Student Services

All Accounting courses (ACCT):

Online only: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Business Online Tutoring schedule

Email: tutoring@mikeshiner.com

All Biology courses (BIOL)

On campus: Science Study Center (Room 3220): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Science Study Center schedule for online tutoring.

Email: tutoring@mikeshiner.com

Courses:
Chemistry Concepts (CHEM 1700)
Principles of Chemistry 1 and 2 (CHEM 1711 and 1712)

On campus: Science Study Center (Room 3220): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Science Study Center schedule for online tutoring.

Email: tutoring@mikeshiner.com

Organic Chemistry 1 and 2 (CHEM 2720 and 2721)

On campus: Science Study Center (Room 3220): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Science Study Center schedule for online tutoring.

Email: tutoring@mikeshiner.com

All Communications courses (COMM)

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Liberal Arts Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Quentin James

Business Communications (BUSN 1449)

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Liberal Arts Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Quentin James

Courses:
Computer Science & Information Systems (CSCI 1410)
Introduction to Computing and Programming Concepts (CSCI 1523)
Java Programming 1 (CSCI 1541)
Web Fundamentals/HTML (CSCI 1450) C++, HTML, Java, Python

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the STEM Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Daniel Gala

All Economics courses (ECON)

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Business Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Daniel Gala

Courses:
Composition 1 and 2 (ENGL 1711 and ENGL 1712)
Creative writing and literature courses

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Liberal Arts Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Quentin James

Fundamentals of Writing 1 or 2 (ENGL 0921 or ENGL 0922)

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Liberal Arts Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Quentin James

All EAPP courses

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Liberal Arts Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Quentin James

Reading and writing in History (HIST)

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Liberal Arts Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Sam Benson

All Math courses (MATH)

Mathematics for Trades (for example, math in CARP, PIPE, ELTN, or SMET courses)

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the STEM Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Daniel Gala

All Natural Science courses (NSCI)

On campus: Science Study Center (Room 3220): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Science Study Center schedule for online tutoring.

Email: tutoring@mikeshiner.com

Courses:
Ethics (PHIL 1720)
Healthcare Ethics (PHIL 1722)
Logic (PHIL 1710)

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Liberal Arts Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Quentin James

All Physics courses (PHYS)

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the STEM Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Daniel Gala

All Reading courses (READ)

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Liberal Arts Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Quentin James

On campus in the Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment needed. The Tutoring Center is open Monday-Thursday 9am-6pm and Friday 9:30am-3pm.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Liberal Arts Online Tutoring schedule.

Email: Quentin James

On campus in the Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment needed. The Tutoring Center is open Monday-Thursday 9am-6pm and Friday 9:30am-3pm.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Liberal Arts Online Tutoring schedule.

Email: Quentin James  

Microsoft Office applications, including Outlook, OneDrive, Word, and PowerPoint
D2L Brightspace, Zoom.

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Technology Online Tutoring schedule

Email tutoring@mikeshiner.com

Reading and writing in other courses (for example, Sociology)

Writing not for a class (for example, essay for a scholarship application, resume and cover letter, etc.)

On campus: Tutoring Center (Room 3125): No appointment is needed.

Online: Appointment needed; make an appointment on the Liberal Arts Online Tutoring schedule

Email: Quentin James

Academic Support Centers exist to support student learning and academic success. Saint Paul College professional fellows and peer tutors prioritize collaboration and partnership with students to help them reach their unique goals.

Our work is grounded in a strengths-based perspective: We acknowledge students’ capacity to learn and help them build from their existing skills and experiences in academic and non-academic contexts.

While we support students on specific assignments and projects, we focus on facilitating opportunities to learn broader disciplinary concepts, develop metacognitive strategies, and connect their learning to new contexts throughout their careers and personal lives.

Tutoring is a conversation. During a session, you can expect the tutor to ask you questions about your needs and goals for the meeting.

Our professional fellows and peer tutors will:

• Discuss patterns of errors and methods for improving your work when studying independently
• Do their best to help you understand your assignment and key concepts
• Offer study strategies to help you learn the material and complete your assignments on your own
• Read your work closely and suggest new ideas to consider
• Share appropriate resources, such as websites or handouts, that can help you continue to improve your skills.

Our professional fellows and peer tutors will NOT:

• Check your homework for correctness
• Do the work for you
• Help with online tests and quizzes
• Predict grades on assignments
• Proofread or edit your writing
• Replace your instructor—tutoring does not replace attending classes, reading assigned texts, seeking help from instructors, or studying on your own. Rather, tutoring is a supplement to all of these other actions that successful students do.

Tutoring is a collaborative partnership between students and tutors. Therefore, students have some responsibilities to ensure an effective and supportive learning experience.

• Before you meet with a tutor, try the assignment on your own and do as much as you can. Review all the material your instructor has provided, and identify specific questions you want to ask the tutor.
• Meet with a tutor at least a day before an assignment is due—and earlier is better. This ensures enough time for learning and practicing the ideas discovered during a tutoring session.
• Arrive to in-person and online tutoring sessions prepared to meet with the tutor. Bring the assignment instructions, work you’ve done so far, and other relevant materials. If you have an online tutoring appointment, email the materials to the tutor before the session.
• Participate in your tutoring session. This can mean answering your tutor’s questions, asking questions if you’re not sure what your tutor is saying, sharing your own ideas, and practicing the new ideas your tutor shares.
• Work independently between sessions and make progress on your assignment before working again with a tutor.
• If you miss a class meeting, contact your instructor to receive any missed work and instruction. The tutors are here to answer specific questions you may have after you take part in instructors’ lessons and attempt assignments.
• During online tutoring sessions, try to avoid leaving the room or having conversations with other people. Online tutoring sessions are most productive when conducted from a quiet, private space free from distractions.
• Attend scheduled appointments, or communicate with the tutor if you’re no longer able to attend. Please cancel or reschedule at least 30 minutes before your scheduled appointment time. This opens the appointment to another student.

