On-demand video tutorials also will be made, coordinator says.
By Emily Garcia
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
The student learning assistance center plans to continue workshops taught by tutors for students looking for extra academic help in the spring semester.
Workshops this semester include tips on managing math anxiety, test anxiety, time management, study skills, stress management and note-taking skills.
Other workshops help students learn different styles of teaching, ways to absorb and retain what is being taught, and methods to communicate effectively with professors.
The topic of each workshop was chosen by asking students what they thought would be helpful to them during the semester, academic program Coordinator Geraldo Guerra said Nov. 10.
“Our tutors have a good relationship with their students and asked them what they need extra help with,” Guerra said.
“It was difficult to get students to show up so we were only doing the workshops weekly, but now to this point we are actually going to the SDEV and EDUC classes,” Guerra said.
Instructors in student development courses and EDUC 1300, Learning Frameworks, have invited SLAC lab tutors to hold the workshops in the classrooms or classes come to the SLAC lab for the workshops, Guerra said.
Although the workshops have moved to the SDEV and EDUC classes, some workshops are available for students not enrolled in these classes.
The workshops were not as successful as the SLAC lab had hoped, Guerra said.
Only about two or three students showed up at most, while tutors had hoped for a much larger turnout, Guerra said.
“We knew that getting students to attend was going to be hard,” Guerra said. “We knew everybody’s schedule is busy and that it would be difficult to figure out the right day and time for these workshops”.
Next semester the workshops will continue in SDEV and EDUC classes as well as the SLAC lab.
The content of the workshops will be narrowed to specific difficulties within a subject students may be struggling with, Guerra said.
For example, a math workshop may focus specifically on fractions one day or an English workshop may focus on learning how to properly cite sources another day, Guerra said.
The SLAC lab also is planning to make video tutorials for the spring semester.
“I’m not saying all students do this, but if you find yourself waking up, worrying about that exam coming up and you start studying at midnight, you can actually go somewhere and look at the video tutorial to help you study for that test,” Guerra said.
These on-demand videos probably will be on Canvas, Guerra said.
The SLAC lab hires students to be part-time or full-time tutors.
By becoming a tutor, students have the opportunity to be trained to teach these workshops.
To be a tutor, the student must qualify for work-study, have at least a 2.7 grade- point average and have a B average or better in subjects to tutor, Guerra said.
Subjects the SLAC lab offers for tutoring include accounting, astronomy, biology, business, management, chemistry, education, English, English as a second language, government, history, integrated reading and writing, marketing, mathematics and Spanish.
The schedule of workshops being offered this semester can be found in the SLAC lab in Room 707 of Moody Learning Center.
Students interested in becoming a tutor can look for job openings at https://alamo.edu/jobs/.
Students with questions can contact the SLAC lab at 210-486-0165 or sac-slac@alamo.edu.
