From bebergal at fau.edu Thu Jan 14 18:09:02 2021 From: bebergal at fau.edu (Jennifer Bebergal) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2021 23:09:02 +0000 Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies Message-ID: Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well. We have heard that UF is using Knack and is reportedly happy with them. My dean is wondering if any other schools are using outside tutoring companies (Smartthinking, Knack, or others) to supplement the tutoring that you provide. If you are, please share which company, what courses they support, how you fund them and at what level, what type of utilization you get, and what your thoughts are. Thank you all! Best wishes, -Jennifer Jennifer Bebergal, Ed.D. Associate Dean for Retention and Academic Support Certified Learning Center Professional ? Level 4, Lifetime Center for Learning And Student Success (CLASS) Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road, GS 223 Boca Raton, FL 33431 561-297-2432 https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.fau.edu/CLASS__;!!PhOWcWs!ibK3kSOEHqeg9WhqJPu5TifRxFU2Lh0ErHlz_Njb72chStoSwNRhS34k-s_ldr5Xhg$ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From d.charles at unf.edu Thu Jan 14 18:57:42 2021 From: d.charles at unf.edu (Charles, Dylan) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2021 23:57:42 +0000 Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Jennifer, While we don't use an external company, I do want to provide some feedback about Knack. They reached out to my office about 2 years ago with a standard pitch. I noticed though on their website that our school was already listed as a participating institution. That wasn't correct. I checked the "tutors" they had listed for us and one was a former tutor that was let go and the other was never a UNF student but was acting as a UNF tutor. I contacted other Universities on their page and many others were also surprised to see their institutions listed without ever have been contacted or notified. I then started going through their student reviews. I picked three schools at random and found tutors with the exact same review posted over and over again with five star ratings. I've always found that fishy on Google or Amazon reviews, and it looked fishy here. My AVP and I brought up these concerns, among many others about their model, such as a lack of accountability on the tutor-student interactions and obviously improper vetting practices. We were told they would remove the tutors from their site, but failed to address our other concerns. The tutors were not removed in the months following this conversation. Since our concerns were not addressed, we informed them we weren't going to be using their services at that time. We thought that would be the end of it. Nope. They instead reached out to other AVPs, VPs, and Deans introducing themselves and acting like this was their first time contacting the school. They even messaged our Ethics Officer, trying to impress people and get them to ask us why we weren't using them. So every few weeks for almost a year we would get emails from random administrators asking if we've heard of Knack and that they sounded great. We again contacted Knack expressing our discontent with their display of unprofessionalism (those tutors were there even a year later but appear to be removed now. Too little, too late though.) and it took their rep meeting with an associate provost of ours before the emails finally stopped. It's possible other schools have had great interactions or appreciate their services, and maybe they've started acting better since then, but I just wanted to share our experience with them. We're not against third party services, but between the bad vibes, unanswered questions, ignored requests, and going around our back to badger other staff in an attempt to pressure us, this was definitely not going to be it. I just checked their website again and it looks like they took down the page of "participating institutions" they used to have- it was right on their homepage before. I'm assuming that was there while they were working on getting investors as it had Ivy Leaguers and all that. I hope someone is able to share some of their positive experiences with outside companies and you get what you're looking for! Thanks, Dylan Dylan Charles Assistant Director, Student Academic Success Services Undergraduate Studies University of North Florida Building 2/Room 1314 P: (904) 620-1008/(980) 213-5959 E: d.charles at unf.edu [icon-facebook][icon-twitter] CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This electronic mail transmission and any documents accompanying it may contain confidential information belonging to students and is protected by the Family Education Right to Privacy Act. ________________________________ From: FCLCA on behalf of Jennifer Bebergal via FCLCA Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2021, 6:10 PM To: fclca at lists.fsu.edu Cc: Jennifer Bebergal Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well. We have heard that UF is using Knack and is reportedly happy with them. My dean is wondering if any other schools are using outside tutoring companies (Smartthinking, Knack, or others) to supplement the tutoring that you provide. If you are, please share which company, what courses they support, how you fund