The adjustment of moving from the comfort of in-person instruction to remote learning has had its effects on everyone. But mostly students. Many of whom now find themselves feeling a little lost or overwhelmed at times, especially at the start of a new semester. Just five short months ago, a student in need of a specific service could merely pop onto the Miramar College campus and find what they needed. Fast forward to present day and students now must seek those services online. For many Miramar College students, tutoring services provide key support to one’s academic success.
Miramar College’s Academic Success Center, better known as the ASC, wants to remind you that tutoring is just a mere Zoom away. As a matter of fact, over 400 hours of online tutoring are available on a weekly basis to cover several disciplines. The ASC, in conjunction with the Math Lab and The WELL (The Writing and English Language Lab) have over three dozen tutors and Supplemental Instructors (SIs) standing by.
“We found in the beginning, through trial and error, that students didn’t really respond to asynchronized tutoring,” said Nessa Julian, Associated Deanassociated dean, Academic Success and Integrated Support Services. “We didn’t get a lot of traffic for that type of tutoring, so we shifted our focus to provide more synchronized tutoring.” Synchronized tutoring provides one-on-one tutoring for students unlike asynchronized which relied on students to post questions to their Canvas shells and wait for an answer. “We call it 'Live Support' tutoring and students appreciate someone there to support them.” Who wouldn’t!
The ASC boasts a tutoring staff of roughly 40 to help students. In an effort to expand their reach, the ASC provides Supplemental Instructors (SIs), who are embedded into classes to support students in courses such as Math X and English 101X along with popular CTE programs like Accountancy, Automotive and Child Development.
The WELL, which still uses the Canvas shell, provides live tutors to assist with writing and it provides students an opportunity to submit their papers for feedback and editing. The response time is usually 24-48 hours.
According to Julian, the ASC is looking at ways to further connect with the campus community. The WELL assists Career Center students with resume writing and other soft skills. ”We are always doing what we can to build bridges around the campus.”
The Academic Success Center (ASC), the Math Lab and the WELL are available online and provide asynchronous tutoring via Canvas or Synchronous tutoring via Zoom. Tutoring is available Monday – Thursday, 10 am – 6 pm via. Please check the Canvas pages for specific subject area hours and services. For more information visit the ASC’s webpage http://sdmiramar.edu/campus/asc. Some students may also find access to specific tutoring services through their course syllabus or on their instructor’s class page.
In addition, students can use NetTutor. NetTutor is a service, not affiliated with Miramar College, that assists community college students throughout California with tutoring services 24/7. Students can use this service for free through Dec. 31, 2020. “This helps supplement our services,” says Julian. “For example, we don’t offer tutoring for Spanish at Miramar College, but a student could access that type of tutoring there.”
The ASC, Math Lab and The WELL can’t wait to assist you in person back on campus hopefully by the start of the spring semester. Julian says, “we miss the ASC being an inclusive hub for our students to study at.”
For a quick tutorial on tutoring services at Miramar College click on this Youtube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqE_E_fG19o&feature=youtu.be
