“Campus tutoring programs should be combined into one service” plus 2 more |
- Campus tutoring programs should be combined into one service
- University seeks to maintain alternative opportunities following closure of Covel tutoring in spring
- Tutoring and workshops on the Hill to be discontinued
| Campus tutoring programs should be combined into one service Posted: 15 Mar 2011 02:24 AM PDT Last week, I made an appointment with Covel Peer Learning Labs' tutoring services to see what future students will miss out on next year, when the program no longer exists. My tutor didn't turn my writing into Pulitzer Prize-caliber work, but she did help me realize where my writing was unclear and where I needed to elaborate. There's no question that UCLA needs to have tutoring options available to all students – it's an essential service. Professors here demand a lot from their students and it falls on the university to make sure we as students have the support to succeed in these classes. Instead of simply cutting Covel's tutorials, which are open to all students, the administration should redirect funding from all current sources into one streamlined program. The new tutoring service would have one set of managers, joint office space and shared resources, saving administrative costs for all of the programs. While it's easy to disagree with the decision to close Covel and demand that the administration change its decision, it's not easy to say what should be cut instead. According to Judith Smith, vice provost and dean of undergraduate education, her office has received a 15 percent cut. The programs she oversees include freshman clusters, Fiat Lux seminars, undergraduate research, honors, academic counseling and the Academic Advancement Program. All of these are important programs for the university to offer. Though Covel is also critical, its $400,000 budget is large enough that Smith said that she does not expect its services will be saved in the future. But instead of scrapping Covel tutoring, the university offices should combine existing tutoring programs. Currently, there are several: AAP and Athletics offer peer learning services for their students, the math department has drop-in tutoring operated by its graduate students, and the Student Retention Center offers workshops similar to those that Covel offered. AAP, Covel, Athletics, and individual departments have different groups of students they serve and are very different programs, but their tutoring components are not that different. Tutoring is tutoring. Consolidating all tutoring programs would save administrative costs, reduce the number of full-time staff needed for management and continue offering services to students. A combined tutoring service would also help save money on resources, training, hiring and advertising. AAP's budget for peer learning could be shifted to this consolidated tutoring service, Athletics could fund it in part, and departmental tutors could be listed in one go-to place for students. It would also be easier for students who want tutoring to go to one place instead of debating where to go for extra help. There are thousands of students who get tutoring through various programs. The demand is obviously there and an academically challenging university like UCLA has a duty to support all of its students. Instead of asking that the university change its decision of cutting Covel tutoring, students should suggest a better way of doing things. A Facebook group with a few hundred members won't change the minds of administrators (remember Undie Run?). The tutors who will be jobless next year and the students who receive tutoring know best how tutoring organizations function. They are the best people to suggest streamlining plans to the Division of Undergraduate Education. Cutting programs to their bare minimum is not the answer to budget cuts. No one wants to have to book academic counselors weeks in advance. But the answer is also not cutting essential services. Tutoring, counseling and research are all essential for a university. Eliminating redundancies and consolidating programs that have similar missions can save money for the university and streamline a convoluted bureaucracy. Should UCLA cut counseling and honors instead? E-mail Ramzanali at aramzanali@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to opinion@media.ucla.edu. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| University seeks to maintain alternative opportunities following closure of Covel tutoring in spring Posted: 15 Mar 2011 10:24 AM PDT The university is considering alternative tutoring options following the decision to end free peer tutoring on the Hill. The Academics in the Commons program, which serves about 3,000 students and costs about $500,000 yearly, will close June 10. It is the only on-campus tutoring program that is open to all students. Tutoring classes in Covel Peer Learning are focused largely on math and science. The Department of Undergraduate Education will work with academic departments to create free tutoring opportunities for classes that Covel currently offers tutoring in. Judith Smith, vice provost of undergraduate education, said she wants to establish these options by fall. English as a Second Language and composition labs will also be cut, Smith said. Since these are mostly one-on-one drop-in services, they are more difficult to replace, she said. Additionally, maintaining ESL and composition labs are a lower priority because the academic courses already have a low teacher-student ratio, she said. Over the past three years the department's budget has been cut 12 percent. An additional $1 million has been cut this year, and the department's budget could be reduced again in the future. Smith said the main reason behind this is the state's inability to fund employee health benefits and retirement contributions. Smith said she made the decision to cut funding for Academics in the Commons because it serves a small group of people in only select classes, whereas other programs have a broader effect. Priorities that lie above maintaining Covel tutoring include Academic Advancement Program tutoring, which serves about 25 percent of undergraduate students, and academic counseling, which helps students make academic decisions and graduate in a timely manner. Students and faculty involved in academic counseling are also working to maintain peer tutoring opportunities. In addition to cooperating with undergraduate deans, Undergraduate Students Association Council Academic Affairs Commissioner Suza Khy said she plans to approach Chancellor Gene Block about dipping into the $200 million donation from the Lincy Foundation, part of which is supposed to support academic programs. In addition, students and faculty are organizing efforts to come up with a proposal that will take into account budget cuts while keeping student needs in mind, said AITC Athletics supervisor Cindy Nguyen. Academics in the Commons currently hires about 120 students a year, which will be cut to about 100, Smith said. Tutors are still needed because of the high number of tutoring classes offered for athletes, Nguyen said. Athletic tutoring will continue because it is funded by the athletics department. Nonetheless, Nguyen said the cuts undermine one of the ruling tenets of a public university – fair and equal opportunity for all students. The high demand and frequent return of students in tutoring classes speaks to the effectiveness of tutoring, said peer-learning facilitator and fourth-year psychobiology student Ryan Tuschida. Tuschida is also involved with Nguyen's campaign to reinstate free peer tutoring, and said he knows the goal is difficult considering the current economic climate. "Realistically it takes time for things to happen," he said. "From this step forward, it needs to be 'OK, there is an issue, how do we resolve that? How does everyone come out winning?'" This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Tutoring and workshops on the Hill to be discontinued Posted: 12 Mar 2011 03:01 PM PST Free tutoring programs and workshops in Covel Commons, which assist about 3,000 students per quarter, will close at the end of spring quarter due to budget woes. The Covel Peer Learning Labs for math, science and composition will be discontinued, as will the Peer Advising Network. Peer learning for student athletes will continue because it is paid for by non-state funding. Under current budgetary conditions, the programs in Covel are not likely to return, said Judith Smith, dean and vice provost of the Division of Undergraduate Education. If Covel tutoring shuts down, UCLA will be the only UC without peer learning that is blind to issues like financial status or race, said Ryan Tsuchida, a peer learning facilitator for five quarters and a fourth-year psychobiology student. The labs employ about 120 students as peer learning facilitators each year, said Bruce Barbee, director of Academics in the Commons. Three staff members will lose their jobs, and 20 to 30 fewer peer learning facilitators will be hired next year, Smith said. Tsuchida said the math and science labs are open to all students and fill up very quickly each quarter. Health science students will likely feel most concerned because the math and science tutorials have the most students, Barbee said. Also, students who speak English as their second language will lose a resource to improve their writing. Tsuchida said he and other peer learning facilitators hope to spark a significant response from students and others on campus to protest the cut. "I would have failed (Chemistry) 14C without Covel tutoring," said second-year anthropology student Emma Basaran. "It's getting harder and harder to be successful." Smith said she hopes to work with other departments to expand academic service to students. For example, the Office of Residential Life runs math and science drop-in peer learning, and the Mathematics Department provides similar services, which Smith said she would like to help develop. "It's a shame we're in a situation where something like this (has happened)," Barbee said. "But it's strictly a business decision." This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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