Paper : Tutor Training
Paper's two tutor training courses were long and theoretical. In one month, over the holiday break, I turned them into practical training built around real tutoring sessions.
Tools
Articulate Rise
Adobe Premier Rush
Google Suite
The challenge
Delivering practical training
Paper launched GROW, a high-impact tutoring program, in fall 2024. After its first semester, the tutor training team wanted its two online courses, one on pedagogy and one on technical skills, to be shorter, more engaging, and more practical. A new cohort of tutors needed to be trained before school started in January.
my approach
Starting as a learner
I took both courses before changing anything. They read more like a semester-long college course than a three-hour training, with too little focus on the platform’s tools and everyday tutoring, and objectives that didn’t always match the assessments.
With the training team and SMEs, I trimmed the courses down to the skills tutors actually needed, then rewrote the objectives and aligned the assessments to match.
My approach
Showing, not just telling
I worked with tutor managers to identify the program’s strongest tutors, then combed through hours of recorded sessions from the previous semester to find moments that modeled the specific skills the courses taught.
I then edited the footage into short, focused clips, with students’ faces removed, to use throughout both courses.
Results
Shorter, sharper, and on time
Half the time
with over 30 task-based videos, delivered in under two months.
Real examples
Tutors now see what good tutoring looks like in real sessions, not just read about it.
Ready on deadline
Delivered in one month over the holidays, in time for about 50 new tutors to complete the courses in January. Tutor trainers’ feedback was consistently positive.