New Feature: Tutors Can Now Schedule Sessions with Students

Upswing has released a new feature to benefit our partners and their tutoring needs! All campus tutors can now schedule sessions directly with students versus waiting until students schedule with them. This provides more options and group-level reporting for our partners with embedded tutoring and walk-in tutoring. 

While most of our tutoring sessions will most likely still be scheduled by the student, there are a few instances where the tutor may wish to be the person to initiate a session. This handy feature provides flexibility and accessibility for students and tutors alike!

In this post, we’ll talk about how the new feature works and explore some of the situations where this feature would be used, as well as how to take advantage of this expanded capacity within our platform.

Reasons for Tutor-Initiated Sessions

Embedded Tutoring: Some students may be hesitant to reach out for tutoring services, and we have found that direct access to tutors can help ease this initial barrier. Embedded tutoring allows campus tutors to schedule directly with students for individualized assistance.

With an enhanced understanding of the class material and professor expectations, embedded tutors are able to employ best practices to enhance student engagement and performance. Once a student engages with the tutor, they may be more likely to schedule future sessions on their own.

Walk-In Tutoring: Many of our partners utilize our platform within their existing Writing Labs and Tutoring Centers on campus. One of the challenges they’ve experienced is that walk-in session data was not easily captured as the student needed to schedule with the tutor or the tutor had to schedule the session after it happened. Now, a tutor can schedule a session on the spot with the student they are helping to ensure session data accuracy. This feature can be used for scheduling for in-person or online sessions.

Other Supplemental Instruction: Small instructional groups may also find this feature handy as it allows tutors to schedule with more than 1 student at a time. The feature also alerts them if there are existing sessions scheduled with any student to help with scheduling efficiency and increased participation. 

How It Works

Set Permissions: Admins will first ensure that tutors have the appropriate permissions within the platform. To do this, admins should work with their HERO to ensure the appropriate permission has been enabled.

Tutor Login: Tutors will then log into their account and navigate to the tutoring module. Click Schedule Session to open the “Schedule Session” dialog. If the tutor has multiple tutoring types, they can select the correct option. Complete the rest of the fields.

Scheduling the Session: Tutors will set the date, start time, and expected duration for the session. Designate whether this session is online or in-person, and select the appropriate subject. After searching for the student’s name and confirming the correct email address, the tutor will click “Schedule” and both parties will receive an email notification.

Additional Information

Session Approval: These sessions do not require student approval in order to be confirmed with the tutor. Therefore, it’s best practice that tutors should only be scheduling a session with a student after they have consulted with the student and have agreed upon a date and time.

Tutoring Limits: Our partners typically allot a specific amount of available tutoring hours per student, whether the limit is for each week, month, or semester. Currently, a tutor-initiated session will count towards a student’s allotted hours. If an admin wants to adjust this limitation for sessions that a tutor has scheduled, it is possible to create an exemption for specific students.

Learn more about our Upswing Platform

There are plenty of use cases for our services, including Tutoring and our Virtual Learning Center! They have been proven to increase student engagement and retention while providing greater access for historically marginalized students. Please reach out to us to learn more about how we can support your campus, tutors, and students!