them and at what level, what type of utilization you get, and what your thoughts are. Thank you all! Best wishes, -Jennifer Jennifer Bebergal, Ed.D. Associate Dean for Retention and Academic Support Certified Learning Center Professional - Level 4, Lifetime Center for Learning And Student Success (CLASS) Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road, GS 223 Boca Raton, FL 33431 561-297-2432 https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.fau.edu/CLASS__;!!PhOWcWs!hMoOSh6BRlLoE_9ZahgZ_G9Ouff0dOzVH5MmBOj99EXlhwZrQPBA_eGtpEWrXjlXWQ$ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image001.png Type: image/png Size: 1072 bytes Desc: image001.png URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: image002.png Type: image/png Size: 1147 bytes Desc: image002.png URL: From Laura.Price at fsw.edu Fri Jan 15 08:45:29 2021 From: Laura.Price at fsw.edu (Laura Price) Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 13:45:29 +0000 Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi, Jennifer, Florida SouthWestern State College uses Tutor.com to supplement our tutoring. They cover the hours we're not open, and they have a wide range of subjects that they offer. We originally brought them in for our online students (this was 4-5 years ago, before everyone was an online student), but our ground students used the service more, overall. We're pretty happy with their services. Laura Laura Price Senior Coordinator for Writing Services Academic Support Programs Florida SouthWestern State College 8099 College Parkway Fort Myers, FL 33919 Q-219, ext. 11615 From: FCLCA [mailto:fclca-bounces at lists.fsu.edu] On Behalf Of Jennifer Bebergal via FCLCA Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2021 6:09 PM To: fclca at lists.fsu.edu Cc: Jennifer Bebergal Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies CAUTION: Please Be Aware - This Email Originated Outside of FSW Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well. We have heard that UF is using Knack and is reportedly happy with them. My dean is wondering if any other schools are using outside tutoring companies (Smartthinking, Knack, or others) to supplement the tutoring that you provide. If you are, please share which company, what courses they support, how you fund them and at what level, what type of utilization you get, and what your thoughts are. Thank you all! Best wishes, -Jennifer Jennifer Bebergal, Ed.D. Associate Dean for Retention and Academic Support Certified Learning Center Professional - Level 4, Lifetime Center for Learning And Student Success (CLASS) Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road, GS 223 Boca Raton, FL 33431 561-297-2432 https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.fau.edu/CLASS__;!!PhOWcWs!nUi7kuwt4sRuEaK3jKsimUPM4FcnMdUCSj_nSTRMRsdrHf4hmr5k226tPWhxkWeNYA$ [Florida SouthWestern State College] Please note: Due to Florida's broad open records law, most written communication to or from College employees is public record, available to the public and the media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure. You are the Key to Information Security. Click Here to Learn More. FSW is an equal access, equal opportunity organization. More: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.fsw.edu/equity__;!!PhOWcWs!nUi7kuwt4sRuEaK3jKsimUPM4FcnMdUCSj_nSTRMRsdrHf4hmr5k226tPWgjBmYiwA$ . -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From shockin at fsu.edu Fri Jan 15 11:46:07 2021 From: shockin at fsu.edu (Shane Hockin) Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 16:46:07 +0000 Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi, We do all our tutoring on-site or online with our own tutors in our own programs for several reasons: 1. Outside services typically have inferior training, when they have any, or make you do all the work for it. 2. Outside services have virtually no oversight to protect from cheating or other inappropriate tutoring methods. 3. Most outside, online services are always open and encourage students to be studying and tutoring at all hours of the night. Students may do that anyway, but it is not in their best interest to do so and we do not want to be complicit in encouraging it. 4. Ultimately, whether a student gets good tutoring from these services is hit-and-miss. If they get a good tutor, then great! This certainly happens with the legitimate services. But they are just as likely to get a bad tutor, and you have limited control over it. 5. Students have access to outside services if they want it whether we endorse it or not, so why spend time and energy doing it when we have our own? So as much work as it may be, we prefer to use our own internal tutoring services, because we know how good they are and can put controls in. Students can use our tutoring for free and we know they are getting good tutoring that is specific to our university from tutors we train and monitor ourselves. If students go to outside sources, that is ok and is on them. I admit that I am biased against profit-based educational programs, which I feel will often lean on shoddy practices if it will make them more money. But I also I think Knack and Tutor.com are legit companies and better than nothing. I just don't think they are as good as using college-supported programs run by professional educators whose sole reason to be is helping