This February, Metro students began working with their own high-tech tutors from Smarthinking.com, an online service assisting students in subjects ranging from statistics to Spanish-language math.

In the two months since Smarthinking launched at Metro, student use has grown dramatically. “Use has been increasing steadily every week,” says Arliss Sunderwirth Webster, fiscal manager for Student Services. “Students are becoming more aware of it and we’re still in the process of rolling out our marketing.”

During the week of March 28 through April 4, for example, Smarthinking logged more than 200 Metro sessions, serving 61 distinct students. During that same week, the Tutoring Center held 184 face-to-face meetings. The online tutoring service is not meant to replace face-to-face tutoring, Webster explained, but is targeted to students who might not have the time to seek on-campus help.

By far, the greatest use has occurred in Smarthinking’s essay center, where students can submit papers for detailed critique with a 24-hour turnaround. Last week Metro students turned in 73 papers for virtual evaluation. Students also sought help with math, statistics, chemistry, biology, accounting and Spanish.

Faculty, too, are beginning to adopt Smarthinking into class assignments, according to Webster. English professors are asking students to submit initial paper drafts to the service for early review, while math and statistics profs have sent classes to Smarthinking for information and help.

From the data, Webster says, “I am seeing students return to get help on a regular basis and that’s a good thing. That says to me that they’re finding it valuable.”

To read more about Smartthinking.com at Metro, go to http://www.mscd.edu/~collcom/@metro/tw@metro_vol2/tutoring_twv2020905.htm

Editor’s note: With finals approaching, students can find Smarthinking.com under the student tab on MetroConnect.