Shahzaib Masood (right) comes into UD’s Office of Academic Enrichment for tutoring from fellow Blue Hen Abigail Seney. Regularly taking advantage of the extra help, he said, is why he aced his physics exam earlier in the day.
Article by Diane Stopyra Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson February 07, 2020
Shahzaib Masood found his first college chemistry course so baffling, he began stress-eating chicken from the food cart outside Smith Hall.
“I remember staring at the lecture manual, not getting anything out of it,” said Masood, a freshman in the University of Delaware’s mechanical engineering program. “So after class I’d get a gyro. And an hour after that, I’d order another.”
Without accounting for his professor’s grading curve, Masood was on track to fail the class. And, since panicking only made attempting to decipher molecular formulas on his own more difficult, he opted for a different game plan. With yet another serving of Greek rotisserie in hand, he turned to the UD’s Office for Academic Enrichment, or OAE, on South College Avenue.
“The people here translated my textbook into English,” laughed Masood, who finished the semester with an A- in the course.
This is the magic of OAE, whose mission is empowering all students for success. Among the (mostly free) offerings are individual and drop-in tutoring, skill-building classes, one-on-one coaching, review sessions and workshops on everything from test taking to effective goal setting. Proponents include both honors scholars and those who are struggling. Self-described nerds and jocks. Scientists and artists. Math buffs who eat Pythagoras’ Theorem for breakfast and environmental studies majors who likely care more about Pythagoras’ carbon footprint than his algebra.
The students may run the gamut, but they often share one commonality.
“So many young people come to college with an attitude of: ‘I’m a straight-A student; everything is going to be fine,’ ” said Lysbet Murray, assistant director at OAE. “But the expectations are significantly different than in high school. Here, you can’t just memorize material; you have to dig deeper into it. We encourage students to take advantage of their professor’s office hours, and we also provide further guidance on processing — rather than simply collecting — information.”
Lysbet Murray (left), assistant director at UD’s Office of Academic Enrichment, and colleague Corrin Omowunmi, OAE program manager, stress that the services they offer are not just for struggling students. “I like to promote being proactive versus reactive,” Omowunmi said. “Don’t wait until you’re already in the pits of C, D, going into F range to come in for tutoring. Everyone can benefit from connecting with a mentor who has already been there, done that.”
Take Allison Michalowski, OAE tutor and senior student studying psychology and public health. If she has pupils who are struggling to move from rote memorization to conceptual understanding, she encourages them to roleplay as instructor.
“Imagine you’re the one making up the test,” she said. “What questions would you include? Write these down, then answer them out loud as though you were explaining the material to someone else. It sounds silly to sit in your dorm room and talk to yourself, until you realize it works.”
While some might perceive a stigma attached to asking for academic help — “This used to be a place people would slink by or sneak in,” Murray said — that stigma is eroding due largely to good worth of mouth. When someone’s offering easy, actionable hacks for improving (or maintaining) one’s academic record, news apparently spreads faster than on make-your-own-mac-and-cheese day in the Trabant Food Court. In the fall semester alone, OAE booked 3,445 individual tutoring appointments and recorded 1,363 visits for drop-in tutoring.
Among the converted? Noelly Abreu, a sophomore majoring in health behavior science. At the end of last year, she found herself on academic probation, frightened that her dream of becoming a physician’s assistant might be at risk. But once an academic advocate at OAE identified Abreu’s problems with time management, she was able to course correct.
“If I had to put a number to it, the support I received at OAE is probably 70 percent of the reason I was able to turn things around,” she said, pointing to one OAE strategy that proved particularly beneficial. “It’s called the Pomodoro Technique, and it dictates setting an alarm before studying for 25 minutes at a time, with five-minute breaks in between. This gives the information time to settle, and it’s more effective than cramming everything at once.”
Shahzaib Masood (right) gets extra help understanding his physics textbook at the Center for Academic Success through tutor and fellow UD student Ahlad Neti. “I’ve discovered that the best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else,” Masood said. “The tutors here have you explain your material to them. They’ll jump in if you’re wildly off base. Otherwise, they let you think it through for yourself.”
As for what to do during those 25-minute sessions? Ahlad Neti — OAE tutor, senior major in biomechanical engineering and frequent giver of high fives — recommends color coding one’s highlighting. Say, green for material that is confusing and needs further explanation, blue for material that’s already been covered in another class, yellow for formulas and so forth. He also recommends going beyond the resources provided in a classroom, if those just aren’t clicking.
“Textbooks are often very dense with detail,” Neti said. “That’s a good thing, but not when you’re struggling to understand the core concept. So looking for other reputable sources — whether that’s a video on YouTube or even a book from the kid’s section of the library — will help you grasp the basics you can build on later.”
While Neti prefers a low-fi approach to classwork, ascribing to the school of thought that writing notes by hand allows for better retention of material, other students rely on apps they’ve discovered at OAE.
“They recommended myHomework to me,” said Josh Wax, sophomore history major who received ongoing academic support during weekly meetings with Murray last semester. “It allows you to move tasks from a to-do list to a ‘completed’ box, and watching one get smaller while the other grows can be very motivating.”
It’s typical for students using OAE services to connect across the tutoring table and to share these resources with one another — typically over free pizza and ice cream, if it’s finals week. This contributes to a sense of camaraderie in the office that has led to more than a few friendships. Or, as Murray puts it: “This is a warm and fuzzy place.”
Of course, the best advice coming out of OAE might be the easiest: Simply walk through the door.
“Whether you’re looking to boost your grade or merely stay on top of things, you’re going to have to spend time with the material,” said Corrin Omowunmi, OAE program manager. “So why not do so with a mentor who knows what you’re going through? It’s like having a big brother or big sister in your corner.”
You never know what surprising things might happen. For Masood, at least, taking advantage of services at OAE has meant he’s been able to enjoy his gyros in a whole new way.
“When I get one now, it’s only because I have a craving,” he said. “It has nothing to do with school.”