students be successful. All that said, I completely understand that some schools do not have the resources to provide their own programs, and even ours is limited by budget concerns. But that is my two-cents worth. Shane H. Hockin, Ph.D. Instructional Specialist Academic Center for Excellence Florida State University G015 William Johnston Building Tallahassee, FL 32306-2463 (850) 645-0186 ________________________________ From: FCLCA on behalf of Jennifer Bebergal via FCLCA Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2021 6:09 PM To: fclca at lists.fsu.edu Cc: bebergal at fau.edu Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well. We have heard that UF is using Knack and is reportedly happy with them. My dean is wondering if any other schools are using outside tutoring companies (Smartthinking, Knack, or others) to supplement the tutoring that you provide. If you are, please share which company, what courses they support, how you fund them and at what level, what type of utilization you get, and what your thoughts are. Thank you all! Best wishes, -Jennifer Jennifer Bebergal, Ed.D. Associate Dean for Retention and Academic Support Certified Learning Center Professional ? Level 4, Lifetime Center for Learning And Student Success (CLASS) Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road, GS 223 Boca Raton, FL 33431 561-297-2432 www.fau.edu/CLASS -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From caskeyr at scf.edu Fri Jan 15 14:32:59 2021 From: caskeyr at scf.edu (Caskey, Rebecca) Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 19:32:59 +0000 Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies In-Reply-To: References: , Message-ID: Hi all - I am of the same mind as Shane and moving away from outside tutoring programs. When I started in Oct. 2019 we had SmartThinking available to everyone. After a demo I felt the service they provide for students on subjects we do not was lacking. Essentially, it's a whiteboard with a tutor and a student trying to draw on the screen back and forth. Without a touch screen, the situation for most of our students, it's nearly impossible. Additionally, it wasn't accessible for vision-impaired students. We liked the writing submission portion and are currently fine-tuning our own email submission form we began in the Fall. In addition to Shane's list, I want to add the benefit of rapport building. Our tutors create lasting relationships with students. This leads students to disclose information about home struggles, financial aid angst, unemployment, etc. that allows the tutor to make proper referrals to partner offices around the campus, adding to the idea of "holistic support". Our tutors also have professors' assignments, tests, syllabi, etc. that allow them to provide supplemental instruction unique to the student's specific course. We still have SmartThinking, but it now must be specially added to Canvas shells. I am hoping by the time we run out of hours we will be completely using internal services. We currently offer in-person (walk-in and by appointment), online drop-in, and the new writing submission form. Becca Rebecca Caskey (she/her) Manager, Tutoring and Learning Center Remote Working Number: 941-681-0861 (call or text) caskeyr at scf.edu State College of Florida 5840 26th St W Bradenton, FL. 34207 ________________________________ From: FCLCA on behalf of Shane Hockin via FCLCA Sent: Friday, January 15, 2021 11:46 AM To: fclca at lists.fsu.edu Cc: Shane Hockin Subject: Re: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies [CAUTION this Email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe] Hi, We do all our tutoring on-site or online with our own tutors in our own programs for several reasons: 1. Outside services typically have inferior training, when they have any, or make you do all the work for it. 2. Outside services have virtually no oversight to protect from cheating or other inappropriate tutoring methods. 3. Most outside, online services are always open and encourage students to be studying and tutoring at all hours of the night. Students may do that anyway, but it is not in their best interest to do so and we do not want to be complicit in encouraging it. 4. Ultimately, whether a student gets good tutoring from these services is hit-and-miss. If they get a good tutor, then great! This certainly happens with the legitimate services. But they are just as likely to get a bad tutor, and you have limited control over it. 5. Students have access to outside services if they want it whether we endorse it or not, so why spend time and energy doing it when we have our own? So as much work as it may be, we prefer to use our own internal tutoring services, because we know how good they are and can put controls in. Students can use our tutoring for free and we know they are getting good tutoring that is specific to our university from tutors we train and monitor ourselves. If students go to outside sources, that is ok and is on them. I admit that I am biased against profit-based educational programs, which I feel will often lean on shoddy practices if it will make them more money. But I also I think Knack and Tutor.com are legit companies and better than nothing. I just don't think they are as good as using college-supported programs run by professional educators whose sole reason to be is helping students be