by Lornna Bates
Managing editor
SE students would greatly benefit from an online tutorial source.
Availability to professors on numerous subjects to help with any questions a student may encounter might ensure a student the opportunity to excel in their courses by eliminating the struggles students face without a comprehensive explanation available to reference.
Smarthinking, an online tutorial accessed on the SE website, offers 24-hour tutorial support for students regarding a variety of subjects. The best part, the tutorial service is offered at no cost to students.
There are over 1,500 hits per day to all of the SE sites, said Dean of Students Camille Phelps. These sites include Blackboard, CampusConnect, the SE Alert System, student email and Smarthinking.
Smarthinking, however, only received 234 page views from Oct. 3 to Nov. 2. The average time spent on the page during the accesses was only 3.25 minutes.
Students are just not aware of the Smarthinking system and the benefits that it could provide during the course of their college experience.
Several features are available in the online tutorial.
The option to connect with an e-instructor is available. Students would choose an active subject from the course listings in the drop down menu and then meet with an e-instructor for a private tutoring session.
Subjects include writing, math en español, basic math skills, microeconomics principles, calculus, geometry and trigonometry, statistics, physics, algebra, macroeconomics principles, general chemistry and introduction to accounting.
Yet another option available for students to utilize is to pre-schedule a personal session with an e-instructor of choice.
Students can choose from the subject listings provided, which include basic math skills, algebra, geometry and trigonometry, micro- and macroeconomics principles, introduction to accounting, writing, calculus and statistics.
Spanish, general chemistry, biology, physics, math en español, introductory finance, introduction to human anatomy and physiology, organic chemistry, and IT support for Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Access and Windows 7 are also options.
Especially beneficial to the college student is the option regarding papers, helping with development, sentence structure, source documentation, etc.
Students are able to submit written papers and receive feedback from the tutor (usually within 24 hours). The comments would be sent to the student’s inbox.
Here, the student would choose from the following subjects: the essay center, career writing, Spanish essay center, paragraph submission and a Spanish one-hour essay.
A fourth option for students to access in their personal tutorial site is to choose a subject and submit a question. The e-instructor would respond to the student’s inbox, usually within 24 hours of submittal.
Questions can range from a variety of subjects, including basic math skills, algebra, geometry and trigonometry, micro- and macroeconomics principles, introduction to accounting, writing, calculus, statistics, Spanish, general chemistry, biology, physics, math en español, introductory finance, introduction to anatomy and physiology and organic chemistry.
Finally, the tutorial site offers academic resources made available to the student which would greatly aid a student in the learning and comprehension of a subject.
Students can use study guides, study skills manuals, test preparation tips and guides and self-assessment tools to improve study skills and enhance learning capability and capacity.
Among the academic materials available to the mathematical student, examples range from a virtual lab in statistics from Rice University, interactive activities for mathematics, SOS Mathematics created by a team of math professionals, which offers math self-tutorial resources, just to name a few.
And specifically for the accounting student, there is a glossary of important terms to help navigate the accounting jargon.
For the student writer, Smarthinking offers an assortment of tutorial subjects compiled into the Smarthinking writer’s handbook. The handbook is styled much like a listing of lesson plans, to teach the process of writing and the frameworks that go into the completion of a paper.
Some of the subjects include writing with a purpose, such as to investigate and evaluate, to argue a position, writing in-class essays, short answer questions, film and television analysis, writing scientific or technical reports, writing short stories or poetry, writing cover and thank-you letters and writing for resumes. There are many more in the purpose writing category to choose from.
The Smarthinking writer’s handbook also offers advice on writing to and for an audience. There are several varieties of audiences, for example academic versus general population, and the style of writing should be tailored to the specific target audience.
The writer can reference the handbook for APA style or MLA style guidance, thesis development information, interview processes and research methods, writing the body and editing/proofreading effectively, as well as basic sentence structure guidelines, tone and point of view tutorials and the proper use of grammar.
Getting started in the Smarthinking tutorial website is simple and easy. Access the Smarthinking website through the SE homepage, under the listing of Student Support Services.
The URL address http://services.smarthinking.com/ can also be used to access the tutorial site. At the login page, the student must enter his/her student user ID in the provided space.
The student’s user ID consists of the first initial of the student’s first name, followed by the student’s last name, then add the last 2 digits of the student ID number @student.se.edu. Therefore, the user ID would be the same as the student’s school email address.
For example, my name is Lornna Bates. My login would be lbates##@student.se.edu. (The ## symbols indicate an individual’s last two digits of their student ID numbers.)