UTILIZING TUTOR.COM
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to do is simply click on a link, which takes them to the Tutor. tarting in January 2016, Trocaire College partnered with Tutor.com to pilot a program to give online tutoring access com platform. In this arena, a qualified tutor will use a virtual to all students taking Anatomy and Physiology (A&P)—24 hours whiteboard, along with a text box to communicate with the student and go over specific areas of concern. a day, seven days a week. The two levels of A&P are considered “gateway courses” that almost all students in healthcare programs need to successfully complete. For many students, especially those without a strong science background, these classes can be problematic, and extra support is needed to help them succeed. The new pilot program involves no cost to the student, and there are no restrictions on how many times they can use the services over the course of the semester. All students need
The results of the spring pilot were encouraging, as 55 out of approximately 250 individual students over the course of the semester used the service at least once. Students used the services an average of 3 times each, and the average length of each session was 25 minutes. Students are also encouraged to fill out a brief survey after each session, and the tutors received a 4.17 out of 5 satisfaction rating. This project is being continued in the Fall 2016 semester in the hopes of collecting more outcomes data.
EXPANDING THE OFFICE OF MISSION, MINISTRY AND SERVICE
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n 2015, Trocaire renewed its commitment to its Mercy heritage in several key ways. As a member of the Conference for Mercy Higher Education, the college prioritizes preserving and developing our core Catholic identity and the tenets of an education grounded in Mercy values. Firstly, the college established an Office of Mission, Ministry and Service upon the retirement of Sister Margaret Mary Gorman, who had served in a part-time capacity as director of mission and service learning. Instead of simply replacing the part-time position, Trocaire hired two full-time staff members. Robert Shearn joined Trocaire as its new director of Mission, Ministry, and Service in November. His responsibilities at Trocaire include acting as the college’s mission officer, overseeing the Office of Service Learning, and providing both
pastoral care and campus ministry programming to students. Pam Jablonicky was promoted from an administrative assistant role to coordinator of Service Learning, a position in which she handles outreach to community partners, coordinates student placements and works to more fully integrate service learning into every academic program Trocaire offers. Since the overhaul of this institutional area, Trocaire has seen a surge of Mercy mission-related programing, from observing the “Year of Mercy” as declared by Pope Francis, to celebrating weekly Masses during Lent, to holding talks and events concerning some of the Sisters of Mercy’s critical concerns such as care for the Earth and nonviolence. In addition, service learning is now included as a mandatory component for every student who attends Trocaire.
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