reflections from both staff and tutors in hopes that others will share their experiences in rapidly innovating their community engagement work during COVID-19.
TopRapid Pivots In University Community Engagement And Tutoring During Covid-19
The COVID-19 pandemic did not just impact the physical health and well-being of communities, but also the physical/social distancing, prevention measures, and sanitation protocols had profound impacts on mental/emotional health and social well-being of communities across the world. The pandemic disrupted supply chains impacting the quality and access to economic and social services, such as health care, grocery/food, and education. Universities shifted their modes of delivering education to their students and shifted their scientific research to prevent the spread of and treat COVID-19, but they also had to shift their programs that engaged with their broader local and international communities (Gilmore et al., 2020; Perrotta, 2021; Talmage et al., 2020; 2021). Importantly, universities are also connected to the culture and cultural well-being of communities, specifically in regard to arts, nature, and leisure activities; cultural well-being was also disrupted during COVID-19 (Mughal et al., 2022).
Key Terms in this Chapter
Stem Education: Teaching programs focused on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, which emphasize hands-on, problem-solving, applied, and ‘real-world’ learning.
Remote and Virtual Tutoring: Tutoring undertaken asynchronously or synchronously using online technologies (e.g., virtual conferencing [Zoom]) to connect with tutees.
Synchronous Tutoring Modalities: Learning strategies that leverage technology to have students and tutors interact in ‘real-time’ to utilize tutoring materials.
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development: The gap between what tutees can do with assistance or without assistance from adults or adept peers.
Asynchronous Tutoring Modalities: Learning strategies that leverage technology to allow students to access tutoring materials on their own time and over time.
Community engagement: College and university strategies that foster relationships with local stakeholders, beyond students, faculty, and staff, to address local issues and bolster local assets.
America Reads: Clinton Administration program that utilized multi-year grants to support tutor coordinators, reading specialists, and volunteer reading tutors in increasing child literacy (originally called America’s Reading Corps).