Admin Guide: Custom Tutoring Types for Embedded Tutoring, Drop-In Tutoring, and Specialized Tutoring

As a campus administrator, managing and customizing the tutoring options available to students is essential for providing targeted support and improving overall educational outcomes. Upswing's platform offers a flexible way to classify and manage different types of tutoring sessions through the use of custom tutoring types. This guide will walk you through the implementation and usefulness of custom tutoring types, and how this feature can help you effectively categorize and manage tutoring services according to your institution's needs.

This comprehensive guide covers the following topics:

• What are Custom Tutoring Types?
• Benefits of Custom Tutoring Types
• Roles, Groups, and Custom Tutoring Types
• Custom Tutoring Type Examples and Use Cases
  • Example 1: Using Custom Tutoring Types to Support Embedded Tutoring
  • Example 2: Using Custom Tutoring Types to Support Several Types of Tutoring Across Different Campuses
• Setting Up Custom Tutoring Types
• Custom Tutoring Type Data and Reporting
  • How to Export Tutoring Data of a Specific Custom Tutoring Type
  • How to View Session Type Data on a Tutor's Profile
  • How to Edit the Tutoring Type of a Past Session

What are Custom Tutoring Types?

Custom tutoring types allow administrators to categorize tutors based on different purposes, funding sources, or management structures. While all Upswing Tutors default to the "Upswing Tutoring" type, and campus tutors default to the "Tutoring" type, custom tutoring types provide additional layers of specificity for your campus tutors. These types can include categories such as embedded tutoring, drop-in tutoring, specialized lab tutoring, and more.

Benefits of Custom Tutoring Types

Targeted Support

• In-Class Support: Tutors can be assigned to specific classes to assist with ongoing projects or assignments.
• Drop-In Tutoring: Immediate, unscheduled assistance for students who need help right away.
• Specialized Tutoring: Support for particular subjects or skills, such as writing or math labs.

Improved Resource Allocation

• High-Demand Areas: More tutors can be assigned to areas with high student demand.
• Special Programs: Resources can be directed towards special programs like embedded tutoring, which might be funded by specific grants.

Enhanced Reporting

• Funding and Compliance: Ensure that tutoring sessions funded by specific grants are tracked and reported accurately.
• Usage Patterns: Analyze which types of tutoring are most frequently used.
• Impact Assessment: Evaluate the effectiveness of different tutoring types on student performance.

Streamlined Scheduling

• Specific Options: Students can choose from predefined tutoring types when scheduling sessions, reducing confusion and ensuring they get the appropriate help.
• Tutor-Initiated Scheduling: Tutors have the ability to schedule upcoming sessions with students.
  
  

Roles, Groups, and Custom Tutoring Types

Custom tutoring types work in conjunction with roles and groups, so it's important to understand how they work together. 

Roles and Permissions:

Each user on Upswing is assigned a specific role, and the role that a user is assigned determines the permissions they have. You may need to create multiple different tutor roles if some of your tutors have different responsibilities or access levels than others. For example, if one set of tutors should have the ability to schedule sessions with students and another set of tutors should not, then a separate role will need to be created for each set. By creating separate roles, certain role permissions can be added to one set of tutors that aren't added to the other. 

Groups and Custom Tutoring Types:

Groups are a way to organize and manage users within the Upswing platform. They allow administrators to categorize tutors (or other users) based on various criteria, which can be used for reporting, management, and organization. Possible use cases might include grouping tutors by which campus they work at or by funding source, such as TRIO, for easier reporting. 

Custom tutoring types leverage groups to determine which tutors are associated with each tutoring type. When setting up a custom tutoring type, it is required to assign at least one group to the tutoring type you're creating. Multiple groups can be assigned to the same tutoring type, depending on your institution's use case. For example, if you have campus tutors at multiple locations that should all have the ability to conduct sessions with a tutoring type of "Walk-In Tutoring", each campus-specific group would be added to the "Walk-In Tutoring" tutoring type. 

Custom Tutoring Type Examples and Use Cases

Example 1: Using Custom Tutoring Types to Support Embedded Tutoring

This is a rather straightforward example of how to use custom tutoring types. With this example, an institution may want to have one custom tutoring type in addition to general tutoring, and that's embedded tutoring. The embedded tutors should also have the ability to edit past sessions and to schedule sessions with students. General tutors should not have either of those permissions. All of the tutors have the same manager, but the embedded tutoring program is funded by a different grant. 

Implementation of Custom Tutoring Types for Embedded Tutoring:

Roles:

Because embedded tutors should have the ability to edit past sessions and schedule sessions with students, an additional tutor role will need to be created that has a different set of permissions. The roles would be:

• General Tutor: This tutor role is the standard role of a tutor. Students are only able to schedule sessions with this tutor that would have a tutoring type of "Tutoring".
• Embedded Tutor: This tutor role would have the additional permissions of editing past sessions and scheduling sessions with students.

Groups:

Once all of the embedded tutors have been assigned the new role of "Embedded Tutor", create a group titled "Embedded Tutors". Add all the tutors with the Embedded Tutor role to the Embedded Tutors group for easy selection when creating the embedded tutoring type.

