Communication Center Journal - Bridging the Digital Divide: Telephone Tutoring at the Center

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by kopisore

An essay in Communication Center Journal (Vol. 6, No. 1, 2020) argues that telephone tutoring can bridge unequal technology access, especially highlighted during the pandemic. Drawing on prior writing-center studies, the work compares tutoring formats and emphasizes phone consistency and data/meaning richness. Using a year-long 2018–2019 study, it examines demographics of telephone tutees, identifies academic needs, and proposes training strategies for equitable support.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Bridging the Digital Divide: Telephone Tutoring at the Center

Literature Review

Communication Center Journal Vol. 6, No. 1, 2020 Bridging the Digital Divide: Telephone Tutoring at the Center Amy Nejezchleb Bellevue University “Sometimes it seems easier to invent a new technology than to start a conversation” —Sherry Turkle, Reclaiming Conversation Picking up a phone is easy. Many think a Zoom session would be easier. In effort to board the wave of new virtual technologies, we denigrate the telephone asan older, less rich data carrier. The determiner “rich” is semantically slippery, though, because it suggests poorer and fewer data. In actuality, the phone is richer both in the amount of meaning conveyed as well asthe amount of data that is transferred over the phone. More than this, the telephone is something that most everyone has access to, even if they do not have great internet availability or connectivity; even when the new technology fails, unless a powerline or tower goes down, people can still place a call. Understanding this in a time like the pandemic is especially revelatory. The Coronavirus has laid bare what unequal technology access looks like in the United States. Conversely, the phone’s consistency and richness offers college students a way to bridge the digital divide. According to Neaderhiser and Wolfe (2009), from 2004-2006 several writing centers were busy adopting online forms of tutoring, with 91% tutoring through email, 6% through phone, 2% through Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP), and 3% through online (p. 61) . Still, in their study, the phone superseded VoIP and online digital formats (Neaderhiser & Wolfe, 2009). The irony of returning to old technology like telephony isnot lost on communication centers in 2020, yet if everyone is to access education equitably, the modification of a phone number to call helps tutors meet underrepresented student populations where they are. This essay will explore the demographics of telephone tutees in a writing center via a year-long study I carried out from 2018-2019 to understand why having a number to call helped a writing center reach specific populations (Nejezchleb, 2020). The essay will trace the academic needs of these populations for communication centers to help grapple with why the phone may mesh well for students at a distance, for those with busy work schedules, and for historically marginalized populations. At a distance, the phone or twoway audio session can instill traits similar to face-to-face tutoring and works similarly to the videoconference session but with benefits of its own. Finally, I will offer my own training strategies to supplement existing tutoring formats with telephone services in writing and communication centers. I will argue why the phone should prompt educators to rethink their assumptions regarding what it means to be online, how learning should take place, and who has access. Literature Review Considering above discussions of old and new tools, a history of technology use in the writing studio is worth capturing before examining communication center studies. Archives of the Writing Lab Newsletter (WLN) and Praxis show us how writing Communication Center Journal Vol. 6, No. 1, 2020 center professionals have focused on evolving technologies as tutoring tools. In the 1970s, autotutoring became one emphasis of technological aid (Veit, 1979) . Many of the labs sought resources for underserved students to use independently. Mary Epes (1978; 1979) discussed a software package developed by Exxon Education Foundation that she used at CUNY (p. 1). In part, self-instructional computer and audio resources were implemented on campus to improve students’ English skills. In addition to autotutoring, there was television software. Gaylene Rosaschi reported in 1978 that Brigham Young University used a television-computer program called the TICCIT system that taught students grammar and mechanics (p. 4) . More common references describe grammar hotlines, but these call-in services did not referen

FAQs

Why does the essay argue that telephone tutoring can bridge the digital divide?

It highlights that most people can access phones even with limited internet, and that phone conversations carry meaningful information reliably when newer technologies fail.

What do earlier studies suggest about the relative use of phone tutoring formats?

The essay cites research (Neaderhiser & Wolfe, 2009) showing high tutoring use through email while also noting that phone formats can supersede other online digital approaches in that study.

How did the author study telephone tutoring in a writing center?

The essay describes a year-long study conducted from 2018 to 2019 to understand why providing a phone number helped reach specific student populations.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by kopisore