Can tutors, even peer student tutors, attend GaTA conferences?
Absolutely! We welcome attendees and presenters from all areas of the learning assistance field. This can include student tutors, faculty who work in the field, staff, and professional tutors. All are eligible to present as well. GaTA even selects one peer tutor each year at its annual conference to win the Tutor of the Year (TOY) Award.
If I wanted to support my peer tutors presenting, how can I as their supervisor help them and best prepare them for a GaTA (or really any other conference) presentation they wish to submit?
The first step is to seek out interested tutors that would want to present at a welcoming, regional conference. The key is to find the employees you think would find value in the conference and help them develop any ideas they have.
Rebecca Cofer, GaTA member and tutoring professional, says that she first meets with those interested tutors and then has a brainstorming session with them. Ms. Cofer has been bringing student staff to conferences (GaTA being one of them) for years, as she understands the value these events provide students. She asks them what they would like to present on and provides examples from previous conference schedules (all available on our conference section of this website) to give them examples of topics. Ms. Cofer then provides the tutors with an outline of the needed information for proposal submission and together they come up with a deadline for the next step. After that, she assists in writing the proposal with the tutors and meets with them after to come up with content. Normally, the tutors create the PPT themselves and present on their own, though Rebecca is happy to step in if needed.
It can be tricky to support our staff while not taking over the proposal ideas and presentation. In short, provide examples, clear deadlines, and time to talk out ideas. Your tutors will appreciate the freedom you have given and the confidence you have in their ideas. Be sure to give your tutors kudos after the conference is done by sending out campus emails, providing pictures of the presentations to upper administration, and posting on social media.
Is the registration fee for peer tutors waived because of their student status?
No, but this year we are offering two types of registration tickets: $20 for students and $40 for Professionals and/or Administrators. Additionally, GaTA awards a monetary prize and a certificate for that year’s TOY Award winner. Nominate your peer tutors here.
Can my peer tutors attend the Train the Trainer events that GaTA holds every other year?
While we will not turn away any attendee from this event, the TTT event is geared more toward learning assistance administrators. The event consists of sessions about things like budgeting for your center, supervising tutors, providing feedback to employees, and a plethora of other topics for the tutoring administrator. In short, tutors would find the annual conference more applicable to their role.
