Upswing Tutor Onboarding Guide - Synchronous Tutors

Welcome to the Upswing team! As a new tutor with Upswing, we've created this onboarding guide that includes all of the steps you'll need to complete in order to have your first tutoring session. Please read each step carefully and thoroughly, and consult Upswing’s Knowledge Base before reaching out to us at [e-mail]. We want this to be a smooth experience for you!

A Bit About Upswing

Upswing's Mission

Upswing exists to empower the historically marginalized to overcome systemic personal or educational obstacles to achieve their life goals.

How does Upswing support students?

Upswing partners with educational institutions to connect their historically marginalized students to educational and personal resources through technology and services.

LINK TO VIDEO ONBOARDING PART 1

LINK TO VIDEO ONBOARDING PART 2

Tutor Onboarding Guide - Synchronous Tutors

Step 1: Vendor Agreement, Upswing's Policies, and Account Creation

Follow the steps in the email you received with your offer letter. These steps include logging into your Upswing account, reading and signing the Vendor Agreement, and reading and signing Upswing's Tutor Policies.

Step 2: Set Up Your Tutor Profile

Once you've logged into Upswing and signed the above documents, please begin setting up your account! We've outlined the key steps below:

1. Fill out all sections in the Account tab

   • Tell students a little bit about yourself in the 'About Me' field
   • Provide some background information about your experience teaching or tutoring in the 'Experience' field
   • Search for your educational institution to in the 'Education Information' field
     • Please note: some schools outside of the United States won't populate as an option. If your school doesn't show, please consider adding your educational experience to the 'Experience' field!
       
       

2. Add subjects to your Tutor Profile

   • You'll add the subjects you're able to tutor in within the 'Skills' section on the bottom right of the 'Tutoring' page
     • Please note: Anytime you add new subjects to your account throughout your time with Upswing, you will need to notify Tutor Management so they can verify the subjects and make them visible to students viewing your profile
       
       
       

3. Add your tutoring schedule to the Availability section on your Tutor Profile

   • The schedule that you add in the 'Availability' section shows students the times they're able to schedule tutoring sessions with you
     • For detailed instructions on how to add your availability, please read this article: Setting Availability as a Tutor on Upswing: A Quick Guide
   • Add a Buffer Period no shorter than 30 minutes found at the bottom of the 'Availability' section
     • A buffer period allows for tutors to be able to set a minimum amount of time for a scheduling notice before the session’s start time. Upswing Tutors are required to set a buffer of at least 30 minutes. 
     • For more information about buffer periods and how to set them, please view this article: Tutors: Setting a Buffer Period

Please ensure all sections of your tutor profile are complete before moving on to the next step!

Step 3: Review Upswing's Knowledge Base

Upswing's Knowledge Base

The Upswing Knowledge Base is the best resource available for students and tutors to find answers to FAQs. The Knowledge Base is regularly updated and easily searchable with key words.

The information curated on the Knowledge Base reflects the most common tutor and student inquiries, and in many cases, your questions can be answered here - even if they seem obscure, like questions about platform/device troubleshooting, tax forms, or fielding student concerns about inability to book a session with you. This scenario is detailed on the Knowledge Base both for tutors and students.

Step 4: Demo Session Exploration in the VLC

The demo exploration is for you to get acquainted with the Virtual Learning Center (VLC), where online tutoring sessions take place. There won't be anyone on the other side of the session, so you will have as long as you need to explore the tools of the VLC. Be sure to complete every step, especially the final step of submitting your completed materials to Tutor Management!

1. Launch the Demo Session

   1. Log into your tutoring account and click on the 'Tutoring' tab in the left blue panel, or click 'View your tutoring sessions' from the home page.
   2. In the 'Upcoming Sessions' section on the left-hand side of the Tutoring page, click the green 'Launch Demo Session' button
      
      
      

2. Explore the VLC's Functionalities

   Within the demo session, we'd like for you to become comfortable with the different functionalities of the VLC (Virtual Learning Center). Each of these tasks will need to be completed and shared with Tutor Management before you can begin tutoring students, so please be sure to follow each step!
   
   As you complete the tasks below, please feel free to reference these articles in our Help Center:
   VLC Tools: Overview and Guide
   VLC Tips for Tutors: Using Whiteboard Pages
   How do I communicate within the Virtual Learning Center (VLC) during my online session?
   
   Tasks to complete:
   1. Make sure your audio and video are turned on, indicated by green microphone and camera icons.
   2. Click on the arrow above the microphone and camera icons to practice hiding and unhiding the chat sidebar.
   3. Type a message to the student in the chat box.
   4. Add a text box onto the whiteboard using the Text tool in the toolbar and add some text.
   5. Add a new page to the whiteboard using the '+' button at the bottom center of the page.
   6. Write on the whiteboard with the Pen tool.
   7. Use the Eraser tool to erase a pen mark.
   8. Upload a file onto the whiteboard.
   9. Use the Highlighter tool.
   10. If you are a math tutor, use the Equation Editor to add advanced formulas or symbols.
   11. Download a copy of the whiteboard and the chat transcript by clicking 'Download' in the toolbar. Take a screenshot of the entire screen as well.
       

3. Complete the Demo Session and Share with Tutor Management 

   1. Since this is a demo space, the 'Complete' button in the top-right of the VLC will not end the session as it will in a typical session. Simply close out of the browser when you are done.
   2. Send your whiteboard download and screenshot to [e-mail] to confirm you have completed your VLC Exploration!

Here is an example of what a completed demo session could look like:

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Once you've completed all of the steps above, we will verify your subjects and activate your profile, and you'll officially be able to begin tutoring on Upswing! If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Tutor Management at [e-mail] -- we'd be happy to help!