Custom Tutoring Type:

Create a single custom tutoring type titled "Embedded Tutoring". Add the Embedded Tutors group to the Embedded Tutoring type. This will ensure that students can select either general tutoring or embedded tutoring when scheduling sessions with these tutors, and it will ensure that admins can filter the "All sessions" report by tutoring type. 

Example Tutors in This Scenario:

• Tutor #1 - James Smith: James Smith is a general tutor with the "General Tutor" role. Students can only choose "Tutoring" when scheduling with him.
• Tutor #2 - Cristina Hernandez: Cristina Hernandez is an embedded tutor with the "Embedded Tutor" role and added to the Embedded Tutors group. Students can choose either "Embedded Tutoring" or "Tutoring" when scheduling with her.

Example 2: Using Custom Tutoring Types to Support Several Types of Tutoring Across Different Campuses

This is a more complex implementation of custom tutoring types. With this example, and institution may want to implement walk-in tutoring, flex tutoring, and embedded tutoring, in additional to general tutoring. All tutors should be able to conduct general tutoring or walk-in tutoring. The desired result is that general tutoring and walk-in tutoring are tracked separately so admins have a better understanding of walk-in vs. scheduled session demand and can make staffing decisions accordingly. Flex tutors and embedded tutors should have the ability to schedule sessions with students. The embedded tutoring program is funded by a different grant. Flex tutors are managed by the writing center coordinator, and all other tutors are managed by Learning Resources. All tutoring types are available at all 3 campus locations: Tampa, Plant City, and Citrus Park.

Implementation of Custom Tutoring Types for Several Types of Tutoring Across Different Campuses:

Roles:

With this set-up, we would need to create two different tutor roles:

• General Tutor: General tutors are slightly limited in their role permissions compared to flex and embedded tutors. They don't have the ability to schedule sessions directly with students.
• Flex/Embedded Tutor: Tutors with this role have an additional permission that gives them the ability to schedule sessions with students.

Groups:

As mentioned before, groups are a way for administrators to categorize tutors based on their different roles, campus locations, and management. By creating these different groups, administrators are easily able to track data specific to certain types of tutoring or certain locations. This makes it easier to analyze performance and usage patterns. The groups to create for this scenario would be:

Groups based on Tutoring Type:

• General Tutors: This group will include all tutors that can only have general tutoring and walk-in tutoring sessions.
• Flex Tutors: This group will include all tutors that can have flex tutoring sessions, in addition to general tutoring and walk-in tutoring.
• Embedded Tutors: This group will include all tutors that can have embedded tutoring sessions, in addition to general tutoring and walk-in tutoring.

Groups based on Management:

• Writing Center Tutors: This group will include all of the tutors that are managed by the Writing Center. As explained in the example scenario, this would be all of the Flex Tutors.
• Learning Resources Tutors: This group will include all of the tutors that are managed by Learning Resources. As explained in the example scenario, this would include the General Tutors and Embedded Tutors. 

Groups based on Location:

• Tampa Tutors: This will include all of the tutors that work at the Tampa Campus.
• Plant City Tutors: This will include all of the tutors that work at the Plant City Campus.
• Citrus Park Tutors: This will include all of the tutors that work at the Citrus Park Campus.

Custom Tutoring Types:

For this scenario, we would need to create three custom tutoring types: walk-in tutoring, flex tutoring, and embedded tutoring. 

• Walk-In Tutoring: So that all tutors have the ability to have walk-in tutoring sessions, the following groups would need to added to this tutoring type: General Tutors, Flex Tutors, and Embedded Tutors.
• Flex Tutoring: Because only Flex Tutors should have the ability to schedule Flex Tutoring sessions, only the Flex Tutors group would be added to this custom tutoring type. Flex Tutors will have the ability to have General Tutoring, Walk-In Tutoring, and Flex Tutoring sessions.
• Embedded Tutoring: Because only Embedded Tutors should have the ability to schedule Embedded Tutoring sessions, only the Embedded Tutors group would be added to this custom tutoring type. Embedded Tutors will have the ability to have General Tutoring, Walk-In Tutoring, and Embedded Tutoring sessions.

Example Tutors in This Scenario:

• Tutor #1 - Victoria Hayes: Victoria Hayes is a General Tutor at the Citrus Park campus with the "General Tutor" role. She was added to the General Tutors, Learning Resources Tutors, and Citrus Park Tutors groups. Students can choose "Tutoring" or "Walk-in Tutoring" when scheduling with her.
• Tutor #2 - Dytrell Roberts: Dytrell Roberts is a Flex Tutor at the Plant City campus with the "Flex/Embedded Tutor" role. He was added to the Flex Tutors, Writing Center Tutors, and Plant City Tutors groups. Students can choose "Tutoring", "Walk-in Tutoring", or "Flex Tutoring" when scheduling with him.
• Tutor #3 - Chloe Melendez: Chloe Melendez is an Embedded Tutor at the Tampa Campus with the "Flex/Embedded Tutor" role. She was added to the Embedded Tutors, Learning Resources Tutors, and Tampa Tutors groups. Students can choose "Tutoring", "Walk-in Tutoring", or "Embedded Tutoring" when scheduling with her.

