Making Good Observations

"Good observations = Good tutoring"

This was what Mark Hall, Director of the University Writing Center at the University of Central Florida, told us in his session at the IWCA. When he came in as the Director a short while ago, he was experiencing some drastic pedagogical differences between himself and his professional tutors. In order to remedy this, he had the tutors first make a list "best practices" that they all agreed upon. Then he asked them all to observe each other in order to see if they were actually carrying out these practices. What the tutors found was that their words did not match their actions.

Formally, Hall called it Espoused Theory vs. Theory-in-Use. The tutors may all agree that something should be done (ex: Prioritize student learning above fixing papers), but what they are actually practicing does not match up. This lead them to evaluate why their actions and best practices didn't match up, and how they could combat it.

This is a central part of making good observations. As an observer, you need to be aware of what you're looking for, so that you can analyze that one aspect. During an observation, Hall noted how you'll never really catch everything, and having this focused view on an observation allows you more time to look for that specific action and how it's being performed or not performed.