Although the University’s Undergraduate Tutorial Center is sometimes short on one-on-one tutors, students say that tutorial programs are well-managed and make achieving better grades in their classes an easier task.
According to Barbara Windom, director of the Undergraduate Tutorial Center, the center provides a variety of valuable services designed to fulfill all of a student’s educational needs.
Windom said in subjects like organic chemistry, it is difficult to find enough students who are willing to be personal tutors, but the center compensates for this deficit with other forms of assistance.
“Every semester, there are certain subjects where demand for weekly personal tutors exceeds the supply,” Windom said.
Windom attributes this lack of available weekly tutors to the high standards that the center maintains for whom it employs.
“Tutors must be students who made at least a B-plus in the course and are willing to take our student training class,” Windom said.
She said a student who is not assigned a weekly personal tutor has the option of making an appointment with the tutorial center for personal assistance or attending a group supplemental instruction session.
Mark Sugimoto, a sophomore in nuclear engineering, said these SI classes are only useful for students who already have a basic grasp on the class material.
“Group tutoring works best when everyone who attends understands about the same amount,” he said. “Otherwise, the people who know more find it useless and the people who don’t are still lost.”
Windom expressed opposite sentiments and said that in a group environment, students often learn not only from the instructor but from everyone around them.
“In many ways, it can actually be better,” Windom said. “Students have the opportunity in a group to learn from other students.”
According to Windom, many students actually prefer group tutoring because they find it more effective.
“Some students who have weekly tutors eventually switch to group because they realize it’s not something they need,” she said.
Ken Porter, a sophomore in textile and apparel management, said tutoring has helped him improve his grades in several different classes.
“I used [the tutorial center] for Chem 101 and Math 121,” he said. “I was having problems with both. You could pretty much walk in and anyone could help.”
Langston Swann, a sophomore in computer engineering, said he has appreciated the high level of service provided to him in his experiences with the tutorial center. “I’ve had sign-up and walk-in tutoring,” Swann said. “Most of my sign-up tutoring has been good. They seemed to keep their tutors in line.”
Windom said it is important that students take advantage of all the opportunities provided by the tutorial center.
“Students think they need their own tutor every single week,” Windom said. “We are trying to show them they have other academic opportunities.”
