tutor.com

Tutor.com, but make it webinars

Tutor.com, with its fancy new interface that dropped back in August, offers all the good stuff we’re used to: live homework help, quizzes and mini-courses, job and career help, test prep, and more!  

But did you know that they also offer webinars to enhance a variety of other skills that can help build a successful learning journey?  

It’s a big challenge for students to focus their attention these days; there are a lot of technological distractions designed to grab a click or invite them to scroll or lead them down a Wikipedia rabbit hole (I’m looking at you, Hyperborea!). While a little clicking and scrolling isn’t bad for you, it can quickly get in the way of healthy study and concentration habits. How can we support learners in managing these seemingly irresistible internet temptations, and help form long-lasting study and work habits that can inform their education and beyond? 

We’ve all heard the phrase “time management,” and it’s still an important skill. But today, our world is built around distractions, notifications, and updates that can break an attention span and lead to a loss in productivity and quality of work. Yes, I’m talking about “attention management.”  

Tutor.com is here to help! They’re offering Student Success: Time and Attention Management, a quick webinar as part of their Student Success series. You, your learners, or your learners’ caregivers can register here for the October 22 session. It starts at 4pm and is free! It’s part of a three-session series they’re providing from October – December. You can check out the line up here. If you can’t make the dates, you can still register and receive the recorded webinars in your inbox.  

In fact, there is a whole world of Princeton Review-Tutor.com based webinars for learners and educators! Look around and tell me if you find something you like! 

-Mary Phillips, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh 

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Tutor.com Gets a New Look

We’re heading into the back half of summer, and back-to-school season is coming up fast. What better time to hype Tutor.com, right? As we learned from Jaime last week, Tutor.com can set students up for success all year long. Starting the school year off on a new foot, Tutor.com is rolling out a fresh update to their user interface. Who doesn’t love a UI refresh?

Below, you can see the home page we’re all accustomed to:

Screen shot of old version of Tutor.com

The update will drop on Monday, August 19th. Here’s a sneak peek at the new homepage, so you can be prepared to help patrons navigate the new site:

Screen shot of new version of Tutor.com

Be sure to take a cruise around the new menus and streamlined options. For instance, the Career Resources for adults (did you know they had that!) was buried under a few too many clicks and dropdown menus.

Screen shot of old version of Tutor.com Career Resources page

Look at this improved Career Services design! It’s friendlier to the user and easier on the eyes:

Screen shot of new version of Tutor.com Career Resources page

The new school year is almost upon us, so mark your calendar for Monday, August 19th to give yourself a tour of our fancy new Tutor.com design!

Tutor.com

If you have any questions, ask Mary Phillips.

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I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to admit: I’m over summer. I’m over 90 degree weather and sweating and bringing little treats with me to work that melt by the time I pull into the parking lot. Unfortunately for me (but maybe fortunately for you), back to school is still a month away, but it’s never too early to get back to one of the best resources we youth services staff have available: Tutor.com.

You’re all probably familiar with how much Tutor.com has to offer, but one of the best things about it is how easily we can incorporate elements from it into our physical library space. Sure, if a student needs help with organic chemistry and calculating a molecule’s half-life and a third example I don’t have the science knowledge to come up with, I’ll give them a hearty pat on the head, set them down on a computer, and wish them luck. But for so many other topics that we can expect on a regular basis, Tutor.com makes it so easy to prepare ourselves with resources.

For example, early in the school year, you could print out worksheets and tips on writing skills to help provide a refresher as students readjust to their academic grind, or easily lead younger students to flashcards practicing multiplication tables.

There are also great ways to link Tutor.com’s resources with your collection, especially for promoting early literacy skills. You could easily print out worksheets and display them near your early readers, so anyone just starting to read can get some some extra (and free!) practice. You can even use the skills covered in each worksheet and, without much effort at all, get a solid early literacy lesson into every storytime: there’s a worksheet on clapping out syllables, so you can clap out syllables in storytime.

Having the information readily available makes it so easy to connect important skills to your collection and programming.

-Jaime, Penn Hills Library

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