successful. All that said, I completely understand that some schools do not have the resources to provide their own programs, and even ours is limited by budget concerns. But that is my two-cents worth. Shane H. Hockin, Ph.D. Instructional Specialist Academic Center for Excellence Florida State University G015 William Johnston Building Tallahassee, FL 32306-2463 (850) 645-0186 ________________________________ From: FCLCA on behalf of Jennifer Bebergal via FCLCA Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2021 6:09 PM To: fclca at lists.fsu.edu Cc: bebergal at fau.edu Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well. We have heard that UF is using Knack and is reportedly happy with them. My dean is wondering if any other schools are using outside tutoring companies (Smartthinking, Knack, or others) to supplement the tutoring that you provide. If you are, please share which company, what courses they support, how you fund them and at what level, what type of utilization you get, and what your thoughts are. Thank you all! Best wishes, -Jennifer Jennifer Bebergal, Ed.D. Associate Dean for Retention and Academic Support Certified Learning Center Professional ? Level 4, Lifetime Center for Learning And Student Success (CLASS) Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road, GS 223 Boca Raton, FL 33431 561-297-2432 https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.fau.edu/CLASS__;!!PhOWcWs!gW8Q7E05DHREdtFBU41PnAXQXkH7EA3ndJJiXg0dEeoiQ7S31wMyREkCl6pXeEmSLw$ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From bebergal at fau.edu Mon Jan 18 16:32:38 2021 From: bebergal at fau.edu (Jennifer Bebergal) Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2021 21:32:38 +0000 Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies In-Reply-To: References: , , Message-ID: Thank you to everyone who responded. We always feel that our vetted, trained and evaluated student tutoring staff is better than any private tutoring company can provide, but our leaders hear stories and rightly ask what we can be doing better! Thanks to your feedback, it looks like we will continue to provide our services in house. Have a wonderful week! Best wishes, -Jennifer Jennifer Bebergal, Ed.D. Associate Dean for Retention and Academic Support Certified Learning Center Professional ? Level 4, Lifetime Center for Learning And Student Success (CLASS) Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road, GS 223 Boca Raton, FL 33431 561-297-2432 bebergal at fau.edu https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.fau.edu/CLASS__;!!PhOWcWs!gKl2Kj5pxLcF9L53eXgXNeU1GM9GXusvI0VYR6e_0XY4PlrT_ZMKyXu_VQ5mIwUHOg$ ________________________________ From: FCLCA on behalf of Caskey, Rebecca via FCLCA Sent: Friday, January 15, 2021 2:32 PM To: fclca at lists.fsu.edu Cc: Caskey, Rebecca Subject: Re: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies Hi all - I am of the same mind as Shane and moving away from outside tutoring programs. When I started in Oct. 2019 we had SmartThinking available to everyone. After a demo I felt the service they provide for students on subjects we do not was lacking. Essentially, it's a whiteboard with a tutor and a student trying to draw on the screen back and forth. Without a touch screen, the situation for most of our students, it's nearly impossible. Additionally, it wasn't accessible for vision-impaired students. We liked the writing submission portion and are currently fine-tuning our own email submission form we began in the Fall. In addition to Shane's list, I want to add the benefit of rapport building. Our tutors create lasting relationships with students. This leads students to disclose information about home struggles, financial aid angst, unemployment, etc. that allows the tutor to make proper referrals to partner offices around the campus, adding to the idea of "holistic support". Our tutors also have professors' assignments, tests, syllabi, etc. that allow them to provide supplemental instruction unique to the student's specific course. We still have SmartThinking, but it now must be specially added to Canvas shells. I am hoping by the time we run out of hours we will be completely using internal services. We currently offer in-person (walk-in and by appointment), online drop-in, and the new writing submission form. Becca Rebecca Caskey (she/her) Manager, Tutoring and Learning Center Remote Working Number: 941-681-0861 (call or text) caskeyr at scf.edu State College of Florida 5840 26th St W Bradenton, FL. 34207 ________________________________ From: FCLCA on behalf of Shane Hockin via FCLCA Sent: Friday, January 15, 2021 11:46 AM To: fclca at lists.fsu.edu Cc: Shane Hockin Subject: Re: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies [CAUTION this Email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe] Hi, We do all our tutoring on-site or online with our own tutors in our own programs for several reasons: 1. Outside services typically have inferior training, when they have any, or make you do all the work for it. 2. Outside services have virtually no oversight to protect from cheating or other inappropriate tutoring methods. 