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Success SpotlightStudent success startswith on-demand,personalized support
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Today’s digital learnerStudents today have more complexneeds than ever before, often balancingcompeting demands like work,school, or family life — which leads toextra pressure. Simply knowing thatpersonalized support services, such asonline tutoring, are accessible at anytimeand from anywhere, can help alleviate thisstress and allow your students to focus onwhat truly matters — their success.Challenges and opportunitiesPromoting retention and engagementOnline tutoring enables your faculty and tutoring center to extend their reach, offeringpersonal one-on-one support when each student needs it most. An expert instructor isalways available to help students master key concepts or skills that are standing in theirway — so they’re less likely to fall behind, disengage, or withdraw.Supporting equity and affordabilityOnline tutoring is a meaningful way to help level the playing field. It ensures thatsupport is available to everyone — including those who are working full-time, can’tbe on campus when your tutoring center is open, or can’t afford private tutors. Someinstructors may even require students to use tutoring services, helping to establish thehabit of reaching out for assistance when they need it.Empowering acceleration and advancementOnline tutoring can help you reach and impact the digital learner in many positive ways.By creating more individual, student-centric learning experiences, students becomemore confident in their skills and are more likely to continue on with their chosen majorand towards degree completion.ResultsThe best way to evaluate online tutoring’s strategic value is to explore its outcomes. Thefollowing pages summarize experiences with online tutoring at multiple institutions,offering quantitative and qualitative insight into how it can promote engagement andretention, support equity and affordability, and help students advance towards theiracademic and career goals. 3
Greater retentionAs part of a commitment to continuous improvement, Valencia College thoroughlyevaluated all aspects of tutoring, including face-to-face tutoring, campus writing centersand math labs, along with online tutoring. They found that:1. Students who used both face-to-face and online tutoring had the highest successrates (figure 1).2. Students who used tutoring appeared to be more likely to be retained while studentswho used both types of tutoring appeared to have the highest rates of retentionterm-to-term and year-to-year, suggesting that online and in-person tutoring cancomplement each other well.3. Students identified the prompting of an instructor as the most influential factor intheir seeking tutoring assistance.100806074.5%78.1%84.8%87.7%Online OnlyBoth40200Did Not Tutor Face to Face OnlyFigure 1. Valencia College Success Rate Fall 2014–Fall 2016 (N 263, 246)4
Increased student confidenceChestnut Hill College in Philadelphiawanted to assess which students benefitmost from online tutoring and under whatcircumstances, in order to generate thestrongest possible outcomes, improvingretention and helping students advancemore directly towards their goals.Returning adult students specificallynoted online tutoring’s benefits inAn end-of-term student surveyfound: 75% of students reportedstrengthening their rusty math andmore confidence in theirwriting skills. Administrators and facultyacademic skills after workingnoted that promoting online tutoringwith online tutors.early in a student’s academic journey,helps form a healthy habit of accessingsupport services. 100% would access onlinetutors for other courses.Better course performanceMorgan State University attracts students primarily from Baltimore City Schools, andits students arrive with widely varying writing strengths and weaknesses. To promoteits mission of equity and opportunity, the university adopted online tutoring as anew way to support students and promote their success. The university specificallyinvestigated its impact in writing-intensive courses where students submit multipledrafts before a final grade is assigned, and were required to submit at least one draft toonline writing tutors for feedback.Key findings included: Instructors reported that students’ writing skills improved as a result of interactionwith online tutors. Said one, “Good writers improve significantly with the intervention.Poor writers improve as well but need more than just one or two tutoring sessionsto bring their writing up to par.” The professor intends to adjust the timing ofassignments to allow for a second round of face-to-face draft review, so online andin-person tutors work together with individual students. Students expressed appreciation for the expert online tutoring help they were nowreceiving: 69% said they liked having a second source of instruction to turn to forhelp; 62% liked the opportunity to incorporate the tutor’s feedback before turning inan assignment for grading; and 89% said they’d use online tutors in future courses. 5
