Roane State Community College

Michael Hill is Roane State’s director of learning centers and learning support.

Sept. 22, 2016

It’s a gateway course at Roane State that launches the academic path to numerous medical careers, from nursing to physical therapy.

It’s Biology 2010, also known as Anatomy & Physiology I, or A&P 1.

“We don’t dumb it down,” said Robin S. Leib, the Learning Center specialist as she spoke to Dr. Anthony Jenkins’ A&P I class about available tutoring services, including study groups.

“You don’t need to just pass the course,” Leib told the students as she handed out sign-up sheets for study groups now being formed. “You need to get an A.”

It’s been proven, she said, “that one of the best ways to learn is in groups.” The tutoring services that are available, Leib told the students, “add on to what you’re going to get from lectures.”

Leib and Learning Center Director Michael Hill are spreading the word about Roane State’s full-service tutoring programs available in the center in Oak Ridge, on the Cumberland County campus on Cook Road in Crossville and in the Harriman campus library.
Tutoring is also available at Roane State’s campuses in Scott, Loudon and Fentress counties, and virtual tutoring is planned for the college’s other campuses.

It’s a good time to let students know that help is available before they start falling behind in their studies, Leib said. Along with making her tutoring presentations to new classes, “Instructors will refer students to come to us.”
Tutoring began at Roane State in the 1980s with the Writing Center, and services expanded in the 1990s to include subjects ranging from math to the natural sciences.

“These are the core courses that students seem to struggle with the most,” Hill said.

Some tutors are current students who excelled in the classes. Others are adjunct educators and Roane State educators, while still others are retired scientists who make themselves available in their fields of expertise.

“They’re fantastic,” Angela Jones of Farragut said of her tutors as she studied in the Oak Ridge campus Learning Center. “They’ve very supportive and knowledgeable.” Jones is taking the A&P I course as she prepares for a career as an occupational therapy assistant.

“Students seem to like this environment,” Leib said of the Learning Center in Roane State’s Coffey-McNally Building in Oak Ridge. “It’s a great place to study.”

Students learn differently, Hill said, and tutors identify each individual’s learning style while encouraging organizational skills.
New this semester is scheduling software where students can register online at WCOnline to schedule tutoring sessions. Not only can students set up tutoring times, brief biographies of the tutors are being added.

The software allows flexibility in setting tutoring sessions, and “allows us to use our resources in a much more judicious way,” Leib said.

In the planning stages for Roane State’s more distant campuses: online synchronous tutoring during which students can work with a tutor in real time via webcam, chat, and an interactive screen. Students will be able to set up such help and receive reminders by text when their next session is scheduled. Those services are expected to be available in November, Leib said.