[FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies

Fri Jan 15 14:32:59 EST 2021

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)<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.mypronouns.org/she-her__;!!PhOWcWs!gW8Q7E05DHREdtFBU41PnAXQXkH7EA3ndJJiXg0dEeoiQ7S31wMyREkCl6rwy4w9kQ$ >
Manager, Tutoring and Learning Center
Remote Working Number: 941-681-0861 (call or text)
caskeyr at scf.edu

State College of Florida<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://scf.edu/__;!!PhOWcWs!gW8Q7E05DHREdtFBU41PnAXQXkH7EA3ndJJiXg0dEeoiQ7S31wMyREkCl6pbS-mj-w$ >
5840 26th St W
Bradenton, FL. 34207
________________________________
From: FCLCA <fclca-bounces at lists.fsu.edu> on behalf of Shane Hockin via FCLCA <fclca at lists.fsu.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2021 11:46 AM
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Cc: Shane Hockin <shockin at fsu.edu>
Subject: Re: [FCLCA] Outside tutoring companies

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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 <fclca-bounces at lists.fsu.edu> on behalf of Jennifer Bebergal via FCLCA <fclca at lists.fsu.edu>
Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2021 6:09 PM
To: fclca at lists.fsu.edu <fclca at lists.fsu.edu>
Cc: bebergal at fau.edu <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

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