Since spring 2009, ASU has offered online tutoring, but because of high student demand this semester, a wider variety of subjects is now available.
Access Assistance Anywhere, the interactive online tutoring program used, is offered to undergraduate students enrolled in select ASU classes.
Angela Clarke Oates, online writing coordinator for the Downtown Phoenix Student Success Center, was the first to implement the program at ASU because of the need for tutoring for students who were not able to use on-campus resources.
Access Assistance Anywhere is an online program that allows students across the nation to reach interactive tutoring anywhere there is Internet access. ASU students can get access to the program through the University’s Student Success Centers.
Gary Mason, the supplemental instruction coordinator for the University’s Student Success Centers at the Downtown and West campuses, said last semester there were approximately 1,200 combined visits for the three most highly demanded subjects: science, writing and math.
Each semester, the online tutoring grows with new classes because the program has been so successful, Mason said.
“In science alone, it looks as if we will triple those visits for the spring 2011 semester,” he said.
ASU first began using Access Assistance Anywhere to offer online writing tutoring, but has since added almost all math and science classes.
Now, classes outside of core subject areas have been added, such as Introduction to Psychology.
Each online tutoring session is either a half or full hour, and students log in using a URL provided by the University.
The students can hear the instructor, write on a virtual whiteboard and use a live chat room with other attendees.
“Online tutoring is the wave of 21st century education,” Mason said. “It is convenient, it is topical, but most of all, it is fun.”
Nursing sophomore Valeria Di Santo has attended two biology course online reviews and a nutrition online review.
“I think that also is a helpful way in helping us learn … anatomy and physiology are very tough classes, so without these online reviews I would not have done as good as I did or have been doing,” Di Santo said.
Reach the reporter at ctetreau@asu.edu
