Since 2002, the Office of Minority Affairs Tutoring Program has seen significant growth in the numbers of students using its services. Designed to assist Academic Advancement Services in enhancing and enriching the students’ academic success, the program develops, implements, and evaluates an academic enrichment program consisting of tutoring and study/learning skills development.

The Office of Minority Affairs-Tutoring Program started the 2003-2004 academic year with many changes and challenges. Several changes were made to better serve the students. An early deadline, the second Friday of the quarter, was established for students to make tutor requests. This ensures that a student is assigned a tutor by the third week of the quarter. The Tutoring Program offers tutorial services for most science and math courses (75%), foreign languages (9%), social sciences (11%) and humanities (5%). During the present academic year, the fulfillment of tutor requests courses increased from 87% to 92%. The number of requests and tutor assignments increased from 220 per quarter to 600 by Winter Quarter of 2004. This increase is attributed to more aggressive advertisement that presents the benefits of the program. While increasing the numbers does not constitute an objective of the program, it reflects its success and the need to continue providing this valuable service. Success of the program is demonstrated in a small study that compared the effects of the Tutoring Program on students' GPAs. Two groups of students were compared; both similar in terms of ACT score, high school GPA, and other demographic variables. Those who received tutoring obtained a GPA 0.4 points higher than those not tutored. Students may choose individual, group, or walk-in tutoring and are eligible to receive up to 4 hours of tutoring sessions per week per course. Sessions are scheduled from Monday through Sunday.

The creation of a test bank is a new service of the Tutoring Program. Participating students are required to submit copies of the exams from all courses they are taking during the quarter they are tutored. Currently students and tutors may come to 1030 Lincoln Tower and make copies of old exams or they may gain access to the test bank via the following website (http://oma.osu.edu/aas/) beginning Spring Quarter.

The Study/Learning Skills area began a series of seminars on "How to study…" These seminars target skills and information necessary to excel in specific courses at OSU. Seminars for Architecture 100, Psychology 100, Economics 200, and Mathematics 050 to 150 are currently offered. The program is also developing seminars on test taking strategies, motivation, etc. Student may make a request to the study skills specialist to develop a seminar that addresses other topics. The study skill specialist, (Akanksha Misra) is available for individual appointments by calling 292-8732.

I want to encourage students to use our services. The Tutoring Program can be the difference between an A and a B. Upper class students looking for an opportunity to "give back" by helping other students are encouraged to apply to become tutors. In addition to providing a valuable service, tutors can earn extra money. Due to the increase in demand for tutors, The Tutoring Program has posted both the tutor sign-up form and tutor application form on the web.

For further information, please visit: http://oma.osu.edu/.