As a way to increase awareness of the tutoring options available at the University of Idaho, the Tutoring and Academic Assistance Program is making changes to the way tutoring is advertised, said Ali Bretthauer, manager of the Tutoring Counseling Center.
She said students usually find out about study sessions later in the semester.
“We wanted to ensure students find out about tutoring as quickly as possible,” she said.
She said tutoring is available for anyone who has questions about a subject and the people who get the best grades start tutoring sessions early.
UI has offered drop-in tutoring sessions for a few years and more recently has started guided tutoring sessions.
The guided sessions have tutors there to help answer questions who are employed by UI and obtain certification through the College of Reading and Learning Association, she said.
Though the tutors do not have to be certified before starting, they do require training as part of employment.
The tutors are usually students or graduate students that have taken the course they are tutoring and received an A or B. They also hire professionals.
One of the tutors is Deborah Duricka, who has a bachelor’s in Biochemistry, a master’s in Microbiology, and a Ph.D. in Nueroscience, making her qualified to tutor a variety of subjects Bretthauer said.
She said currently people can only see the times and locations of the study sessions, however they are going to roll out a new way to view them.
The new view is much like the events calendar UI has, and will offer a link for people to view a
PDF file, she said. It will also have the option for students to receive a notification of tutoring sessions to their phone, Facebook and Outlook account, she said.
On top of changing the way tutoring session times can be viewed, they are also making small group tutoring request forms available online, Bretthauer said.
“Guided sessions are helpful, but a small group session is the most effective,” she said.
Guided study sessions for the spring semester start Jan. 22 and students will be able to utilize the new way to view those sessions starting Jan. 21.
Allison Griffith can be reached at [email protected]