3. Most outside, online services are always open and encourage students to be studying and tutoring at all hours of the night. Students may do that anyway, but it is not in their best interest to do so and we do not want to be complicit in encouraging it. 4. Ultimately, whether a student gets good tutoring from these services is hit-and-miss. If they get a good tutor, then great! This certainly happens with the legitimate services. But they are just as likely to get a bad tutor, and you have limited control over it. 5. Students have access to outside services if they want it whether we endorse it or not, so why spend time and energy doing it when we have our own? So as much work as it may be, we prefer to use our own internal tutoring services, because we know how good they are and can put controls in. Students can use our tutoring for free and we know they are getting good tutoring that is specific to our university from tutors we train and monitor ourselves. If students go to outside sources, that is ok and is on them. I admit that I am biased against profit-based educational programs, which I feel will often lean on shoddy practices if it will make them more money. But I also I think Knack and Tutor.com are legit companies and better than nothing. I just don't think they are as good as using college-supported programs run by professional educators whose sole reason to be is helping students be successful. All that said, I completely understand that some schools do not have the resources to provide their own programs, and even ours is limited by budget concerns. But that is my two-cents worth. Shane H. Hockin, Ph.D. Instructional Specialist Academic Center for Excellence Florida State University G015 William Johnston Building Tallahassee, FL 32306-2463 (850) 645-0186 ________________________________ From: FCLCA on behalf of Jennifer Bebergal via FCLCA Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2021 6:09 PM To: fclca at lists.fsu.edu Cc: bebergal at fau.edu Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well. We have heard that UF is using Knack and is reportedly happy with them. My dean is wondering if any other schools are using outside tutoring companies (Smartthinking, Knack, or others) to supplement the tutoring that you provide. If you are, please share which company, what courses they support, how you fund them and at what level, what type of utilization you get, and what your thoughts are. Thank you all! Best wishes, -Jennifer Jennifer Bebergal, Ed.D. Associate Dean for Retention and Academic Support Certified Learning Center Professional ? Level 4, Lifetime Center for Learning And Student Success (CLASS) Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road, GS 223 Boca Raton, FL 33431 561-297-2432 https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.fau.edu/CLASS__;!!PhOWcWs!gKl2Kj5pxLcF9L53eXgXNeU1GM9GXusvI0VYR6e_0XY4PlrT_ZMKyXu_VQ5mIwUHOg$ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kristie.keuntjes at rasmussen.edu Fri Jan 15 11:01:10 2021 From: kristie.keuntjes at rasmussen.edu (Kristie Keuntjes) Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 16:01:10 +0000 Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Hi Jennifer! We use Brainfuse.com. We've used them since 2009 for both a peer tutoring platform and professional tutoring (including their writing lab). Accounting, math, and writing get the most usage. Survey results are generally positive from students who work with them - higher for the writing lab than for professional tutoring. Very few issues that have disrupted service for students, and quick to resolve them when they do occur. Kristie Keuntjes, M.Ed. | Learning Services Coordinator, School of Nursing Certified Learning Center Professional - Level 3 Rasmussen University Office: 352-291-8568 Rasmussen.edu Confidentiality. This electronic transmission is strictly confidential to the sender and intended solely for the addressee. It may contain information which is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. If you are not the intended addressee, or someone authorized by the intended addressee to receive transmissions on behalf of the addressee, you must not retain, disclose in any form, copy or take any action in reliance on this transmission. If you have received this transmission in error, please notify the sender as soon as possible and destroy this message. From: FCLCA On Behalf Of Jennifer Bebergal via FCLCA Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2021 6:09 PM To: fclca at lists.fsu.edu Cc: Jennifer Bebergal Subject: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies External Email Hi everyone, I hope you are doing well. We have heard that UF is using Knack and is reportedly happy with them. My dean is wondering if any other schools are using outside tutoring companies (Smartthinking, Knack, or others) to supplement the tutoring that you provide. If you are, please share which company, what courses they support, how you fund them and at what level, what type of utilization you get, and what your thoughts are. Thank you all! Best wishes, -Jennifer Jennifer Bebergal, Ed.D. Associate Dean for Retention and Academic Support Certified Learning Center Professional - Level 4, Lifetime Center for Learning And Student Success (CLASS) Florida Atlantic University 777 Glades Road, GS 223 Boca Raton, FL 33431 561-297-2432 https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.fau.edu/CLASS__;!!PhOWcWs!n7an1VmxrL-7Lb6hDt1W5i0WdGScNNjqKsYBc5js0SM0bBsc_JUKLe_dEoWITnvPCQ$ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: