New peer-focused tutoring program to launch

A new, peer-centric tutoring program is about to hit the ground running.
Study Jam, a $10,000 program funded and run by the Provost’s Office, is set to replace ASUM’s old tutoring program, Students Tutoring Students.
Beginning Sept. 8, Study Jam sessions made up of small student groups will be held in the University Center Commons Area. The idea is that students get the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other as they learn, as well as to ask tutors specific questions. Tutoring will be offered for the four most popular subjects requested by students: statistics, chemistry, Spanish and physics. New subjects may be added according to demand.
“I wanted it to be near food and lattes,” said Sharon O’Hare, director of the new program. “This is not a classroom environment.”
O’Hare said there are two advantages to the new program. 

A new, peer-centric tutoring program is about to hit the ground running.
Study Jam, a $10,000 program funded and run by the Provost’s Office, is set to replace ASUM’s old tutoring program, Students Tutoring Students.
Beginning Sept. 8, Study Jam sessions made up of small student groups will be held in the University Center Commons Area. The idea is that students get the opportunity to bounce ideas off each other as they learn, as well as to ask tutors specific questions. Tutoring will be offered for the four most popular subjects requested by students: statistics, chemistry, Spanish and physics. New subjects may be added according to demand.
“I wanted it to be near food and lattes,” said Sharon O’Hare, director of the new program. “This is not a classroom environment.”
O’Hare said there are two advantages to the new program. 
The first is that students will have access to tutors in a convenient time and place in the UC Commons. Students are encouraged to come as needed for tutoring, she said, whether to stay for an entire session or just to ask for help on a single question. 
Rather than the one-on-one tutoring STS offered, Study Jam will offer students tutoring at specific times for specific subjects in the University Center Commons Area. Sessions will run from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., replacing the old, unpopular hours of 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The second benefit of the new program is that students will be working in peer-to-peer groups rather than one-on-one tutoring. Tutors will oversee the groups, but students will be encouraged to work together as they learn.
“No one wants to feel like they’re the only person in the world who asks for tutoring,” O’Hare said. O’Hare brings significant experience to the program from her current duties as director of the Math Learning Center, Math Pilot and Math Placement Programs.
Associate Provost for Undergraduate Education Arlene Walker-Andrews agreed with O’Hare.
“In the old program there was more of a focus on individual tutoring,” she said.
O’Hare and Walker-Andrews both studied various methods of effective tutoring before creating the small, group-centric program. Study Jam follows the success of universities that operate similar programs, such as the University of Texas, which O’Hare, Walker-Andrews and Holly Thompson of the Department of Chemistry visited recently.
“We were impressed by the spaciousness, the number of students using services, the open and friendly atmosphere,” Walker-Andrews wrote in an email.
She said that the small study group setting planned for Study Jam, anticipated to be from three to six students, has proven to be more successful in such places as UT.
“Research shows that students can learn very well in those settings,” Walker-Andrews said.
Study Jam program tutors are both graduate and undergraduate students nominated by their respective departments. These tutors will be available to answer questions, but students will also be encouraged to discuss homework with each other under the tutors’ supervision.
“I’d like to hope a couple of people that go through are actually going to enjoy doing their work in Study Jam,” O’Hare said.
The new Study Jam program was created after last year’s ASUM President Dustin Leftridge requested that the Provost’s Office take over responsibility for the University of Montana’s tutoring services.
“(ASUM) had a lot on their plate this year,” Walker-Andrews said. “And we thought that this is the right time to try a different model.”
laura.barnes@umontana.edu