How to book a KPU peer tutor during the pandemic

Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s Learning Centre is still offering their services to students online. Students can access the Learning Centre’s tutoring services through TutorOcean to book a half hour or hour-long session.

Instructors can also sign up and be a faculty tutor or offer their office hours. Before the pandemic, sessions were a combination of in-person and TutorOcean. Since March 18 of last year, the Learning Centre has shifted the platform entirely online.

To book a session online, students can go to the Learning Centre’s website and click “book a tutor”. Following the link, students can sign in with their student number and password.

After logging in, students can search for specific tutors, subjects, and a time.

When a student picks the tutor they want, a box will appear asking for more details on the session. This includes what subject, for how long, and more details explaining what the student needs help with. They can even upload an assignment, essay, or homework questions to get direct help.

Although the process to sign up is easy, there have been challenges in adapting to using TutorOcean online.

Learning Coordinator Emily Tan says that not many students were aware the service went fully online. To help bring awareness, she and other coordinators Dave Bhatti and Harpreet Sandhu used Twitter to promote their services and upcoming events.

Bhatti says the number of students who use the service varies at the time of the semester.

“I would say that [there’s] a little bit of a downward slope. Some people have a preference to in-person tutoring. They’re working already in an online environment,” says Bhatti, adding that there are also technical challenges to being completely online.

“Some of them aren’t necessarily familiar with the technological aspect of the platform…whether it’s a workshop or learning aids that we have, mainly they’re tailored to in person. It’s a lot easier to conduct those sessions face to face versus doing an online session where you may have to rework the material to make it more effective,” says Bhatti.

Sandhu and peer tutor Smriti Kaur say connectivity is a concern sometimes, as some students don’t have access to reliable internet or compatible devices.

“It took me some time to adjust to online tutoring like using the whiteboard, and also adjusting to this whole online environment,” says Kaur.

However, having the service fully online has made it more convenient with students’ schedules and who study abroad.

“Some students find it convenient because they do not need to travel to campus for a tutoring session. They can do it late at night because they are at home, so they do not need to travel, they just need to use a laptop to access any tutoring session,” says Tan.

Peer tutor Karrah Parke says there has been a greater variety of tutees now than previously when sessions were in-person.

Kaur and Parke say they suggest students should review their course material first before coming into the session and having a working microphone and camera if available.

“It’s especially important given this transition online, and I know that lots of people have been struggling with it. We can help provide some relief [and] some tips to get around the obstacle of online learning,” says Parke.

Upcoming events and the latest information can be found on the Learning Centre’s Instagram and Twitter accounts.