Higher grades, retention,and graduation ratesGadsden State Community College(GSCC) recognized that students most inneed of academic tutoring often find itdifficult to ask for help, and that studentswho form a habit early in their collegecareer of accessing resources/servicesperform better and feel a greater senseof belonging and ownership of theirlearning. The college adopted onlinetutoring as a key element of its strategyof encouraging students to ask for help,and making it easier for them to do so. Asubsequent impact study confirmed thatonline tutoring support led directly tohigher rates of retention and completion.GSCC researchers found that: Graduation rate amongstudents who accessed onlinetutoring is 47.5% compared toGadsden State’s Right to Knowgraduation rate of 20%. Average GPA of studentswho accessed online tutoringis 2.8242 compared to anaverage 2.2679 GPA for allstudents enrolled in fall 2016.I feel strongly that requiring students to access online or direct tutoringassistance is a very healthful exercise. Because it was a course requirement,we had 100% participation. If it had been a mere recommendation, far fewerstudents would have ventured outside their comfort zones to access tutoringhelp. Students in the pilot formed a new habit of seeking assistance — and thatnew habit may help them survive and thrive throughout their college experience.— Heather Greene, GSCC Instructor6
Increased enrollmentsIn connection with its initiative to increase Virtual College enrollment, Fort Hays StateUniversity complemented on-campus academic writing support services with onlinetutoring that provided high-quality services adapted for the online environment andavailable at all hours.They have used online tutoring to support their Virtual College program which hasgrown sevenfold in the last 16 years.As an online program grows, paying attention to retention is critical. Online tutoringhas proven especially valuable for retention at Fort Hays’ Online MBA program,where MBA graduate coordinator Rachel Dolechek regularly includes it in her advisingprocess. At times, students who are struggling come to Dolechek and say, “I don’tknow what to do. Should I drop this class?” She recommends online tutoring and theresults are often impressive. She asked one new graduate what her most useful pieceof advice had been. The answer: “You introduced me to online tutoring. That’s theonly way I got through Finance.”Anytime/anywhere support tohard-to-reach subgroupsAlthough many students were benefitingfrom the face-to-face tutoring service atWest Texas A&M University (WTAMU),subgroups of students (including nontraditional and student athletes) whofaced impossible scheduling and logisticalconflicts, struggled to get the supportthey needed. In addition, student interestin online classes was growing, so the timeseemed right for WTAMU to add an onlinetutoring solution.Since adoption, the number of studentsusing online tutoring grew from 479 to713 students per year. Students call theservice a success. When asked if theywould recommend it to a friend, 89.7%said yes, and 95.3% would recommend itswriting review services. 7
Promoting studentsuccess throughout thecollege experienceThese schools prove that implementingpersonalized support services, such asonline tutoring, can be game changersfor students. Pearson can also be yourpartner in fostering the success of everystudent, every faculty member, andyour entire institution. SmarthinkingResearch shows studentsonline tutoring (a Pearson offering)who use online tutoring:offers expert academic support in over average higher grades1150 subject areas, developmental level are 20% more likely tothrough graduate and professional schoolcomplete courses2and beyond. In most subjects, tutors areavailable 24x7 and can supplement any would recommend it toon-campus tutoring service or centers.a friend3Discover how Pearson can be yourpartner in driving student, faculty, andEndnotesinstitutional success.1 V alencia College evaluates the impact of Smarthinking online tutoringon student success and persistenceVisit pearson.com/smarthinking2 College & Career Readiness Efficacy implementation and results 20143 West Texas A&M Success StoryCopyright 20192018 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. INSTR9230-15142-CH-0919CAREM9237-10994-0818-LO
1. Students who used both face-to-face and online tutoring had the highest success rates (figure 1). 2. Students who used tutoring appeared to be more likely to be retained while students who used both types of tutoring appeared to have the highest rates of retention term-to-term and year-to-year, suggesting that online and in-person tutoring can
