Online tutoring another tool to help students

To meet the needs of today's tech-savvy students, Tutoring Center staff members also chose to offer them convenience: online tutoring that's available during late evening hours.

Joyce Van Baak, director of the Tutoring Center, said online tutoring went live in the winter semester for select classes. It's run using Blackboard and allows students to communicate with a tutor during specific hours. For example, a chemistry tutor will be online on Mondays from 11 p.m.-midnight.

"It's one more tool for students to use," Van Baak said.

Online tutoring is available for five courses in chemistry, biology, physics and Spanish. Van Baak said those courses were chosen as pilots because of student demand and faculty members who were willing to participate. Student tutors were trained to use the whiteboard feature in Blackboard to communicate with students; the feature also allows a student to draw a molecule, chemistry formula, or diagram using a tablet for the entire class to see.

Van Baak said the response thus far has been positive. "Tutors work with students to help them clarify questions and build on what the student has learned to find the answers," she said.

More students and faculty members are also using Wimba Pronto, a free software program that allows users to chat, either verbally with microphones or by typing on the keyboard. Wimba Pronto, also used with Blackboard, is the free version of Wimba Classroom.

Sherry Barricklow, from Academic Computing and Information Technology, said about 40 faculty members are now using Wimba Pronto. "Modern Languages is just blossoming with people using this," she said. "It helps students form study groups and talk to each other in Spanish, or whatever the language is."

She added that the IT Department is planning additional training sessions on Wimba Pronto during the spring semester. For more information on Wimba Pronto visit www.gvsu.edu/it/pronto.

As for expanding online tutoring, Van Baak said after the winter semester, she and other staff members will study evaluations and user numbers.

Student workers in the Information Technology department use the chat features of Wimba Pronto, a free software program that allows users to chat verbally or by typing / Photo by Amanda Pitts