8th December 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
A student created tutoring scheme in East Carolina University is finding that there is an ever increasing demand for the services they offer. In a report on the Daily Reflector’s website, it’s explained that the “Pirate Tutoring Center” (PTC) tutored 2,159 students in the autumn of this year, compared to 1,145 during the same period in 2009.
The centre was set up in 2008, and the tutors are all volunteers who must have an A in the subject they’re teaching, and maintain a 3.0 GPA. The majority of the students receiving help are in their first year of study; the programme’s main role is to tutor students during the difficult first year of university when they’re struggling to come to terms with the demands of university life. The success of PTC is clear, with 89% of the students they tutor continuing into their second year, compared to a campus average of 79%.
The students who receive the tuition can’t speak more highly of it, with one student writing on their feedback form: “The tutors are great; they make everything so much clearer. I don't know what I would do without PTC tutoring”. Emily Coghil, the acting director of PTC said “We're not only helping students who are struggling, we're engaging those who are excelling, our tutors. We're working with two populations. It's a neat pairing.”