The Kent State Academic Success Center’s tutoring services offer convenience and flexibility with the switch to a remote platform due to the pandemic. 

“It allows for more flexibility for both students and tutors,” said Samantha Spitak, the academic program coordinator of the Academic Success Center. “It also allows us to open up our services to regional campus students who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to reach us. Our services have always been open for those students, but it makes us much more accessible to them.”

Another added convenience for students and tutors is that they no longer have to commute to campus, Spitak said. 

“Students still get to see, interact and work through problems as they normally would in the remote setting,” said Amanda Shah, director of the Academic Success Center. “I think the integrity of the services has been maintained. We have been doing a lot of observations to ensure that quality has been upheld and students are getting the engagement that they need.”

Both students and tutors have given positive feedback to the Academic Success Center about convenience and quality of online tutoring, Shah said. 

Tutoring appointments can be set up online or by phone at (330) 672-3190. Students can set up an appointment or attend a drop-in session.

“Students can go onto our website, log in to our scheduling system, find the appointment they want and information on how to attend their session link will be sent to them in a confirmation email. Sessions are held on Blackboard Collaborate Ultra to align with the majority of Kent State courses,” Shah said. 

Due to the success of the online platform, some online sessions will be offered even when classes begin to transition back to in-person. Offering both online and in-person sessions will provide students and tutors convenience once it is an option again, Shah said.  

“Overall, I don’t want anyone to feel intimidated by online tutoring. I know it may be overwhelming to have a schedule of courses online and then to go to tutoring online,” Spitak said. “I want students to know that tutors are trained for this. They get the same training they would if we were still face-to-face, but they also get trained to conduct sessions online. They are just here to help and are experiencing the same transition as everyone else.”

Kandra Hill is a teaching reporter. You can contact her at [email protected].

SUPPORT STUDENT MEDIA 

Hi, I’m Lauren Sasala, a senior journalism student from Toledo. I’m also the editor in chief of The Kent Stater and KentWired this semester. My staff and I are committed to bringing you the most important news about Kent State and the Kent community. We are full-time students and hard-working journalists. While we get support from the student media fee and earned revenue such as advertising, both of those continue to decline. Your generous gift of any amount will help enhance our student experience as we grow into working professionals. Please go here to donate.