{"id":8393,"date":"2018-05-01T19:43:44","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T19:43:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8393"},"modified":"2018-05-01T19:43:44","modified_gmt":"2018-05-01T19:43:44","slug":"utrgvs-learning-center-offers-more-than-just-tutoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losfresnosnews.net\/?p=8393","title":{"rendered":"UTRGV\u2019s Learning Center Offers More Than Just Tutoring"},"content":{"rendered":"

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>The Learning Center<\/a>\u00a0at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley has a bit of an image problem: Some people don\u2019t even know it exists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go out and we tell students, \u2018Hey, we have tutoring in these subjects.\u2019 And they\u2019re like, \u2018What\u2019s the Learning Center?\u2019\u201d said Armando Garza, the center\u2019s program coordinator.<\/p>\n

The Learning Center is available on both the Brownsville and Edinburg campuses, and offers a variety of tutoring services that cover math, science, foreign languages and social science \u2013 including help for genetics, calculus and kinesiology courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of students think we only cover the basic courses,\u201d said Regina Lien, one of the mentors at The Learning Center. \u201cThey\u2019re surprised to find out, \u2018Oh, you do statistics? You guys do business?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The Learning Center is also open to adding more subjects.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe added kinesiology tutoring after students requested it,\u201d said Julio Mireles, a program specialist at center.<\/p>\n

Garza said the center also has online tutoring, and tutoring at the residence halls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to hit everything, to help the students as much as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In some cases, tutoring is available not just for the subject, but also for a specific class, through supplementary instruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tutors attend the lectures, and afterwards they hold sessions for the students. And they work with professors to sort of complement the lectures,\u201d Mireles said.<\/p>\n

STUDY STRATEGIES<\/strong><\/p>\n

The main focus is to ensure that students are successful, Garza said, so the Learning Center provides different types of services.<\/p>\n

In addition to course tutoring, The Learning Center offers help with strategies in studying, researching and reading.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we noticed is, we provide a lot of help for content-based things,\u201d Lien said. \u201cBut we asked ourselves, what about just studying? Reading? Understanding the text? What about doing research papers? How do I find the right databases to use, the right sources to use?\u201d<\/p>\n

From those internal discussions came the Active Reading Workshops, a three-part series to help students better understand academic text. For that initiative, the Learning Center partnered with\u00a0InqSpot<\/a>, a campus reading initiative.<\/p>\n

\u201cUTRGV lecturer Nicole Nicholson had been doing the Active Reading Workshops before, but it was to a smaller group of people,\u201d Lien said. \u201cWe were working with her to basically adapt those workshops for a larger audience, so that everyone can benefit from these workshops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Students who completed three Active Reading Workshops earned a certificate, which they can include on their resume.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people they told us they came because they wanted a certificate for their resume,\u201d Lien said. \u201cOther people said they were coming, because they were just having so much trouble with their readings. And this was something that helped them out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UTRGV<\/a>

UTRGV Learning Centers are available on both the Brownsville and Edinburg campuses and offer a variety of tutoring services for topics that include math, science, foreign languages, social science, genetics, calculus and kinesiology. The center is also open to adding more subjects, and can loan students some tech equipment like tablets and chargers for use at the center. Photo: David Pike\/UTRGV<\/p><\/div>\n

TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a UTRGV student looking for tablet to use or a charging station, you can also turn to The Learning Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you need a tablet, we\u2019re more than willing to lend you one, as long as you keep it in the labs,\u201d Mireles said.<\/p>\n

And the Learning Center at the UTRGV Brownsville Campus soon will have another piece of technology to help students \u2013\u00a0zSpace<\/a>. A virtual reality learning device, it is equipped with special glasses and offers an in-depth view of objects.<\/p>\n

Garza, the program coordinator, demonstrated the device with a program showing the human body.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt looks like the skeleton is coming out in 3D from the computer,\u201d he said. \u201cI can spin it around 360 degrees to see how it looks in the back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stylus allows a user to activate and deactivate layers and identify parts. There also are questions onscreen to help students understand what they\u2019re seeing.<\/p>\n

Additional zSpace programs already are in the works for biology, physics, engineering and chemistry courses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve definitely had some interest from different professors in the departments,\u201d Garza said.<\/p>\n

Professors and tutors have been working with the system, which will be available to students in the fall.<\/p>\n

STIGMA AND UNCERTAINTY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Because the staff at The Learning Center knows that word about the center and its services does reach students, they also knows something else is stopping some students from using the help available.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, there\u2019s a stigma sometimes to come into the lab,\u201d Garza said.<\/p>\n

Lien agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of students have kind of the wrong idea about tutoring. A lot of students that come to us, they\u2019re not coming because they\u2019re already failing a course. They\u2019re coming because they\u2019re either doing really well in the course and want to keep doing really well, or because they want some additional help.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fact, you don\u2019t have to be enrolled in a class if you want to learn something the center offers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re interested in Korean, you\u2019re more than welcome to just stop by and sign in and learn a little bit of Korean,\u201d Mireles said. \u201cAs long as our tutors are there, they\u2019re more than willing to help you.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want it to just be a tutoring place,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want it to be a place of learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

To find the latest programs and events available at The Learning Center,\u00a0like the center\u2019s Facebook page<\/a>.<\/p>\n

WHERE TO FIND THE UTRGV LEARNING CENTERS<\/strong><\/p>\n

In Brownsville<\/strong><\/p>\n