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Setting Up Custom Tutoring Types

Step 1: Planning and Consultation

Your HERO will work closely with you to determine the plan for implementation of custom tutoring types to ensure that scheduling and reporting is clear to all relevant stakeholders and impacted users. Consider different roles and groups that will be involved, and how they align with the tutoring services offered.

Your HERO will work with you for the initial launch of custom tutoring types. Once you are comfortable with the implementation custom tutoring types, your HERO can grant you permission to add custom tutoring types yourself within the Admin Dashboard.

Step 2: Create Custom Tutoring Types

1. Navigate to Tutoring Settings.

   From the Admin Dashboard, click on 'Tutoring' in the left menu, then select 'Tutoring Settings' in the drop-down below 'Select Tutoring View:'.
   
   
   

2. Click '+ Add Additional Tutoring Type' button.

   On this page, click on the green '+ Add AdditionalTutoring Type' button to add a new custom tutoring type.
   
   
   

3. Name the Custom Tutoring Type.

   In the pop-up window, provide the name of the new custom tutoring type, then click 'Create Tutoring Type'.
   
   
   

4. Adjust the Tutoring Type Settings.
   

   The new tutoring type should be added to the bottom of the existing tutoring types enabled for your institution. From here, you can adjust the tutoring settings:
   
   • Adjust the Tutoring Durations.
     Select a default session duration, and check the boxes next to any other durations you would like to enable.
   • Select the Group of Tutors For This Tutoring Type.
     Check the box next to the group of tutors you created that should have this tutoring type enabled.
   • Click 'Save Changes'.
     
     
     

5. Success!

   Students will now be able to book sessions of this tutoring type with the tutors in the group assigned to this type.

Custom Tutoring Type Data and Reporting

How to Export Tutoring Data of a Specific Custom Tutoring Type

As an administrator, you are able to download a report of all of the sessions completed of a specific tutoring type, explained below:

1. Navigate to Session Data Summary.
   

   From the Admin Dashboard, click on 'Tutoring' in the left menu, then select 'Session Data Summary' in the drop-down below 'Select Tutoring View:'.
   
   
   

2. Filter for Custom Tutoring Type.

   Scroll down to find the the 'All Sessions' table. In the column titled 'Tutoring Type', select the tutoring type you'd like to filter for in the drop-down menu.
   
   
   

3. Name the File and Click Export.

   With the data filtered to show the sessions of the custom tutoring type you'd like to filter for in your report, you can download the report as a CSV file. If you'd like to name the report, provide the name in the box below 'Export Data:'. If you'd like to select specific fields to include in the report, click on the down-arrow within the 'Export' button, then click 'Custom Export'.
   
   
   

4. Select the Information to Include in the Report.

   Check the box next to each field you'd like to include in your report.
   
   
   

5. Export the Data.

   After selecting the fields you'd like to include, scroll down to take a look at the sample row provided to make sure you've included all of the data you need. Once ready, click on the blue 'Export' button to download the file.
   

How to View Session Type Data on a Tutor's Profile

If you'd like to view session data for a specific tutor, you can easily see the tutoring type of each session completed by a tutor from their tutor profile. In the 'Tutoring Type' column, you can filter for the specific tutoring type you'd like to look into for this tutor.

How to Edit the Tutoring Type of a Past Session

If a tutoring session was scheduled with the incorrect tutoring type, you have the ability to edit the session details within the 'All Sessions' table of your Admin Dashboard. Follow the steps below to do so:

1. Find the Session to Adjust.

   In the 'All Sessions' table, find the session that needs to be adjusted. To the right of the session, click on the 'Edit' button.
   
   
   

2. Edit the Session Details.

   After clicking 'Edit', a drop-down menu should appear. Select 'Session Details' to edit the information about this session.
   
   
   

3. Change the Tutoring Type.

   The "Edit Past Session" dialog will open, and you'll be able to change the tutoring type by selecting another option from the "Tutoring Type" dropdown.
   
   Past Online Sessions:
   For past sessions that were completed online, the only field that can be edited is the 'Tutoring Type' field. Select the correct tutoring type in the drop-down menu next to 'Tutoring Type', then click the blue 'Submit' button.
   
   
   Past In-Person Sessions:
   For past sessions that were completed in-person, other fields in addition to 'Tutoring Type' will also be editable. Select the correct tutoring type in the drop-down menu next to 'Tutoring Type', then click the blue 'Submit' button.
   
   
   

Please note: the tutoring type can only be edited on sessions completed by tutors that have the ability to complete different types of tutoring. If the tutor who conducted the tutoring session does not have multiple tutoring types, then tutoring type will not be editable, as shown below.

Conclusion

Custom Tutoring Types provide a versatile and powerful tool for administrators to enhance the effectiveness, efficiency, and transparency of tutoring services. By leveraging these customizations, administrators can better support student success, optimize resource use, and improve data collection and reporting. Please reach out to your HERO with any questions about custom tutoring types! They would be happy to assist with this.

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• Administrators