While a majority of colleges and universities offer tutoring to learners, not all students are aware of or taking advantage of these offerings. A July 2023 report from Tyton Partners found while 93 percent of university employees indicate availability of tutoring and academic support services, only 56 percent of learners say they’re aware of them.
Intentional and direct outreach to students who can benefit from services is one way colleges have increased access and use of support services. Pennsylvania State University launched a pilot in 2023, utilizing data and notifications from instructors to identify which students could benefit from tutoring.
After the first semester, campus leaders saw a majority of students who received personalized outreach respond or attend a tutoring program, and administrators plan to track data to see the program’s longer-term impact.
The background: Penn State adopted EAB’s Starfish platform in 2015, launching new institutional efforts to integrate technology into student support work.
“One of the stronger approaches we’ve developed here at Penn State is that the group that is managing that platform is inclusive of offices beyond just academic advising,” says David Smith, associate dean of advising and executive director for the division of undergraduate studies. “The more that that small group talks about ways to make this tool connect students to resources, it allows for brainstorming of ideas about where and how to apply the technology to connect students appropriately to the right resource at the right time.”
The university also has a larger goal to minimize equity gaps in student success, and the usage of technology is one critical piece of that, Smith explains.
How it works: Twice a year, Penn State instructors complete a progress survey on Starfish that tracks items including a student’s performance and instructor recommendations for how to improve. Performance categories range from “outstanding performance” to “meeting expectations” to “in danger of earning less than a C,” and related suggestions include “come to office hours,” “participate more consistently,” “seek tutoring” or “talk with your adviser.”
The surveys take place typically during the third and seventh weeks of the semester, with early indicators allowing students to make adjustments sooner in the semester to be successful and the midsemester benchmarking helping them realistically assess their progress in a course, including their continued enrollment.
Each flag and kudo raised creates an automated email to the student and their adviser, and students are expected to take action on that warning. Professors can also add a comment, which is included alongside the standardized email alert.
When a student is flagged for tutoring, they receive an email that links to the campus learning center and how to contact their student success network as well as reminds them that there is no extra charge for tutoring.
The tutoring and academic support center, Penn State Learning (PSL), launched a pilot in spring 2023 for students in writing courses who were flagged to seek tutoring, but PSL saw minimal uptake with requests for help. In fall 2023, the office began outreach to any student who was flagged to seek tutoring or learning support in mathematics, science and writing-intensive courses.
Within the platform, staff can view all students who’ve been flagged in particular classes to send a message to students within Starfish about how to access tutoring, says Neill Johnson, director of PSL.
A Deeper Look at Tutoring
Penn State Learning, where centralized tutoring is housed at the University Park campus, employs 185 undergraduate students as tutors and peer leaders and, in the 2023–24 academic year, engaged with over 14,000 students for a total number of contacts reaching over 100,000.
By the numbers: Of those students who received a “seek tutoring” to-do, 59 percent participated in tutoring or a Guided Study Group (GSG).
Among GSG-supported students, 235 students in fall 2023 received a flag from their instructor to seek tutoring. PSL responded by sending these learners the session schedule, which resulted in 41 percent attending GSG sessions or exam reviews. When replicated in spring 2024, 1,267 students received referrals and 58 percent attended sessions or exam reviews.
Responses were highest for students in mathematics courses and those who have study groups associated with their class, which Johnson hypothesizes is because students receive constant information about GSG availability, making it hard to miss.
GSG at Penn State
The Guided Study Group program is based on supplemental instruction models, including a peer leader embedded in the course with collaborative learning and weekly sessions. GSG is available for 24 courses in chemistry, economics, mathematics and statistics. During the 2023–24 academic year, 12,717 students participated in a GSG both in person and online. Students can also view recordings of sessions, which are particularly beneficial to off-campus learners, nonnative English speakers or those studying for exams.
Learners at Penn State are in general open to engaging in tutoring, and there isn’t a strong stigma around utilizing resources because it’s talked about often and proactively, Smith says. But the initiative helps deliver timely and personalized interactions with staff and students.
“My sense is that it’s having an impact,” Smith says. “We can see better outcomes for students who receive flags. It’s creating a space where even our approaches to advising can become better.”
What’s next: The next iteration of the pilot will include students who are flagged for language courses.
Leaders hope to track student data to graduation to see how working with Penn State Learning impacted their retention or overall outcomes compared to peer or demographic groups.
One future challenge is breaking silos among Penn State departments and divisions at the University Park flagship to get more faculty on board with completing progress surveys. Across campuses in the commonwealth, more faculty members complete progress surveys and students receive more to-dos and kudos, Smith says. “There’s work that we at University Park need to do in really learning from our colleagues at [other] campuses around how to lower silos, how to be more intentional.”
Another area of focus is identifying how to close the loop on student support flags; while a to-do may be considered resolved because the outreach was completed, it doesn’t necessarily mean the academic issue is resolved with the student. “I think what we’re really trying to stress with instructors is the flag, that to do, is really to get somebody’s attention, and that some action needs to happen as a result of getting their attention,” Smith says.
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