American River College’s tutoring program makes virtual change
Classes at American River College are all online due to the COVID-19 pandemic; programs like Starfish and ARC’s Tutoring Center will offer the help students need for their courses in the fall 2020 semester. (Photo courtesy of ARC)
By: Brandon Zamora
This semester, with most classes at American River College, offered only online, the school’s tutoring center staff has had to adapt to this situation to offer students helpful resources to succeed in their courses.
Since only faculty, staff members and a certain group of students are allowed onto the ARC campus this semester, students can’t get in-person tutoring. However, there are still ways for students to get help with their classes this semester.
According to Joshua Moon Johnson, dean of the Center for Leadership and Development, all of ARC’s tutoring programs have fully moved online starting this semester.
“The two main tutoring programs include Beacon Group Tutoring Program, which is designed for specific classes, and the Tutorial Center which offers drop-in and appointment tutoring for a variety of classes,” Johnson said. “Both of these programs offer online tutoring, and students can learn more by visiting the Learning Resource Center website.”
Even though it’ll be done all online, both group and one-on-one tutoring sessions will be available to all students. According to Johnson, the best way to get tutoring help is to go online to ARC’s Learning Resource Center’s website and make an appointment, but students can also do drop-ins during the week.
“General tutoring offers drop-in tutoring during the week from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and on the weekends through our partner NetTutor,” Johnson said. “Beacon offers group tutoring based on the class they are in, and general tutoring is typically one-on-one—students can also make appointments to guarantee they can get the tutoring support they need.”
According to Johnson, the most “in-demand” classes at ARC are available to get help in tutoring if the student needs it and at no cost to the student.
“We offer tutoring for the most in-demand courses and tutoring is free to all ARC students,” Johnson said. “General tutoring has many tutoring sessions focused on math, statistics, business, accounting, management, English and English as a Second Language—we regularly evaluate the subjects we offer tutoring in and aim to meet the needs of students.”
The tutoring center online isn’t the only way for students to get help this semester for classes. ARC’s newest program Starfish, which according to Chad Funk, Associate Vice Presidents of Student Services at ARC, is meant to help connect students to resource centers available at ARC to also get help with anything they need, including tutoring.
“Starfish is a platform that connects students to their instructors and programs they’re involved in such as HomeBase, Athletics Department, Veterans Center, Disability Services and Programs for Students (DSP&S), and other resource centers,” Funk said. “Starfish is meant to give students support that they might need directly with associate staff to help them out.”
For any questions regarding LRC’s tutoring center, this semester can contact them by email at t[email protected] or by phone at 916-484-8002. For any additional information, visit their website. For more information on Starfish, visit the ARC website.
