yourtutor speaks for itself; once kids have a go, they realise what a lifesaver it is. However, encouraging students to take that initial step in logging on to the service for help with homework and assignment research can be a bit more of a challenge. It's been our experience that the clients who are most successful in promoting the service to their student communities are those led by a strong advocate.
The New England Girls' School (NEGS) recently hired one such person, maths teacher Michaela Inglis. After experiencing difficulty connecting to the Internet due to internal server problems, NEGS students weren't taking full advantage of yourtutor. Ms Inglis had previously taught at The Armidale School and was familiar with the service and its capacity to change the learning culture of a school.
Ms Inglis relaunched yourtutor by redistributing student account details and running a simple competition. "All I did was cut up [a piece of paper with] the names of students who logged on," she said. "And drew a winner in assembly. It was a good forum to also plug the service and remind the students of what it can offer." Ms Inglis' efforts were successful: from the month of September to the month of October, the number of NEGS students logging in to yourtutor tripled.
Boosting yourtutor usage and ultimately increasing 'aha' moments for your students doesn't require elaborate rallies or printing expensive cards. We've found the easy strategies below to be effective: - Book a live exhibition of yourtutor. This is a great way for staff, students and parents alike to get a sense of how the service works. Visit the Client Support area of our website and complete the Online Booking Form.
- Place an ad in the school newsletter. We've done all the work for you; just download and customise the newsletter ad in the Client Support area of our website.
- Hang yourtutor posters or print out business cards. Where can you find these? You guessed it - in the Client Support area of our website.
A few days ago New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees (pictured, right) announced an $85 million funding boost for rural areas, $9 million of which will go to country libraries. While the increase in funding for NSW public libraries is a welcome change from the cuts of recent years, it constitutes more of a gesture than a strategic plan for a vital community service.
In the 1980s, about 25% of funding for public libraries in NSW came from the state government. Today, even with the increase announced by Premier Rees, the state's contribution has dwindled to less than 8%, forcing local councils to provide the balance. Thus, a $9 million boost spread over five years and across dozens of country libraries fails to meet the needs of the libraries which are struggling to serve millions of patrons in NSW.
Perhaps this recent, incremental increase in funds could be viewed as more than a mere gesture if the Premier had consulted public libraries themselves before reaching his decision. Instead, the move came as a complete surprise to the members of the Public Libraries - Country, who have been campaigning for years to restore state support for libraries.
There's another issue here, as well. While there is no doubt NSW's country libraries are suffering from woeful underfunding, their metropolitan counterparts are also struggling. The Premier would have been wise to look at the state's public library network as a whole before announcing what appears to be a half-hearted measure.
It is critical that key stakeholders, including the leadership of both NSW public library associations, are included in all future discussions of state funding for public libraries. Until then, announcements such as the Premier's will appear more like hasty, temporary band-aids rather than an acknowledgement of the importance of public libraries to the welfare of our communities.
Many teachers at our client schools ask important questions about yourtutor before they become fans. Babs Helleman, a veteran English teacher with over 25 years of education experience, was no exception. Below, Ms Helleman describes how her perception of yourtutor changed when her students at The King's School - where she is Head of English - first began to use the service.
In an effort to help staff cope with the enormous marking load, the executive of our school made the decision that all students would have access to yourtutor three years ago. After the initial presentations to staff and students, I saw considerable merit in the service, but believed it offered little to the English Staff. Nevertheless, we were prepared to embrace the concept and I encouraged all staff to tell their students to use the service. Some did, some didn't!
What has surprised me is the number of King's boys who have chosen to use the service. Each enquiry represents one less enquiry to an English Staff member. We set a variety of tasks for years 7-10 students, from writing a short story, to an assignment on Macbeth to comparing and contrasting two novels that deal with the human condition or growing up in a different part of the world, to an unseen essay task on poetry or set novel or play.
yourtutor offers an independent voice, not a voice that will rewrite the assignment, story or essay, but a critical voice that can assist the students to improve their work. There is no doubt that those students who use the service regularly have benefited. Just receiving feedback that makes them think about their writing is a huge advantage.
[Tutoring Australasia] has been able to cope with our peak demands. The student comments, an excellent feature, really allows for proper monitoring. I suggest, if your school is prepared to offer yourtutor, you give it a go. Just remember, for it to be effective, you as teachers, have to tell your students they should use the service.
Last week the Queensland Public Library Association held its annual conference in Brisbane, and Tutoring Australasia was there as a major sponsor of the event. The conference was significant at a number of levels: it was the first event held since the amalgamation this past March of most Queensland councils, and the event was one of the first to make use of the fabulous facilities at the new State Library on South Bank.
For yourtutor, the event was also special because it presented us with an opportunity to celebrate the state-wide implementation of our service across every Queensland Council. To thank the public librarians and the State Library staff, we decided to do something a little different and provide a T-shirt to every delegate at the conference. As seen in this photo, the T-shirts were a big hit and a welcome change from the usual conference fare of Minties and Fantales.
