UB tutors, coaches give undergrads help using virtual technologies

The coronavirus has dramatically changed the way teaching and learning take place at UB. Among the departments that have shifted to remote methods is Tutoring and Academic Support Services (TASS), based in Capen Hall.

According to Interim Director Vivian C. Jimenez, as soon as the TASS staff learned about the impending campus-wide shutdown, they immediately began researching options for providing their services remotely.

They ultimately chose Zoom because of its ease of use, because the university had purchased it and integrated into UBLearns, and because Zoom was also integrated into the SSP system that TASS uses for note-taking and appointment scheduling. Therefore, getting tutors up to speed was less complicated than it would have been had they opted for a different platform.

“We spoke with all the other tutoring centers on campus and discussed how we would move forward during this time,” Jimenez says, noting that most of the other centers also chose Zoom as their platform. With the help of Interdivisional Marketing and Communications, they put together a document listing all the tutoring options on campus during the COVID-19 shutdown of in-person services.

“Our tutors quickly learned how to utilize the system and they created handouts and tip sheets, which we’ve shared with the other tutoring units,” Jimenez says.

To train the tutors, TASS staff held Zoom meetings in small groups to “get the kinks out” of the process, she explains. The tutors continue to attend weekly online meetings to work through any issues that might arise. In addition, TASS has developed a new UBLearns site to provide ongoing training, which includes discussion boards, videos and reflections.

During a typical semester, TASS has 56 active tutors who conduct about 230 sessions each week. For spring 2020, 50 tutors are working virtually, and they have conducted 200 sessions since they began using the online format March 30, Jimenez says. Nine tutors are also serving as academic coaches.

“The first week of online tutoring took us a bit of time to get everything ready and our tutors settled in,” she says.

Thomas McNamara, a junior majoring in biomedical sciences, says that at first he was disappointed about the shift to online tutoring.

“I was very old-fashioned to my approach for tutoring, and heavily relied on chalk and a chalkboard. I figured this could not be conveyed in an online setting,” says McNamara, who primarily tutors organic chemistry, which he says involves a lot of drawings of molecules, arrows, movement of electrons and other visualizations to convey his points.

“To do this on an online platform seemed like a daunting task that was going to involve me having to change my visual style of teaching to fit the new platform,” he says.

To mitigate this, TASS allowed McNamara to borrow a whiteboard, which he hooked up to a camera on Zoom.

“It was quite the adjustment learning how to navigate its features during spring break before tutoring began,” says McNamara, who had not used any online tutoring platform before. But TASS’s tutorials helped him get acclimated to the new tool.

In an email to Jimenez, McNamara shared his early success with the new system.

“I just finished up three hours of tutoring and it went really well!” he wrote. “I used my iPad camera in addition to my webcam camera and had it projected onto the whiteboard so I could write and the students could copy things down. The students said it was just like being at TASS!”

McNamara also has a PDF version of the textbook and can screen-share his desktop screen and have the students follow along.

“The tutors are happy to be able to continue helping students and working for the center,” Jimenez says. “I believe the response from the students getting help has also been very positive.”

McNamara agrees.

“Students have responded by telling me that the online platform is no different from being in the TASS,” he says. “In fact, all of my students that I regularly tutored in person have decided to continue receiving tutoring in the online platform.”