The following policies to all in-person and online Saint Paul College tutoring services:

• Tutoring services are reserved for Saint Paul College students.
• In general, individual tutoring (online and in-person) is limited to a maximum of 60 minutes per student, per subject, per day, and 180 minutes (3 hours) per subject, per week. This is intended to support students’ independent learning. This limit does not apply to group study sessions a tutor may host; students are welcome to join those in addition to individual tutoring sessions. The department is committed to supporting access and students’ learning needs and, therefore, may make exceptions to tutoring amounts on a case-by-case basis.
• Student agency and integrity are important for student success. As such, Saint Paul College fellows and peer tutors cannot help with tests and quizzes.
• Food is not permitted in the Tutoring Center or the Science Study Center. Drinks with a cover are allowed.
• In order to maintain an environment conducive for learning and studying, phone calls are not allowed within either center. If you must take a call, please step outside the centers to do so.
• If consulting multimedia resources (e.g., videos), headphones are required. Use headphones at a volume that is not disruptive to those around you.
• Please refrain from bringing children with you to the centers.
• Only online tutoring requires an appointment. If you miss a scheduled appointment, it is considered a “no-show.” If you are more than 15 minutes late to an appointment, this may also be considered a “no-show” and the fellow or peer tutor may no longer be able to meet with you. After three no-shows, you will not be able to schedule a tutoring appointment for one week. We do our best to communicate with students about missed appointments.
• All online tutoring appointments are recorded. Saint Paul College will store each recording for 365 days; the video will only be accessed by Saint Paul College staff whose work requires access to the data (or others if required by law). When scheduling an online tutoring appointment, you will be asked to consent to this recording.

Academic Support Centers at Saint Paul College seeks students to work as peer tutors in a variety of subjects, including Accounting, Biology, Chemistry, EAPP, English, Health Care Ethics, Logic, Math, and Physics.

Peer tutors are an important part of the Academic Support Centers team. They provide individual and small group tutoring services to all current Saint Paul College students. Tutors help students understand their assignments, explain key concepts of course materials, offer feedback and encouragement, and share appropriate resources.

The position pays $17.00 an hour.

No prior tutoring experience is required, and paid training is provided. Academic Support Centers offers an education program that introduces peer tutors to effective and inclusive tutoring practices, provides learning opportunities to continue developing their discipline-specific knowledge, and embeds ongoing mentorship to support peer tutors’ academic and professional development.

Strong candidates will possess the following qualities:

• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively
• Ability to maintain strict confidentiality
• Desire to help others learn
• Desire to work with a diverse population of learners
• Responsible, dependable, honest, and mature
• Strong active listening skills

Applications are accepted throughout the academic year. To apply, email the following items to tutoring@mikeshiner.com:

• Your resume
• Your unofficial Saint Paul College Transcript
• A “Faculty Recommendation Form” completed by a current or former instructor
• A writing sample (a writing sample is only necessary if you are applying to be a writing or EAPP peer tutor)

If you have any questions about the application process or position, call 651.403.4466, or email tutoring@mikeshiner.com.

Here are a couple of ways to connect your students with us:

• Show students our website
• Demonstrate how to make an appointment for online tutoring or how to meet with us on campus
• Schedule an introductory visit for your class to the Tutoring Center (Room 3125) or Science Study Center (Room 3220)
• Schedule a time for one of our fellows to visit your class (either in-person or via Zoom).

To schedule a class visit to our centers or to your classroom, email tutoring@mikeshiner.com.

Sometimes faculty will require their students to work with a tutor on an assignment or offer extra credit for doing so. While we appreciate these well-intended incentives to connect students with academic support, these practices often create a large spike in demand for individual tutoring services that we may not be able to meet and that may limit other students’ access to services.

When we talk to students about our services, we ask them about their academic goals and their motivations. From there, we can have a conversation about how their individual choice to work with academic support might align with their motivations and help them work toward their goals. We’ve found that student choice often leads to a positive learning environment. 

Instead of mandating students to visit the Tutoring Center or the Science Study Center, please encourage students to use our services and consider reaching out to us to explore ways we might collaborate on supporting students.

Academic Support Centers offers several programs and services in addition to individual tutAcademic Support Centers offers several programs and services in addition to individual tutoring that provide an opportunity to facilitate a closer partnership between faculty and the department:

• We support course-embedded peer tutors who work under the guidance of an instructor over the duration of a course to provide individualized support and encouragement to students both inside and outside of the classroom.
• Extra support sections are our most intensive support option. In these sections, fellows work collaboratively with faculty to build foundational learning skills and knowledge, including knowledge and skills that might be assumed for the course and not explicitly taught. Extra support sections are targeted to courses that have active learning activities (labs, discussion), multistep assignments that involve integrating multiple literacies, and direct engagement with unfamiliar materials (e.g., reading primary texts, hands-on labs).
• Professional fellows can provide applied math workshops for career and technical programs; writing, reading, and computer applications workshops; review sessions in math and science courses; and peer-review sessions for writing projects.
• Academic Support Director Mark Kjellman and professional fellows offer consultations to faculty on embedding academic support into programs and developing academic support resources.

Connect with us at tutoring@mikeshiner.com if you’re interested in any of these academic support models or have additional ideas. Please note that unfortunately, we cannot guarantee the availability of each of these services every semester due to staff capacity.