In addition to the T-shirts, I gave a presentation to a large group of delegates who were attending the State Library's e-Collections training day. We discussed strategies to implement and launch yourtutor, and how every library service across the entire state can gain maximum benefit from the service for their communities. Overall, the event was a big success, for both the QPLA and Tutoring Australasia. And while there's lots of hard work ahead, we're looking forward to helping Queensland's public libraries enhance the quality of the educational services they deliver to the children and young adults in their communities.
In an earlier post, we proudly announced the state-wide roll out of yourtutor in Queensland. Since then, we've worked diligently to welcome dozens of new libraries to the service. We felt that the best way to connect to library clients new and old was with a face to face meeting.
So, Christina Nielsen, our Director of Marketing and Client Services and I packed our bags (and boxes full of yourtutor collateral) and flew to Townsville from Sydney on a pre-dawn flight.
Our first stop was an Information Session with Alicia Bolam and some of her colleagues at the Thuringowa Library. We were also joined by Colleen who journeyed from Charters Towers to be with us and Jocelyn and Kerry, the lovely ladies of Burdekin.
After a long drive south down the Bruce Highway, making stops at Ayr's Big Snake and Bowen's Big Mango, we arrived in Mackay. There we met with Aggie Partridge and six other Mackay librarians at the Gordon White Library, a perfect venue for our lunch meeting.
Then we spent several more hours on the A1 enroute to our final stop, Rockhampton. Upon arriving at our Bed & Breakfast, Goldston House, we learned that its proprietor is none other than Margaret Strelow, the town's former mayor, a State Library board member and thus familiar with yourtutor. What a small world it is!
Because the Rockhampton libraries are undergoing renovations, Debra Burn, our hostess from Yeppoon, organised our meeting at Coin Academy. Debra and her Rockhampton and Yeppoon colleagues as well as librarians from Gladstone showed great enthusiasm for the service and asked thoughtful questions.
Sitting on the plane back to Sydney, Christina and I reflected on a successful week in Queensland. We are truly grateful for the warm welcome we received in Townsville, Mackay and Rockhampton and the support from Alicia, Aggie and Debra.
yourtutor is a safe environment for students to be online, however that is not always the case for children, where world wide web access is concerned. These days this can be intentional or may be unintentional, as children click on a myriad of links that may lead to inappropriate content. Concerned about children's safety, the federal government is looking at ways for students to be protected from the wrong online environments.
Last year the Howard government announced free software filtering packages for Australian families under the NetAlert initiative. This currently allows parents to download and install internet filtering software on their home pc's for free. These provide a wide array of features including Time Based Controls, Application Control, Privacy Controls as well as Instant Messaging Monitoring.
The Rudd government has bought with it a differing approach to this problem. They favour an approach involving ISP's and having them block the users access to certain content. Critics of this approach include many ISP's who sight the large investment required as well as some user groups who fear a slow down in their connections bought about by this extra filtering step. At this stage, the proposal is for providing an optional clean feed, meaning customers can choose to use the filtering or not when they sign up with an ISP.
We all want the internet to be safe for our children so they can enjoy learning as they seek out answers to their questions online. Steps like these can only help. For tips on keeping your children safe online or to download a free internet filter for your home PC visit http://www.netalert.gov.au/
In just a few weeks, year 12 students all across the country will be entering a magical time of year: Exam Season. Our tutors and our Tutor Manager, Ciaran Smyth give excellent study advice to students below. Here's what they had to share on staying motivated:
"I tried sleeping on my notes once, hoping they'd get themselves into my brain. Not the brightest idea - the next morning I had Hamlet quotes smeared all over my face."
"I try to go for a jog to clear my mind, but my best advice is to do it after studying. Otherwise you come back and all you want to do is sleep and eat ice cream."
"I once allowed myself five minutes an hour to check my email. Five hours, ten websites, and an instance raid later, I moved the computer to another room."
A quite common response was a reward technique - setting a goal and an appropriate prize for reaching it. Here is a random sample of the rewards used:
- "Chocolate"
- "Chocolate"
- "A big slice of chocolate mudcake, once a week"
- "Chocolate - one piece for each chapter of notes completed"
- "Fruit!" Wait a second, fruit? "I love fruit - it's great for dipping into melted chocolate" Ah, there we go.
Everyone seems to agree that the key is being able follow the rules you've set for yourself. The exams only last for a few weeks, after which you can spend lots of time on whatever it was you had to put aside. Now that I've finished this post, you'll have to excuse me - I believe I have an important appointment with a Mr Brenner...
yourtutor speaks for itself; once kids have a go, they realise what a lifesaver it is. However, encouraging students to take that initial step in logging on to the service for help with homework and assignment research can be a bit more of a challenge. It's been our experience that the clients who are most successful in promoting the service to their student communities are those led by a strong advocate. 
