GCU TODAY • 9
tests and grasp increasingly difficult concepts. With the guidance of Dr.
Joe Veres, director of student development and outreach, the tutors began
working with GCU faculty on a tiered remediation and enrichment plan.
“We began to look at some classes where students weren’t too
successful — freshman math, for example — and said, ‘How can we be
more proactive and start building this series?’” Veres said. “The tutors
dissected the courses on their own and with faculty.”
They came up with three tiers in four subject areas: math, writing,
Excel (primarily for accounting majors) and science, with a focus on
anatomy, physiology and physics. The tiers are designed to (1) remove
deficiencies, (2) work toward mastery of the material and (3) build
concepts and critical thinking. The After Dark
Series was launched in January, four nights a
week for 15 weeks in two campus locations, no
appointments needed.
To gear up for After Dark, Trish Anderson,
an alumna who is working on a doctorate in
educational leadership at GCU, was hired as
program manager of University tutoring.
“We already have established an open-door
policy with our faculty, and it’s awesome to have
them feeling comfortable to come in and talk
with us,” said Anderson, a former high school
teacher with a master’s degree in educational
administration.
The new system has an early alert component
that’s triggered when a student’s work is subpar
and tutoring is requested by a professor.
Dr. MarkWireman, an assistant professor of anatomy and physiology, was
among the faculty members who gave the tutors resources such as course
review guides and PowerPoints to ensure consistency between classroom
learning and tutoring. Wireman also directs students to Science After Dark if
they can’t drop by during his office hours or attend study sessions.
“I haven’t seen this type of program before as we have set it up,” he
said. “There is more collaboration between the faculty and the student
tutors, which I think benefits the students. I feel that it’s successful, too,
because students are more available during the evenings.”
Sophomore biology majors Aaron Widger and Brittney Poggiogalle
routinely attend the Science After Dark sessions on Wednesdays. Widger
prefers large group sessions, while Poggiogalle does better in one-on-one
tutoring. Thankfully, both are available now at GCU.
Poggiogalle, like Beatty, sought tutoring as a freshman at the CLA
and credits the center for teaching her to study effectively. This year,
her classes are more challenging, and she works with Beatty as many
as four times a week, gathering up friends to join, too. “We all struggle
together,” she said, laughing.
Poggiogalle, 20, is getting the A’s she wants, but that’s not all. Beatty
is teaching her to be a tutor.
“If I can tutor Brittney a concept in physics and she can teach it to
Aaron, that reinforces the concept for her,” he said.
The bonus: “It definitely is fun,” said Widger, 19, who never imagined
physics could be so understandable. “You make friends, they get some
music going to keep it light. It’s definitely welcoming.”
Not reinventing the wheel
GCU didn’t have to look far for a successful model on which to base its
enhanced tutoring. A successful approach already was raising test scores
of a very different clientele right in its own backyard or, more precisely,
in Building 16 on campus.
The Learning Lounge, a free afterschool tutoring program for students
at nearby Alhambra High, a once underperforming school, was launched
by GCU in September 2013. The lounge gave Alhambra students a fun,
safe, welcoming place to work on their reading, writing and math skills,
one-on-one and in groups with GCU student tutors. The program later
was extended to students in the Phoenix Union High and the Alhambra
Elementary School Districts.
“The University wanted to create personal
connections with its students in a bright
environment with snacks and giveaways and have its
tutors feel part of a team,” Veres said.
The lounge has no shortage of enticements —
free food, T-shirts, mugs and other giveaways — and
has grown into a family led by the tutors.
“The Learning Lounge received a lot of recognition
because it was different — it’s a public-private
partnership and kids showed up and looked forward
to being there,” Veres said. “(GCU President/CEO)
Brian Mueller wanted all tutoring to look like this,
and that didn’t mean a couple of fake plants and
couches in a room. The relationships that we built
with the high school we wanted our University
students to have, too, with their peers in this setting.”
But if the hands-on nature of the lounge was to be preserved, more
help would be needed. The student tutors were joined last fall by 675
GCU freshmen who began volunteering at the Learning Lounge as part
of their scholarship requirements. They were trained to work with the
K-12 students, and the student tutors began teaching their peers.
Building on success
With the launch last fall of GCU’s College of Science, Engineering and
Technology, the opening in August of its new Engineering Building and
a goal of having 70 percent of GCU’s enrollment in STEM majors by
2020, the Learning Lounge has much to do.
This fall, as many as 85 GCU student tutors and 675 student
scholarship recipients will be working in Building 16 and in new
outposts in the University’s library and the Engineering Building. A
tutoring facility also will be housed in The Grove, a complex of four
residence halls for freshmen opening in August, as well as study rooms
in those dorms.
“They will carry that ‘family mentality’ over to the University side,
where they can maintain the relationship building and customer service
that they’ve learned in K-12,” Anderson said.
And they will continue to emphasize the Learning Lounge’s
successful teaching mantra of demonstrating a skill, practicing it
together and handing it off to the learner — “I do, we do, you do.”
It’s worked for Poggiogalle: “Without tutoring, I would not be where
I am now. I didn’t think I could do physics, but now I know I can.”
How to obtain
tutoring:
A. Drop by the University
Learning Lounge in Building
16, just west of
the Intramural Field
B. Visit
C. Call 602-639-8901
D. Do any or all of the above
Answer: D
