Universal Design for Supporting Tutors + Staff

We’ve talked about Universal Design for Learning (and we’ll talk about it again in the fall!) but now we want to talk about how a universally designed program can welcome and keep more tutors and staff. 

When was the last time you signed up to be a volunteer tutor? It’s probably been a little while so you might not know how accessible your program really is. Often adult educators get their start in the field as volunteers - which means the volunteers of today are the teachers and administrators of tomorrow. Are we discouraging great future staff with complicated or unclear volunteer pathways?

In this training, we’ll share how to think critically about:

intake processes

training schedules

onboarding

tutor/learner matches 

We’ll go over the basics of Universal Design and discuss how it can be applied in all aspects of volunteer engagement. And, recognizing that volunteers often become staff, we’ll discuss the impact of sustained volunteers on staff retention. This is a great opportunity for new coordinators or for an organization that is noticing a lot of volunteer or staff turnover. 

​This training is part of our Program Operations series. Content is designed with coordinators and adult ed administrators in mind, although everyone is welcome!