Due to COVID-19 and the transition of face-to-face classes to online, tutoring options offered at the University of Wisconsin – La Crosse have been adjusted in various departments to continue to meet the needs of UWL students.  

The Murphy Learning Center has moved tutoring online, through WebEx. Murphy Learning Center offers drop-in hours throughout the week for students to connect with tutors in different subjects. Each subject offers multiple tutors and many times throughout the day when students in need of assistance can receive virtual help.  

In order to find tutoring schedules, students can visit the Murphy Learning Center home page on UWL’s website and open the “schedule” drop-down tab to view subjects that offer virtual tutoring. Once a subject is selected, the tutoring schedule as well as instructions on how to drop-in to tutoring sessions, are listed.  

As before, the Writing and Public Speaking Centers are both taking appointments for online tutoring, six days a week. The Public Speaking Center is taking appointments through Bookeo, where students can meet peer consultants in virtual meeting rooms for assistance on oral presentations.  

The Writing Center is offering “in-person”, synchronous virtual appointments through WebEx and as usual, online, asynchronous submissions and feedback. 

“I think the biggest complication we’ve faced is still just letting everyone know we are open for business,” said Junior at UWL, Alison Obright who has been tutoring at the Writing Center for two years. “I’ve emailed a few professors who didn’t know we were still open, I think it’s an out of sight out of mind kind of thing. There’s a lot of subjects that are still up and running and available to help.” 

The Writing Center is still able to assist all UWL students with assignments from any subject.   

“We still accept papers at any stage of the writing process, so really feel free to come to speak with us and we can kind of bounce ideas off of each other,” said Obright. “I know some professors also offer extra credit if you come to speak with us and we are still able to connect with your professors and say you were with us.” 

Obright stated it has been a large adjustment moving everything online and the experience may feel different due to the lack of peer-to-peer interaction, but there are many different people and resources available to UWL students in need.  

“Your peers are still going through the same things too, so set up a time to just call some people you know like friends, classmates you got along with, old roommates, or anything like that because even just hearing another person’s voice can make it a little less daunting,” said Obright.  

The office of multicultural student services (OMSS), is also continuing to offer peer tutoring for students on an individual or small group basis. Students can drop-in through Collaborative Ultra to join the virtual chat that is in session.  

“What will typically happen is there will be a link on the peer tutoring website to an open classroom where our tutors will be utilizing drop-in hours,” said multicultural student case manager at UWL, Terra Brister. “On the Collaborative Ultra site, you can use a whiteboard, you can share your screen, and you can really interact with your tutor.” 

OMSS peer tutoring is open Monday through Friday, hosting virtual chats on different subjects throughout the day. OMSS also offers an option for one-on-one tutoring for students whose schedules don’t align with the drop-in hours. If those hours do not work for students, tutors are also free to chat with them directly and figure out another method. 

In order to find the OMSS tutoring schedule, visit the OMSS home page, open the “OMSS Programs” drop-down tab and select “Peer Tutoring.” Here you will find more information on the peer tutoring process as well as the drop-in hours.  

Brister encouraged students to reach out to her to help connect them to tutoring resources.  

“We are not in a [normal] time right now, so it is okay to feel discombobulated, to feel unsure, to have stress, to be sad, to be happy, to be excited. All the feelings that you are experiencing are okay,” said Brister. “Just remember although we may not be able to meet in person or create avenues that way, we are still available online and able to be reached if you do need someone to talk to and just run things down with.” 

To learn more about Murphy Learning Center online tutoring visit, https://www.uwlax.edu/murphy-learning-center/, or contact Lee Baines at [email protected]. To learn more about online peer tutoring through OMSS visit, https://www.uwlax.edu/multicultural-student-services/academic-retention/peer-tutoring/, or contact Terra Brister at [email protected].