At Salt Lake Community College, the various campus tutoring centers foster a supportive environment through peer tutors and a drive to help students succeed.
Clint Gardner, director of the Student Writing and Reading Center, is concerned that many students do not know about this resource.
“Studies do show that many students do not avail themselves of tutoring options at community colleges across the country,” Gardner said. “But studies also show that students who do take advantage of tutoring have better grades and retain learning much more than students who do not.”
According to insidehighered.com, despite colleges and universities offering tutoring services, only 34% of students are aware these resources exist and only 13% of students are actively using these academic resources.
Students with disabilities and those who are online students were even less likely to use these resources, making up fewer than 2% of total student who use these resources.
However, tutors at the center are regular students, like Jaxson Wilde, an electrical engineering student who helps tutor his peers in math and physics in his spare time.
Wilde knows that students can face challenges when asking for help.
“Mostly, it’s either not knowing we are even here or being shy about coming in. They feel weird asking for help,” Wilde said. “We do not judge where you are in your educational journey. We are simply here to help, and we would love to help you where we can.”
Tutoring centers can be found on several SLCC campuses, with each one having their own “vibe.” English professor and tutor Anne Canavan, who works throughout the campuses, described those differences.
“The South City [tutoring center] is more artsy and laid back. Taylorsville [center] is always pretty busy, leaning more STEM based,” said Canavan.
Canavan suggested that one of the ways students can optimize their time is by coming in prepared.
“It helps when students … articulate what they want help with, because tutoring really works better when the student is an active participant,” Canavan said.
“We do not judge where you are in your educational journey. We are simply here to help, and we would love to help you where we can.” — Jaxson Wilde, SLCC student tutor
The tutoring centers use propensity square matching, a technique that pairs students with similar backgrounds and course loads, to measure the impact on students who regularly use the center and students who don’t.
“What we found is that if they came three times or more in the semester, their GPAs were 0.3-0.5 points higher,” Canavan said. “We do a lot of research to make sure that what we are doing is working for students.”
The SWRC and the other tutoring centers share the goal of leaving students with the support and growth to continue their journey to success. Visit the SLCC website to learn more about the different tutoring services on campus.
