Online Tutoring: Strategies to Increase Student Success, College Readiness,

Persistence Rates

Jim Sigman, Vice President, Smarthinking

Pearson’s Common Core and School Improvement Symposium,

Oahu and Maui, March 5-6, 2012

Smarthinking Tutoring Works

Tutoring from Highly Trained/Monitored Tutors Works Better

Tutoring from Trained Tutors at the Moment of Need and According to Specific Instructional Strategies Works Best

A Just-in-Time Academic Resource

DEMO

Three types of Smarthinking online tutoring:

•Live on a Whiteboard

•Question submission on a Whiteboard

•Online Writing Lab

Smarthinking’s Tutors

•90% of tutors Master’s or PhD in subject area

•Average 9+ years teaching experience – instructor level tutoring

• Over 1600 trained tutors available

•Tutors trained and monitored to deliver academic tutoring

SMARTHINKING Tutors will

Engage students in problem-solving strategies to build critical thinking skills.

Encourage students with constructive criticism.

Help students see areas where their work can be improved.

SMARTHINKING Tutors will not

Complete assignments for students.

Re-write student papers.

• Student questions and student papers submitted to Smarthinking tutors will necessarily align with Common Core content provided by Pearson

Available SubjectsAvailable Subjectswriting

• Essay Critique• Grammar & Mechanics• Pre-Writing

• Documentation (APA, MLA)• Research Strategies

reading

• Reading Comprehension

• Vocabulary • Pronunciation

mathematics

• Basic Math• Algebra• Liberal Arts

Math• Geometry

• Trigonometry• Single-Variable

Calculus• Statistics

• Math for Spanish Speakers

• Math Beyond Calculus II

• Advanced Statistics

science

• Biology• General Chemistry• Organic Chemistry

• Physics• Introduction to Anatomy & Physiology

business

• Accounting• Economics

• Introductory Finance• Statistics

Other Available SubjectsOther Available Subjects

computers & technology

• MS Word 2010• MS Excel 2010

• MS PowerPoint 2010• MS Access 2010

• Windows 7

English for speakers of other languages (ESOL)

• Essay Center • Math in English/Spanish

Spanish

• Spanish Essay Center • Grammar Questions

Smarthinking’s Service Levels

• Up to 24/7 service

• Wait times for all subjects less than 5 minutes; mean wait times for math is 30 seconds

• Turnaround times for papers and submitted questions less than 24 hours

• Student Archives of tutoring sessions

• Technical Support

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS

School has access to reports that show:

• Number of Students who accessed online tutoring

•How many tutoring hours used with each type of tutoring offered: Live Tutoring, Question Submittal and Online Writing Lab

• Subjects accessed and amount of tutoring hours used in each subject area

• Report by individual student: amount of time used and archive of all sessions

Composite Report for Hawaii Department of Education available

STRATEGIESDrop-In or On-Demand Online Tutoring

Access

• Sheltered Instruction for struggling students to provide additional resource to help them understand a Common Core lesson

• A Differentiated Instruction model, distinct from both classroom based instruction and computer-based, self-paced resources. Some students will embrace online tutoring and be comfortable in the text-based, anonymous format where tutors will use Socratic method for live tutoring and ‘critique’, rather and proofread or edit papers in the Online Writing Lab

• Self-directed learners.

Consistent Quality and Resources across Schools/Districts

•Increased Contact Hours of Instruction, Improved Time-on-task

STRATEGIESPrescriptive or Required Online Tutoring

Mandating Tutoring as an Assignments

• Writing, key to College Readiness and workplace

• Point recovery math strategy

Promotion of Tutoring Early in Program or Academic Year

• Introduction to the academic resource

•Instructional benefits

•Confidence builder

•Indicator of engagement

Increased Contact Hours of Instruction, Improved Time-on-Task

STRATEGIESUsing Online Tutoring to Promote Parental and Family Support of Students in Meeting Academic Achievement

Goals and College Readiness

Parent/family access to Smarthinking account; Up to 15 hours of tutoring per year

Creating a bridge between home and school

Homework help for the family; working hand-in-hand with learner, and engaging in the process

Notification, ongoing flyers, emails workshops about the resources

Smarthinking Implementation and Support

•Technical Integration; single sign-on or other convenient access

•Instructional design support with Pearson teams

• Customized training for faculty, advisors, LRCs; Parents and Family

• Ongoing Webinars

• Support with Data Reporting and Analysis

• ‘Marketing’ resources, strategies

• Surveys and survey results

Smarthinking and the Hawaii Community College System

• Smarthinking services available at all 7 community colleges; Hawaii, Honolulu, Kapiolani, Kauai, Leeward, Maui, Windward

• System-wide agreement

• Individual campus and system reporting

• Coordinated implementation services

• Focusing services on at-risk courses and at-risk students

Strategies

Drop-In or on-demand tutoring

• Access

• Accreditation

• Consistent High Quality resource across Schools/Districts and Systems; Online.

