Peer- Tutoring

Ohio University has always been known as a “party school.” Most people assume all us students do on a daily basis is party; however this observation is far from the truth. Most students walk around complaining about their one miserable class or difficult schedule. Many of us seek help from tutors or other students familiar with our difficult subjects. Ohio University President, Roderick McDavis, has recently taken an interest in peer-mentoring programs on campus.

One program he is focused on is the college adjustment program (CAP). CAP helps students develop academically and motivate them to be successful in the future. They offer free private tutoring, advising, supplemental instruction (SI), and other skills courses. Almost every student is aware of a few of these programs because we receive bright yellow SI stickers in many lower level classes. The main reason these programs appeal to college students is because they are free. What broke college students doesn’t want free help?

Employees of the CAP program made a presentation to McDavis which explained that students showed at least a half letter grade improvement, if not better, in their academic classes. The CAP program is part of the Academic Advancement Center (AAC) located in Alden Library. The AAC has distributed $463,000 in grant aid and served more than 3,500 students (Felser). I have personally taken advantage of SI when I took biology. Although it was a difficult subject, the SI instructor, who was a student in that field and had taken the class before, knew what information to which we should pay particular attention.

These sessions are exceptionally helpful to adjust to college academics. A sufficient amount of people may be resistant to these sessions because they are afraid to look unintelligent or slow. But who is going to be laughing when you get better grades than your friends? McDavis is exhibiting a lot of respect for this and said “(The) Academic Advancement Center is ground zero for success (Felser).”

He has also stated the university is searching for a Director of Government Relations and a new Vice President for University Advancement. University advancement should be in academics because that is where our futures lie. President McDavis wants us to be the “nation’s best transformative learning community,” and we can start by learning from our peers.

Works Cited

Felser, Alex. "Board of Trustees: McDavis Highlights Tutoring Program in Board Report." The Post. Web. 26 Apr. 2011. .