U of W tutor program offers kids help with homework

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This article was published 06/05/2020 (2032 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Parents facing the challenge of teaching their children at home can now access virtual homework help from aspiring teachers at the University of Winnipeg.

The virtual tutor program uses online video-conferencing tool Zoom to pair students learning from home with one of 40 U of W faculty of education students for some one-on-one support. Students are invited to join Monday and Wednesday afternoon sessions where they can receive help with a variety of subjects.

While the program launched in mid-April, it’s now beginning to pick up steam. Organizer Kari McCluskey, who works as an occasional instructor and co-ordinator of the U of W’s Lost Prizes seminars, said the idea emerged from hearing concerns from community members about the additional stresses families were experiencing.

“I thought that this homework club would be kind of a filler in the meantime to help support families, and even teachers, who now are having to redevelop their whole plan and what that means for access and that one-on-one time and all those extra pieces,” she said.

After the project was given the go-ahead from university administration, education students jumped at the chance to provide help to parents, McCluskey said.

“Within an hour of sending out the email saying, ‘this is what we’re going to try to do, basically we have no idea what it’s going to look like, but let’s give it a go,’” she said. “It was amazing, it was awesome to see how many students were quickly like, ‘here’s my name, here’s my major, I’m happy to help any way I can.”

Breanna Rae Laggo, a third-year education student double-majoring in English and French, is one of the students who took on the opportunity. She said she’s mostly worked with middle school students, many of whom have parents who face a language barrier or are facing one themselves.

“I think the most common topics that we’ve seen so far have been French and math, so we’re working on that for anyone who wants to come,” Laggo said.

The project has shifted since that initial email. After the first week’s launch, McCluskey set up orientation sessions with parents.

“I think that was an important piece too, was inviting the parents to also get involved,” she said. “If you want to come and check it out, check it out, ask your questions, if you want to sit with your child… that’s totally OK.”

While the program isn’t collecting data on how many students are involved, McCluskey said about 20 students took part last week and interest from parents continues.

“As long as there’s need, there’s families, there’s requests, then we’ll keep going,” she said.

Parents interested in getting their children involved can email McCluskey at ka.mccluskey@uwinnipeg.ca.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca