ACWR 101 Basic Academic Writing

Jordan Taylor Hall

At the request of a lecturer in the Academic Writing Program, KOLT piloted a new role for course tutors this academic year which granted them the opportunity to participate more directly in classroom instruction, under the guidance of the course instructor. While course tutors play a vital role outside the classroom by assisting teachers in one-on-one mentoring, it can be challenging at times to create and maintain cohesion among teachers, students, and course tutors, due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for learning formats. Remote learners in particular may have less exposure to KOLT and its educational support, and in such cases, course tutors can too easily become an underutilized resource, depriving both student and tutor of the valuable mentoring experience. Observing this challenge over the course of 2020-21, Academic Writing lecturer Dr. Jordan Taylor Hall partnered with KOLT in the Spring semester to explore ways to address these challenges. Seeking to expand the scope of his course tutors’ leadership, Jordan redesigned key aspects of his course – Self-Expression in 21st-Century Society – to adopt a team-teaching approach with tutors Farah Amayreh, Ata Karaman, and Behram Akpinar.

The primary change to the course entailed bringing Farah, Ata, and Behram into the classroom to each deliver an academic lecture on topics crucial to course learning objectives. Each tutor’s lecture was placed at a strategic point in the term to coincide with the introduction of a specific concept, theme, or writing method. Over the remainder of the term, inquiring students were often encouraged to seek out the expertise of the tutor whose lecture most closely related to their question. In this way, each tutor took ownership over a very specific aspect of the course as a ‘specialist,’ thereby reinforcing to students the concrete value each tutor had to offer. In the context of Jordan’s course, this meant, for example, that students were often encouraged to contact Ata in particular if they needed help designing successful interviews – the topic of Ata’s lecture. Behram, meanwhile, became a recommended first point of contact for interpreting and analyzing interview data, while students were referred to Farah if they sought help with preparing their literature review. Periodic communication between the tutors and instructor helped maintain a deeper understanding of student challenges and progress, which informed Jordan’s work with students in the classroom and during office hours.

This theoretical approach sometimes worked out differently in practice (students often needed to select their tutor on the basis of weekly availability), but simply reinforcing the specific expertise of each tutor yielded clear results over the term. “I noticed a visible increase in student engagement in the classroom,” Jordan noted, remarking that proactive classroom participation often peaked during and after course tutor lectures over the term. There were implications beyond the classroom as well. Farah observed that while few students attended a KOLT session prior to her lecture, this changed thereafter, with a number of students immediately contacting her to meet for tutoring. And lecturing in the classroom complimented this tutoring work at KOLT, where, as Behram pointed out, providing peer mentoring benefits students who may struggle in a more traditional lecture environment.

This team-teaching approach had a positive impact not only on the students but also on the course tutors. Acknowledging that the teaching process deepened their own understanding of the course texts and topic, the tutors pointed to benefits on a personal and professional level. For Behram, who has interests in an academic career, “it was a helpful experience to teach at the university level” and, as a result, develop a greater understanding of the process prior to applying to graduate school. For Ata and Farah, the experience had direct personal benefits. “I was shy growing up,” Ata acknowledged, “but I’ve tried to put myself in settings that could help me overcome it. I have given short presentations in other classes which has helped, but giving a full lecture definitely boosted my confidence. It was a bit intimidating before it began, but the moment I started it felt very natural.” Farah expressed a similar sentiment. “I am quite a shy person,” she said, “and I didn’t like the idea of public speaking. This was my first real experience speaking in front of a large group and it went much better than I expected. I even realized that it is something I like, which I never expected. I had never considered becoming a teacher, but now it is something I am actually considering as a career path.”

MATH 204 Differential Equations

İlker Koçyiğit

Study Halls started in Spring 2019:

• To encourage individual study under the supervision of the tutor (i.e. students were instructed to raise their hands to get help if they did not understand how to solve a problem).

