247 Office Hours: Increasing Access means Increasing Chances for Success

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24/7 Office Hours Increasing Access means
Increasing Chances for Success
TxDLA 2007

• Danny Clark, Mathematics, St. Petersburg College

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Investigate Online Tutoring and Instructional
Support Services

• Tutor.com limited tools and subject areas in
  Math, limited access
• E-tutor.com Elementary School level and
  asynchronous sessions, limited access
• Tutoreasy.com, Illuminate, Ask Online platforms
  for hosting tutoring events, limited access
• SMARTHINKING Higher Ed focused and
  single-sign-on options available, unlimited
  access, credentialed staff
• Consortiums

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About Smarthinking
Helps colleges and universities extend and
enhance Learner support for their students and
Teaching assistance for their faculty through
state-of-the-art technology, the power of the
Web, and a cadre of professional educators
accessible around the clock.
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Why use the SMARTHINKING Service?

• Online learning assistance center
• 24/7 LIVE Office Hours in Mathematics, or
  Asynchronous submissions with 24 hour turn-around
• Mission
• Enhance learning by connecting students with
  qualified, online instructors
• Staffed with seasoned, online instructors
• Over 90 have graduate degrees in given field
• 10-15 hour online training program
• On-going professional development
• Synchronous and asynchronous tutorials
• Math (Basic Skills Calculus II), Bi-Lingual
  Mathematics, Writing, Chemistry, Statistics,
  Accounting, Economics, Spanish, Biology, Physics,
  Organic Chemistry, Introductory Anatomy and
  Physiology, Finance.

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SMARTHINKING Synchronous Tutorials

• Technology
• Whiteboard
• Most browsers supported on MAC and PC
• Pedagogy
• Active use of pertinent questions to engage
  students in conversation
• Problem-based approaches to engage students

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Admin Report of Student usage in Mathematics
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Actual Archived Student Session
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SMARTHINKING Asynchronous Tutorials

• Asynchronous Questions
• Personalized responses to questions in
  aforementioned subjects
• 24-hour response time
• Essay Center
• Global and embedded commentary on student writing
• 24-hour response time

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Admin Report of Student Usage in Writing
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Email Response from SMARTHINKING Tutor To the
Student
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SMARTHINKING's E-structor Response Form(Your
marked-up essay is below this form.) HOW THIS
WORKS Your e-structor has written overview
comments about your essay in the form below. Your
e-structor has also embedded comments in bold
and in brackets throughout your essay. Thank you
for choosing SMARTHINKING's OWL best wishes with
revising your paper! Hi, Aksana! Welcome back to
Smarthinking! My name is Catherine C., and Ill
be taking another look at your paragraph on
Tarpon Springs. Strengths of the essay Aksana,
you have a strong topic sentence for this
paragraph, which is a good beginning. Your topic
(Tarpon Springs) is very clear, and you have
clear reasons why people love to live there
(small and original!). Thats a great beginning
to your paragraph! Aksana 844511 has requested
that you respond to the Grammar
Mechanics  Aksana, you do have some grammatical
items to take a look at. Lets focus on your
verbs this time. You are tending to divide your
verb, which can make your sentence structure
slightly awkward or confusing. Heres an example
from your paragraph New homes, condos are fast
built so the town becomes greater and more
beautiful. Your verb is are built. Try to keep
your verb together. Dont put an adverb in the
middle of it. This will help make your
sentences more clear. Aksana 844511 has
requested that you respond to the
Organization Generally, Aksana, you have a
established a very clear organization in this
paragraph. First you discuss why people love a
small town and then you discuss why people like
an original town. When you discuss the small
town, your sentence may be too direct. Here is
your sentence  Many people enjoy living in small
town for next three reasons. It sounds too direct
to state for next three reasons. Instead, why
dont you try going into your first idea. Try
connecting the many people enjoy. idea to your
idea about everyone knowing each other. Also,
can you give a specific example of this? For
instance, do people in Tarpon Springs speak with
their neighbors? Do they help each other in
difficulties? You may be able to think of a
specific example rather than just listing three
reasons.   Content Development Also, Aksana, as
you think of specific details like this, you may
find that you dont have to list all three
reasons. You may think of so many interesting
details that you dont have the space to focus on
so many things. For example, your paragraph might
focus on people loving to live in Tarpon Springs
because of the village atmosphere and safety. If
you have a lot of specific details, you might not
have enough room to talk about the original
part. Conversely, you may have a lot of details
about the original part of the city, and you
might not have enough room to write about the
small part. Think about how many ideas you
should cover in this paragraph.
Tutor Response to Student Essaycontinued next
slide
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Summary of Next Steps Aksana, here are some
items to consider as you keep working on your
paragraphs 1)  1.  Think about specific,
interesting details to describe the city. 2)  2.
Decide how many points you want to discuss in the
paragraph. 3)  3.   Make sure your verbs are
clear. Keep up the good work on this paragraph,
Aksana! Thanks for submitting your draft in to
Smarthinking.   Find additional resources in
SMARTHINKING's online library You can find more
information about writing, grammar, and usage in
SMARTHINKING's student handbooks. You can visit
the SMARTHINKING Writer's Handbook or the
SMARTHINKING ESOL (English for speakers of other
languages) Writer's Handbook.
Please
look for more comments in your essay below. Thank
you for visiting SMARTHINKING. We encourage you
to submit future essays.
People love living in
Tarpon Springs because it is a small, original
town in Florida. This is a good topic sentence,
Aksana! Many people enjoy living in small town
for next three reasons. Almost everybody knows
more or less every citizen of his town. It is a
quiet, calm place like a village. Everybody feels
safe. There is no practically street influence
with drugs, alcohol, etc. Tarpon Springs is an
original town because of its Greek population and
architecture which give a beautiful charm to this
town. Tarpon Springs has also Greek restaurants
with Greek kitchens, music and dances. Tarpon
Springs is also an American town. It has all
signs of actual American activity very busy,
many fast food, places with hamburgers, coffee
and hotdogs, modern music, golf and American
football. The list in this sentence is a bit
complex, Aksana. Try to think about how you
could break this down into two sentences. New
homes, condos are fast built so the town becomes
greater and more beautiful. Like a Florida town
it is surrounded by small rivers, lakes and Golf
of Mexico. It has beautiful beaches, waterfront
parks and recreation zones. In conclusion I
should say Tarpon Springs is a small, beautiful
American town where people live, work and love
happy.This is a nice conclusion, Aksana! Be
careful to use the adverb form of happy,
though. Remember, you are describing the verbs
live, work, and love, so you need an adverb
to describe those verbs.
Reviewed Student Essay by SMARTHINKING Tutor
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St. Petersburg College Observed Data (Title III
Grant)
Faculty did not require or encourage the use of
the services
Faculty required or encouraged the use of the
services
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SMARTHINKING Demonstration

• Online Writing Lab
• Math Tutoring Services
• Resources
• Faculty Evaluation Accounts

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Contact Information

• Danny Clark
• Mathematics Instructor
• St. Petersburg College e-campus
• Clark.danny_at_spcollege.edu
• [phone]