Great questions, Tammy. At LSU, we are not planning to replace our existing walk-in tutorial centers. We will augment them with Smarthinking. Currently we are able to offer only walk in tutoring in biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, some engineering courses, and Spanish. Adding Smarthinking will allow us to add courses such as Economics, Statistics, Accounting, and others. Additionally, our walk in centers are only open during the day, and the Smarthinking services will allow us to provide 27/7 access to tutoring. I agree that our college and university tutorial offerings provide an invaluable experience for our students who serve as tutors. They have an advantage when applying to graduate and professional school, as well as when applying for a job. And of course, in addition to leadership skills, the benefit to their own learning is considerable. We would never consider replacing our peer tutoring; we just want to expand the services. Have a great Tuesday! Saundra Saundra McGuire, Ph.D. Director, Center for Academic Success Adj. Professor, Department of Chemistry B31 Coates Hall Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA 70803 225.578.6749 phone 225.578.2696 fax www.cas.lsu.edu http://appl003.lsu.edu/slas/cas.nsf/$Content/Saundra Tammy Pratt <[log in to unmask]> Sent by: Open To Forum for Learning [log in to unmask] Assistance cc Professionals <[log in to unmask] UFL.EDU> 11/13/2006 01:50 Subject PM Re: Smarthinking at four-year flagship institutions Please respond to Open Forum for Learning Assistance Professionals <[log in to unmask] UFL.EDU> I have a more general question related to the rationale of outsourcing on- line tutoring such as Smarthinking. I was just discussing this with colleague and am interested in other's thoughts on the matter. When we consider outsourcing, are we doing our students a disservice by overlooking the current student staff resource available on larger institutional campuses? Many of the learning assistance programs use peer learning assistants which provide exceptional personal and professional development opportunities outside the classroom (leadership development). If we can provide peer to peer assistance on campus, what are the limiting factors of providing on-line synchronous or asynchronous academic assistance applying the same principles of training and development we do for our students who are trained as face to face tutors? Thanks for your feedback and discussion on this issue. Tammy Pratt, Director Assessment and Learning Center 650 Parrington Oval Norman, OK 73019 Ph: 405-325-4336 Fax: 405-325-1870 [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To access the LRNASST-L archives or User Guide, or to change your subscription options (including subscribe/unsubscribe), point your web browser to http://www.lists.ufl.edu/archives/lrnasst-l.html To contact the LRNASST-L owner, email [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To access the LRNASST-L archives or User Guide, or to change your subscription options (including subscribe/unsubscribe), point your web browser to http://www.lists.ufl.edu/archives/lrnasst-l.html To contact the LRNASST-L owner, email [log in to unmask]