Valdosta State University Brings Thriving Tutoring Program To The Next Level With Online Tutoring

    CAMBRIDGE, MA, May 06, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- AskOnline, (www.askonline.net) a leading provider of online tutoring systems to colleges, universities, and private companies, today announced Valdosta State University has selected AskOnline to help bring online tutoring to their students. Using the AskOnline tutoring platform, Valdosta state will connect their students with their tutors, allowing their students to receive online tutoring, whenever and wherever they have an internet connection.

Valdosta State has experienced tremendous growth in their tutoring program since the establishment of the Student Success Center (SSC) in 2006. In its first year, the SSC had close to 800 student appointments. Less than four years later, the program has experienced growth in student appointments in excess of 1100%. Last year the Student Success Center had more than 13,000 visits by students. Approximately 9,000 of these visits were related specifically to tutoring. As the program has grown, the center is finding that students are often repeat customers, contributing to the sharp increase in visits. The center's impact on the Valdosta student community was recognized when they became the recipient of the University System of Georgia Chancellor's Outstanding Customer Service Improvement Initiative award.

Today the SSC is finding that Valdosta's student population is struggling more than ever to maintain balance because of increased demands on their time. It is not unusual for their students to hold multiple jobs and balance family responsibilities while at the same time working towards their degree. This has made it more difficult for many students to visit the tutoring center during their typical business hours. Additionally, Valdosta's budget is extremely tight as is the case in most schools today. Valdosta was faced with increased usage of the tutoring center but not having the luxury of hiring a large number of staff to deal with the increased demand.

Dr. Chere Peguesse, the director of the Student Success Center, looked at creative ways to continue to build out support for their students with the high quality tutoring experience that students have come to expect from their center, and in doing so, decided to bring online tutoring to their students.

Dr. Peguesse realized that with online tutoring students could seek support without having to actually physically get to the tutoring center, which in turn, would help many of her students with the challenges they face with time management given their current responsibilities.

She chose AskOnline because she felt it was critical that she continue to have her own trained tutors support the Valdosta students in the online environment. "We are very proud of the rigorous training program our tutors must complete before they can work with students. Even though we have an increased demand for our services, I was not willing to compromise on the quality of tutoring our students receive. I really like the fact that with AskOnline my students will still be supported by my tutors in the AskOnline environment," said Dr. Peguesse, director of the Student Success Center at Valdosta State University. "The product is simple to use but has a great deal of functionality and I was impressed with AskOnline's availability and helpfulness during the evaluation process."

AskOnline provides the communication, scheduling, reporting and management tools that make up the easy-to-use safe online tutoring environment that Valdosta will be using to rollout the online tutoring program to their students. Valdosta students who would like to learn more about the online tutoring provided by Valdosta State should visit http://valdosta.askonline.net or http://www.valdosta.edu/ssc/.

For more information about AskOnline, please contact [email protected] or 888-818-9914.

About AskOnline

AskOnline is the market leader in online tutoring systems for colleges, universities and private companies. Installed at colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada, the AskOnline e-tutoring system is the result of years of intensive collaboration with educators and technologists. AskOnline's unique combination of online communication, progress tracking and security features enables institutions to provide superior educational experiences for tutors, students and administrators. AskOnline has spearheaded the development of online tutoring since its inception as a project connecting Harvard University undergraduates with struggling students in the Boston area. For more information or a demo of the AskOnline online tutoring platform, please visit www.askonline.net or contact [email protected].

AskOnline Contact Information: [email protected] - 888-818-9914

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