Roane State Community College

The Roane County campus Learning Center, with plexiglass partitions at tutoring tables. Some chairs and keyboards have been removed to keep students and tutors six feet apart.

 

August 14, 2020

By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer

Roane State’s free tutoring services have changed to meet the challenges of COVID-19, with increased health and safety precautions at the community college’s Learning Centers and more online help.

“We’ve been busy rethinking how we can best offer the academic support services that students have come to depend upon,” said Mike Hill, Director of Learning Centers at Roane State. Before the pandemic, between 5,000 and 6,000 tutoring sessions were logged every semester, he said.

The college’s fall semester starts August 19 and features a mix of in-person tutoring – with all CDC (Centers for Disease Control) safety measures in place – and virtual sessions for students who opt for that alternative, including nighttime assistance.

“Our concern is always safety and efficiency,” said Robin Leib, Learning Center Specialist at Roane State’s Oak Ridge Branch Campus. College-wide pandemic precautions include mandatory face masks, social distancing and daily wellness screenings.

Learning Center study tables have been outfitted with plexiglass shields and computer work stations are now spaced six feet apart “to ensure that we can maintain the degree of physical distance recommended by the CDC,” Hill said. Surfaces in Learning Centers and computers there will be sanitized throughout the day, he added.

Tutoring will be offered both remotely and in the Learning Centers. Even for tutoring taking place in the Learning Center, that assistance will be done online, with the student on one computer and the tutor on another one nearby, Leib said.

Appointments for both in-person and online sessions can be made through WCOnline which can be found on the Learning Center’s web page at roanestate.edu/learningcenter. Students should look for the “How Tutoring Works” link and then click on “Online Tutoring.”

Students can meet remotely with a tutor who can use a virtual whiteboard, webcam and chat board to work through math and science equations. “Similarly, these tools and the Zoom app can be used for almost all subjects and can even accommodate tutor-led study groups,” Hill said.

Hill added that online tutoring hours have been expanded until 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and some tutoring appointments will be offered on weekends.

Leib said some 40 to 45 percent of tutoring is writing-based. Hill said students can continue to submit essays through the Learning Center Online which can be found in all students’ Momentum accounts and get personalized feedback within 48 hours.

There’s also 24/7 tutoring offered through Smarthinking, a proprietary tutoring service available to students by logging in with their Roane State email addresses and student identification numbers. All of these tools are accessible by visiting the Learning Center online at roanestate.edu/learningcenter and navigating to the Online Tutoring FAQ.

Leib said remote tutoring offers one clear advantage to tutors during the pandemic: When they’re at home, students can remove their face masks. Tutors can then see facial expressions which will help them know if students have grasped a concept.