Academic Skills Center growing, using new technology

BY LINDA EVANS
Editor, RichmondNow

When a calculus student needs another example to clarify a concept, or a physics student needs a different approach to note- or test-taking, they often seek help from the Academic Skills Center.

The ASC, housed in the administrative wing of Boatwright Memorial Library, is growing and changing to meet increased demand for academic, time and stress management skills.

Hope Walton, who came to the University in 1991 to start the center, says that it has gone from conducting 244 tutoring sessions per year with 11 tutors to providing 1,475 tutorials with 47 tutors last year.

Students are appreciative of the help they receive from Walton and her cadre of peer tutors.

“I am a very hands-on individual and need many examples before I can solidify the concepts in my mind,” says a calculus student who sought help. Her tutor “worked very hard with me to help me understand abstract concepts.”

A Latin student says his tutor was “awesome” and “knows his stuff. My work is more polished because of his help.”

It’s not by chance that the tutors are of the highest caliber. They are often selected by faculty from the departments they are majoring in.

“We forge a lot of partnerships throughout the University,” says Walton. For instance, she has worked closely with the classical studies and chemistry departments, directors of Italian, Arabic and German, and pre-health professions to find tutors with the right combination of subject knowledge and tutoring skill. She also works closely with administrators of Westhampton and Richmond colleges.

The center’s services fall into three areas:

• individual academic skills advising, including strategies for test taking, information processing, note-taking, concentration and critical thinking as well as time and stress management;
• peer academic skills tutoring, where students get subject help in groups or individually; and
• Peer Advisors and Mentors Program (PAM), established in 1992 to assist in retention. The program provides a collaborative learning experience that assists with retention through mentoring and leadership skill building. Many students earn membership in Phi Beta Sigma National Honor Society, and the majority earns better than a 3.0 grade point average, Walton says.

The center received an anonymous gift this year that has enabled it to move more quickly into the use of technology for tutoring. Walton is using an online scheduler so students can set up appointments more easily. A few tutoring sessions also are conducted online, especially for Latin, Spanish, macroeconomics, organic chemistry and genetics classes.

The gift also enabled Walton to add more tutoring hours—the center now offers tutoring on Sundays and begins at 3 p.m. other days. She has worked with the education department to identify and hire tutors trained to work with students who have learning disabilities. Finally, the gift has helped enhance the PAM program.

Walton’s hope for the future of the Academic Skills Center is that “we continue to forge positive relationships with faculty, staff and students and get the word out.”