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Online Academic Support Services
A Project Developed and Managed
Through
The Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium
WHAT IS SMARTHINKING?
SMARTHINKING gives students live, one-to-one assistance from qualified educators 7 days a week
Access to qualified and monitored tutors in core courses and skills from any Internet connection
An Online Writing Lab for all courses
Academic resources
SMARTHINKING Provides
Give answers or do the student’s work for them
Rewrite students’ papers
Allow untrained or unmonitored tutors to work with our students
SMARTHINKING Does NotDoes Not
A CTDLC Grant Funded Project
• Supported by a Davis Foundation Grant which seeks to improve and develop online student services.
• Designed to be a cost effective, collaborative model which promotes quality and maintains institutional ownership of the tutors.
Program Specifics
• 13 institutions are part of the project
• Each institution selects, supervises and pays for its own tutors (5 to 15 hours of tutoring a week)
• Students have access to tutors from all of
the institutions for a total this fall of 83 hours of tutoring a week
Academic Support Services available to our students:
I. One-on-One Drop-in Tutoring
• live tutoring for Math 7 days a week (basic math – calculus II)
• Drop-in tutoring for other subjects during the week:
• Psychology
• Sociology
• Accounting
SMARTHINKING Hours
QUESTION SUBMITTAL– All Subjects: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
SUBMIT YOUR WRITING
– All Subjects: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ACADEMIC RESOURCES
– 24 hours a day, 7 days a week ARCHIVES
– 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
II. Online Writing Lab
• Students submit papers for critique
• 24-hour turn-around time
• Writing tutors provide assistance in several areas including:
• ESL
• General Writing
• Creative Writing
• Research Papers
Academic Support Services available to our students cont.:
III. Question Submittal – Anytime
• Students can submit questions to SMARTHINKING tutors at any time
• 24-hour turn-around time
V. Student Archives
• All tutoring sessions are saved in student accounts so they can refer to them at any time
VI. Academic Resources – 24/7 Access
• SMARTHINKING’s academic resources include online writing and study skills handbooks
Academic Support Services available to our students cont.:
SMARTHINKING Tutors
Our tutors’ fundamental objectives are:
to engage and encourage students in active learning, as well as to enhance their motivation.
to strive to help students develop successful learning skills, rather than simply "giving answers" or "doing homework" for them.
Tutors Continued
Online tutors will:
Encourage students with constructive criticism
Help students identify areas for improvement
Involve students in discussion and problem-solving strategies
Treat students with respect
Tutors will not:
Do assignments for the learner, give answers or write any portion of papers
Review and correct errors without active participation of the learners
Comment on grades or predict a possible grade
Getting Started
• Each school has been allocated a generic username and password to distribute to students
• Students will then log on and create their own unique username and password, which they will use from that point on to access the service
• After the student creates his / her account, a personal Academic Home Page will be created.
• CTDLC/Smarthinking Homepage -
Administrative Interface
• In addition, administrators will have access to usage reports.
• Under Reports there will be three options to choose from:
1. Total Usage for Schools 2. Who's Registered3. Usage by Student
Usage Reports
• 1. Total Usage for Schools –
This data is broken down three ways, first by interaction type, then by subject and then again by student.
Usage Reports Cont.
• 2. Who's Registered- This option will allow you to gather data for all students who have registered/ created an account with SMARTHINKING. Please note that these students may have created accounts, but may not have used the service.
• 3. Usage by Student - This option will allow you to pull cumulative data for each individual student. For example, if a professor is requiring that each student use 30 minutes, you will be able to access the total student usage here.
A Steady Increase in UsageUsage Report Comparison- Spring 02 to Spring 03
Spring02 Fall 02 Spring03
Total Registrations 56 288 515
Writing Lab Essays 38 204 398
Submitted Questions 43 132 132
Live Sessions 33 87 84
Total Sessions 114 423 614
By Subject:
Essays 41 220 416
Math 33 94 111
Accounting 2 36 41
Psychology/Sociology n/a 39 21
Computer Science 38 18 25
Distinct Users 39 136 154
New Registrations 55 284 225
