A tutor, as an objective person, exerts no pressure to perform but provides guidance for future study.
Tutors reinforce classroom instruction and allow time for practice to identify problem areas.
Following tutoring sessions, students generally have an awareness of performance and a responsibility to pursue what is needed. The group who used the software-tutor was composed of college students enrolled in regular core courses but placed in remedial English on the basis of a placement test and a writing sample. However, we did not want to attach the stigma of remedial instruction to the software and wanted to acknowledge the students as regular college students. Therefore, the software program, functioning as a tutor, was not overly friendly-cute and was not hostile. The students were instructed that the software was a supplement to instruction.