MATH 204 instructor İlker Koçyiğit was willing to help us pilot the study hall system:

• He provided problem sets for each week and gave bonus points for attendance.
• A separate room was allocated for MATH 204 Study Halls at KOLT.
• 4 KOLT tutors supervised MATH 204 Study Halls for the total of 12 hours each week.
• The result: 390 visits for MATH 204 Study Hall in Spring 2019 (vs. 4 visits for one-on-one tutoring in Spring 2019)

COMP 110 Introduction to Computer Programming with Matlab

Emre Kütükoğlu

The tutoring services provided for Comp 110 (Introduction to Computer Programming with MATLAB) has been an essential and invaluable part of the course since the establishment of KOLT. KOLT’s tutoring center truly contributes to the learning of students, especially by assisting them in preparing homework assignments and studying for exams.

As the instructor of this course, in a typical semester I try to work with KOLT in the following ways: 

Before the semester starts, I contact KOLT in order to determine the number and names of the Comp110 tutors. These tutors are chosen from students who have previously taken Comp110 and have passed with an A+/A/A- grade. 

When giving information about Comp110 in the first lecture of the semester, I tell students that if they are stuck at any point while doing their homework assignments or preparing for exams, besides getting help from their instructor and teaching assistants, they can also get help from KOLT. I further emphasize the advantages of these three sources compared to getting help from their friends. 

At the beginning of the semester I invite the new Comp110 tutors to my office and emphasize the points that I want them to watch out for while tutoring. Within the first couple of weeks of the semester, I introduce the tutors to my students at the beginning of one of my classes. 

I work together with KOLT in determining the tutoring schedule. In order to make sure that students get the most effective support when they are stuck in their homework assignments, I try to organize the tutoring schedule so that tutoring hours are close to the time homework assignments are due. Furthermore, to spread out the opportunities in which students can get help, I try to organize tutoring hours that do not overlap with instructor/TA office hours. 

After all the office hours and tutoring times are finalized, I organize a timetable that shows all of these hours, and share it with students via e-mail.  I also upload the timetable to the course’s shared folder for future easy access. 

Throughout the semester, when students tell me that they are having difficulties with their homework, or whenever the opportunity arises, I remind them that the preferred and more helpful support will come from the instructor/TA office hours and the KOLT tutoring services.  This further leads the students to perceive that the tutoring services provided by KOLT are a standard part of the course.

In the last couple of semesters, KOLT has added a new dimension to their student support services. Upon the proposal and volunteering of a tutor, a “question and answer / review session” for students prior to their exams was started. With this addition, KOLT has further extended its support for learning in this course. 

Tutoring Center offers “peer help” or “peer learning” for students. Students enhance their learning by sharing their ideas with others and participating in activities in which they can learn from their peers. The ability to work collobratively with others, give and receive feedback, and evaluate their own learning skills can be developed by participating in peer learning activities.

KOLT Tutoring Center will officially be face-to-face on Monday, 12th of February.

KOLT tutoring sessions will be held face-to-face, tutors will be accessible at KOLT.

• You can visit the tutors without an appointment at scheduled times at KOLT.

Tutors will be available according to the schedule provided in the link . Tutoring services are available on a first-come first-served basis. The tutor will be available during the time period stated in the schedule. If you cannot reach the tutor during the time period stated in the schedule, please send an email to kolt@ku.edu.tr.

• You can view our current tutoring schedule. 

Spring 2024 Tutoring  Schedule

Please find the up-to-date Spring 2024 tutoring schedule by clicking here.

• To attend sessions, please visit KOLT tutors on their posted tutoring hours.

KOLT tutors are nominated by or selected in cooperation with faculty. To be eligible to serve as a tutor, they must have received an A+ / A / A- in the course and have strong communication skills. Please consult professor of the course to serve as a tutor. 

If you are interested in serving as a tutor, please contact KOLT to express you interest by emailing kolt@ku.edu.tr or stopping by our office (LIB Z06).