Reference Guide for Readers
Everything You Need to Know About Being a Volunteer Reader at College Guild.
Handbook Contents
1. What Volunteer Readers Do
Our volunteer readers review and provide feedback on student work. Volunteering is done remotely with flexible hours. All you need is a computer, internet, and a couple of hours. This video does a good job of summarizing how it works: Watch Video
2. Volunteer Agreement & Orientation
Before you begin working with College Guild, you must complete the Volunteer Agreement and join a brief virtual orientation session. This provides us with your preferred contact information, creates a profile of the courses you are interested in covering, and offers you some practical training on how to jumpstart your reading.
3. Overall Reader Goals
We ask that Readers strive to accomplish the following goals:
- Provide quality and thoughtful responses in a timely manner.
- Encourage creativity, thought, self-esteem, objectivity, and even a sense of humor.
- Do not disclose personal information and maintain anonymity.
4. Anonymity and Confidentiality
Confidentiality is important at College Guild. Only first names are ever exchanged between readers and students, and locations are never shared. All communications go through our central office and are reviewed by staff to ensure no personal information is shared.
Do not share any personal information about yourself or any other person involved with College Guild. Treat student responses as confidential, and do not copy or share any of their work, as it may contain personal history or sensitive information. We seek to create a safe place for students to express themselves.
5. How the Reader Process Works
The following is an outline of the process to expect as a Reader:
- You will receive student work once a month, unless you elect to change the frequency of your assignments.
- You receive a copy of a student’s completed unit by email from the College Guild staff.
- You locate the appropriate course material on College Guild’s website to use as a reference for the student’s answers.
- You create a Word or Google document to write comments for the student (we don’t accept PDFs).
- You share the document back via email to the College Guild staff so it can be reviewed.
- The student’s original work and your feedback are returned to the student along with the next unit in the course.
Important: We ask that you provide your feedback within 7 days of receiving the assignment.
If you will not be available due to travel or other reasons, please let the office know in advance.
6. Overview of Courses
The College Guild courses can be found here. They cover a broad range of interests including science and health, history and art, writing, and culture and society. Courses typically have several units.
Each unit is several pages long and consists of learning material and questions. The learning material may include illustrations, photos, or other visuals.
7. How to Approach Your Responses
How you respond is up to you. Use your own approach and creativity. Your feedback style may vary depending on the unit and on how much work the student has done. We’ve seen many different approaches, but here are two primary typical patterns that we see:
- Respond to each question: go question by question and address every answer the student has provided.
- Pick a few questions: expound upon a few responses that resonate with you.
Your feedback should be between 1 and 4 pages maximum.
Remember, you are not teaching a subject as much as providing feedback on the students’ answers. Instead of correcting answers, you can explain why they are good, original, or appeal to you. It is important to engage overall with what the student has to say, encourage them to expand their thinking, and give students the confidence to express themselves. Include rhetorical questions, constructive criticism, or suggestions for different ways to approach a question. Don’t forget to offer encouragement and lots of positive reinforcement.
Important: It’s unusual, but excessively graphic sex or violence is not acceptable in student work. Simply write, “Not appropriate for College Guild,” or ignore that particular answer and add a note to alert the office when you return the unit.
8. Sample Reader Responses
The samples below offer some different ways Readers have responded to Student assignments.
9. Important Guidelines
The following are important guidelines to ensure that we effectively, professionally, and safely fulfill the College Guild's mission. Please adhere to these carefully to help avoid time-intensive staff reviews.
- Only use your first name. You may use an alias if you wish.
- Never share any part or all of a student assignment with anyone else.
- Do not promote or discuss your own political or religious beliefs.
- Prejudicial statements against any group (race, religion, sexual orientation) are unacceptable.
- Assume every student has access to only paper and pencil and the coursework. Do not assume they have books, Internet access, or other ways to research topics further.
- Avoid comments about being released from prison. Some students have life sentences.
- You can be friendly, but your role is not to be a friend or pen pal.
- Do not share your personal history or details.
10. Unallowed Comments
The guideline about not sharing personal history and details is important, and you may find it challenging, as it’s natural to want to empathize and share your own experiences. But it’s important to maintain full confidentiality. It also creates a lot of extra work for the staff to review and remove these types of comments.
Examples of comments that should NOT be included:
- “I have only one sister. But I did have several very close cousins…”
- “I’m an only child...”
- “I want you to know something about me: that I'm a lawyer…”
- “I also suffer from anxiety and mild depression…”
- “I mentioned the town in Pennsylvania where I used to live...”
Better alternative: Instead of “In my many years as an educator…” → use “Most experienced educators…”
If you are ever unsure if your feedback is appropriate, contact College Guild's staff.
11. Tips & Tricks
Q: Am I allowed to add illustrations to my feedback?
A: Yes. However, keep in mind that everything will be printed in black & white, and frequently photocopied, so image quality will degrade. We are also sensitive about page limitations.
Q: My student is expressing ideas that are way out of my comfort zone. How should I handle this?
A: You can always let us know if you cannot provide meaningful feedback. We can re-assign a unit if needed — you should never hesitate to reach out.
Q: My student mentioned where he is incarcerated, and it was not blacked out. Is this okay?
A: Yes. With just a student’s first name and a prison name, there is no way for you to contact that person directly. Some facilities stamp the prison name, and it cannot be removed. We always remove last names, IDs, and addresses. This context can be important for understanding the student’s environment.