Prescriptive Tutoring

• Tutoring assigned, primarily to strengthen process-of-process writing

• Promote Early in Program: introduction to tutoring, instruction and confidence builder, indicator of engagement

• Increased Contact Hours of Instruction, Improved Time-on-task

Pan-Pearson Solution

• Financial: pan-Pearson services, content and products

• Academic: Instructional Design and easy access to tutoring resources; reporting to help direct resources to at-risk

• Technical: SSO from Pearson products and any LMS

EFFICACY

Statistically Significant Impact on Student

Academic Achievement and Outcomes

Washoe County School District, Reno, NV• Smarthinking at all 44 middle and high schools; 2009-2011

• Study at Vaughn Middle School; demographically diverse, with 78% of students qualifying for free lunch; categorized a low achieving on state standardized tests

• Extensive Smarthinking implementation support and faculty participation. Students used Smarthinking as a teacher directed assignment and were encouraged to use drop-in tutoring

DISTRICT RESEARCH

The more students used Smarthinking, the better the student scored on state standardized tests in reading, math and writing.PUBLISHED CONCLUSIONS: “Students who used Smarthinking the most were significantly more likely to achieve higher scores on the reading portion of the CRT (Criterion Referenced Test) than students who used Smarthinking less often….Students who used the online tutoring services the most were also significantly more likely to achieve higher NAWE (Nevada Analytic Writing Exam) scores than students who used the services less often.”

Study: Kapiolani Community College, HIStudy: Kapiolani Community College, HI

Subject Average Grade

English 22 - Others 2.09

English 22 – With Smarthinking 2.42

Success Rates Spring 2003 – Spring 2005

Grade Distribution A B C D F Total Success Rate

English 22 – Others 388 480 454 202 437 1961 67.4%

English 22 – With Smarthinking

70 72 59 33 33 267 75.3%

The Journal of Applied Research in the Community College, Fall, 2007

Note: English 22 – Others include students who did not use Smarthinking initially, but then used face-to-face tutoring at the CC Tutoring Center

Average Grades: Spring 2003 – Spring 2005

Average Grade as a Function of Number of Online Sessions Spring 2003 – Spring 2005

Study: Kapiolani Community College, HIStudy: Kapiolani Community College, HI

The Journal of Applied Research in the Community College, Fall, 2007

Number of Sessions

Sample Size Average Grade

1 66 2.03

2 60 2.35

3 49 2.53

4 51 2.55

5 23 2.83

6+ 17 3.12

Study: Antelope Valley College, CAStudy: Antelope Valley College, CA

AVC is a 2-year college in Lancaster, CA

Study – Online Writing Lab (OWL)

2 Cohort Groups to Compare performance in Eng 095, Eng 097, Eng099, and Eng101

Over 95% of incoming students are placed in a Basic Skills course.

Study measured % of students who passed the aforementioned English classes

Research Lead: Aaron VoelckerTERM Non-Smarthinking Users

Smarthinking Users

Summer 2009 43.7% 86.1%

Fall 2009 48.0% 75.3%

Pass Rate Comparisons Students Using Smarthinking vs. All Other Students

Study: Broward College, FloridaStudy: Broward College, Florida

CourseSmarthinking Students

All Other Students

% Difference

Pre-Algebra 66% 49% 17%

Elementary Algebra 52% 36% 16%Intermediate Algebra 50% 40% 10%College Algebra 58% 46% 12%College Trigonometry 88% 68% 20%

Pre-Calculus 81% 59% 22%Introduction to Statistics 71% 63% 8%Composition I 76% 66% 10%

Composition II 76% 71% 5%Developmental Writing 76% 57% 19%

Study: Northwest Florida State CollegeStudy: Northwest Florida State College

NWFSC is a 4-year college in Niceville, FL with 7,556 students

Study - 2 High Enrollment Courses in which students experience difficulty: Composition I (ENC 1101) and Intermediate Algebra (MAT 1033A)

Study performed during the 2007-2008 academic year

Research Lead: Iris Strunc, Coordinator of Educational Support Services

Conclusion: Cost of Service has proven worthwhile in assisting students