Located in the Sherrod Library on campus, the Center For Academic Achievement has helped students master the material in their classes by offering in-person tutoring sessions. Now the CFAA is hoping to expand the help by offering online tutoring sessions.
Deidre Johnson, coordinator for the CFAA, said the center wanted to expand what it is doing online because the university is shifting toward offering more online classes, and they wanted to make the course more accessible to students.
“Not just those long distance students who can’t come in to get help but also students who are maybe reluctant to try tutoring, and they might be more likely to try that from their dorm room in their pajamas on a Saturday in an online session,” Johnson said.
According to the CFAA’s website, students who wish to participate in online tutoring need the Chrome or Firefox web browser, audio and a microphone and images of any notes or school work the student would like to share with the tutor saved as a PDF file.
Online tutoring sessions are offered Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. until 8 p.m., Friday 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. and Sunday 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. Subjects that are offered in the online tutoring include writing, probability and statistics, and chemistry.
Johnson said that in the years the program there was always a few requests for online tutoring.
“When we decided to expand, we piloted this this summer,” Johnson said. “And once we made this an option for students, we found that we were able to increase the number of appointments that we do in the online area by four times what we did before.”
Johnson said students can book appointments up to two weeks ahead of time on the CFAA’s online scheduling system. If they want an appointment the same day, they just have to call the front desk. Johnson also said that there is no penalty for canceling an appointment.
Appointments at the CFAA tend to fill up around midterms and finals, so Johnson suggested students schedule their appointment in advance.
“If students are making their appointments a week in advance, they’re always gonna be able to find a spot with someone,” Johnson said.
Johnson said that the new tutoring system closely mimics what they would do face to face with a student in the tutoring center.
“I think face to face is the best way to get help,” Johnson said. “But this really makes that type of help more available to students. … We just wanted to make that help more convenient for them to get.”
