As part of the Academic Resource Center (ARC)'s push to make resources available 24 hours a day and seven days a week, it launched the Online Tutor Finder, a program that allows students to find subject-specific tutors.
Most of the legwork involved in finding a tutor can now be performed online. The service finds tutors for particular subjects and hours of availability, and even schedules tutoring appointments. The finder has been online since last spring. Students can access lists of subjects and classes which feature tutoring services on the website. Once the user selects a class, the finder lists names and hours of tutors for that class. A form also allows users to e-mail specific tutors to make appointments.
If a tutor is not available for a particular class, the center will try to locate a tutor through a form accessible on the site. The program was devised to decrease paperwork and to make the tutoring service more user-friendly. It was created by the student services technology team and paid for by Student Services. About 150 students have utilized the finder since last spring and 75 students have used the service during the first three weeks of school.
In the future, Shadi Tayarani, the coordinator of tutoring services, said that the ARC hopes to post old exams on the Web and may also make tutoring applications available on the site.
"We have old exams in many subjects, including biology, chemistry, math, and economics," she said. Despite the ARC's progress, many students are unaware of the tutoring options. Freshman Carly Baruh said she did not think the service was especially important. "I hadn't heard of the on-line service," she said. "I guess I would use it though, if I really needed help in a class."
But sophomore Mellisa Brandt, who used the tutoring services for the first time last Tuesday, said that she could fully understand her math homework for the first time after signing up for regular hours with a math tutor. "I've been having trouble with math all semester, and he actually made it clear so I could visualize it." The service, which employs approximately 100 tutors - both non-freshmen undergraduates and graduate students - features tutoring for advanced courses and writing, and also addresses time management and study habits.
The Online Tutor Finder can be accessed through the ARC Online Tutor Finder website at webcenter.studentservices.tufts.edu/tutors.
