OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) – College education programs around the state have been looking for ways for students to wrap up their clinical hours for the semester after the COVID-19 pandemic caused schools to shift classes online. A new volunteer program is now providing that opportunity.
Distance learning has opened the door for distance tutoring. Dr. Marguerite Penick-Parks from UW-Oshkosh calls the idea a win-win.
“Our students are practicing their teaching – and they’re teaching students who need somebody to work with them,” Penick-Parks says, “Our students learn and win by teaching their students, and the students who need help and support and guidance learn because our students are helping them.”
The program was created by Dr. Bola Delano-Oriaran, an associate professor of teacher education at St. Norbert College – who invited Penick-Parks, the graduate program coordinator at UW-Oshkosh – to help launch the program. More than 100 of their students signed up.
Five other colleges and universities, including Lawrence University and Ripon College, have since joined the collaboration. UW-Milwaukee is also expected to join the program.
Lawrence University volunteers are working specifically with the Appleton Area School District, which is something they already do.
“It was started as a K-5 initiative, but was expanded to K-12 because some of the schools such as Oshkosh have secondary education programs. So we also have social studies, science, math, and English teachers,” Penick-Parks tells WTAQ News.
There are now over 200 volunteer tutors involved with the program. They teach 30-40 minute sessions through the online ZOOM platform twice a week with each student. Each tutor already has at least two or three students as the program has quickly taken off.
“We now have 650-some K-12 students signed up from all over the United States – they come from Georgia, Montana, New Jersey,” Penick-Parks says, “Students go beyond what would be just completing my homework. That’s not what we’re doing. We’re not doing homework help. We’re doing academic support and enrichment.”
Families, both locally and across the country, can sign up for the tutoring program via this link. Applicants must have basic Internet service – and acceptance is taken on a first-come, first-served basis. Students will be assigned the same tutor throughout the duration of the program.
