This fall, Eastern Michigan University’s Holman Success Center is offering an alternative for students in need of tutoring.
While previous tutoring sessions all took place face-to-face, students now have the option of getting tutoring online.
“It’s a brand new program students can use from the convenience of their own home,” said Charlie Chappel, an EMU senior and Master Online Tutor. “This is another way that we thought we could accommodate the students’ needs.”
The program, originally started last spring, offers tutors online for certain classes at certain hours during the day. Currently, tutors are only available for five classes: Biology 105, Political Science 112, Physics 221, Math 110 and Chemistry 121.
The online tutoring program offers flexible hours in an effort to accommodate the needs of all EMU students. Online tutors are available for what are called “hop on hours,” from 5:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Monday-Thursday, and from 4:00 p.m. to midnight on Sundays.
During those hours, each tutor is online for two hours at a time. At that time, students can log on and ask questions in a public chat room.
With so many students at Eastern commuting or attending classes at one of the satellite campuses, the schedule of the online tutoring makes it easier for students who can’t always get to the library to get help in their classes.
The online tutoring platform has several features available to students, the primary feature being the chat room. There is also an online whiteboard with functions to draw diagrams and copy and paste documents.
This application is one of the highlights of online tutoring, according to Chappel.
“With online tutoring, you don’t have the face-to-face interaction,” he said. “This helps make up for that.”
The tutoring website also has an equation editor — a library full of common equations that students and tutors can edit, pick apart and rebuild. These functions together make the online tutoring program a comprehensive solution for students in need of academic help.
Like other peer tutoring programs at EMU, all tutors are current Eastern students, not hired from elsewhere. They are students who have taken and excelled in the classes they are tutoring in. Tutors must have achieved a B or higher in the classes they are tutoring and must maintain at least a 3.0 GPA.
“We only take the best,” Chappel said.
Some students who use the online tutoring have great things to say.
“I love it,” senior Capri Smith said.
She said she is using the online tutoring system for Political Science 112.
“I like that the tutoring is available late at night, because I’m taking classes and just started a job, so I sometimes don’t get to my homework until 11:00 or midnight. Plus, I can get tutoring in bed, in my pajamas and don’t have to worry about putting on makeup and getting myself cute.”
Students with questions about online tutoring can contact Chappel at cchappe2@emich.edu or visit the Holman Success Center.
