The Tutor.com Blog

As “Enduring Corporate Partners” of the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP), we were invited to attend yesterday’s ceremony in the Pentagon inner courtyard to honor the new group of companies and organizations joining the organization.

Companies like Tutor.com, Amazon.com, General Dynamics, The Home Depot, and a few dozen more were previously inducted into the Military Spouse Employment Partnership because of our dedication and commitment to hiring military spouses and sticking with them as they relocate to new homes across the nation and around the world.

For Tutor.com, hiring military spouses was an easy commitment to make. We were hiring military spouses before we even knew of this program, and many of our great online tutors are military spouses. We find them as a group to be smart, hard-working, creative and adaptable–characteristics that are really important when working as an online tutor. Also, many military spouses tell us that being an online tutor for us is an ideal part-time job because we offer flexibility; their work for us is not imperiled when they move from duty station to duty station.

Today, we welcome companies such as ADP, ClearChannel, Safeway, and TriWest, along with organizations such as the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) and the Association of the US Army (AUSA) to the Partnership, and we look forward to working with them to collectively hire tens of thousands more military spouses.

Above: Bart Epstein, Senior VP & GM of Military and Federal Programs at Tutor.com, is pictured with Patty Barron, Director of Family Programs for AUSA. Learn more about Patty’s experience with Tutor.com here.

For this month’s Tutor.com Reads post, book club newcomer Cardine Caffery, Graphic Designer and Australian native, reviews her first book club pick and tries to confuse us with talk of Utes and shouts.

After being part of the book club for one short month I was taken by surprise when asked to pick our next book.  I chose The Slap: A Novel by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas.  I had heard it was a controversial book, which presents the reader with uncomfortable situations and confrontations.  Being Australian myself, I thought I would heat up book club this month and at the same time confuse everyone with a lot of Australian slang.

The book starts with a barbeque amongst friends and family. The day looks like it could be pleasant until one of the children begins to act out. The boy is eventually slapped across the face, not by his parents but by another adult.  Although you believe the boy should have been punished for his behavior you also believe the man should be able to control himself, especially around a 3-year-old boy.

What follows is a chain reaction where we are shown the aftermath through eight different characters’ stories that were either directly or indirectly affected by the slap.

The book touches on various themes such as the difference between generations, differences in the way children are raised and adultery. Just a side note, on behalf of Australians I would like to make a disclaimer that although The Slap makes it seem as though we commit acts of adultery like it’s a rite of passage, there are  (I would like to believe) a majority of us that do not.  One of the more prominent themes throughout the book is multiculturalism seen through the various ethnic backgrounds of the characters, which is a huge part of Australian culture.

Don’t be deterred by how infuriated some (actually, most) of the characters make you. The book really does force you to think honestly about how you would act in certain situations. For me, the book pointed out that not every situation is black and white and I believe Tsiolkas accomplished this by taking us on an emotional tour within each character’s mind.

Did you enjoy The Slap? Then check out the trailer for the Australian T.V. show version:

Join us next month as we shift to a classic! We are reading Catch 22 by Joseph Heller. Read along with us & join in on the discussion as we live tweet our next book club meeting on June 5^th at 12PM EDT! #TDCReads

Are you active on GoodReads? Then join in on Tutor.com’s GoodReads group here!

Marine Corps Reservist, Lieutenant Colonel Brad Lanto has been part of the military for 20 years. While he works in the Pentagon as the Marine Corps Liaison for the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program (YRRP) in Reserve Affairs, his wife and two children are back in North Carolina. We caught up with the Lt. Col. and his wife, MaryBeth, who is a middle school counselor, to see how Tutor.com has been making a difference for their seventh grade son, Zac. We also learned how the challenges Reservists face may be different than other military members. While Reservists don’t move nearly as much, they too face long deployments, which put many miles between them and their families back at home.

Tutor.com:  Lt. Col. Lanto, how long have you been away from your family?

Lt. Col. Lanto: I left for the Pentagon last October and I expect to be here for one year. While I’m gone, my wife is the primary caregiver and has to help with school work for our two children on her own.

MaryBeth:  Our son is a great student, but this year he’s in an advanced, honors math class and the pace is very fast. I’m never sure how to help him or if I’m offering the right techniques.  We’re glad to have access to Tutor.com.  Our son connects to tutors and also uses the resources Tutor.com offers, including the videos, worksheets and recommended websites.

Tutor.com:  That’s great. Sometimes we forget to talk about all the resources in the SkillsCenter Resource Library. When does he use those?

MaryBeth:  He likes to use the mobile app and check out the resources from his iPhone when we’re driving and then at home he uses his laptop to connect to one of the tutors for help.

Tutor.com:  We love to hear that kids are doing school work even in the car! With the app he could connect to a tutor from his phone too. Are there other features your son likes about getting help online?

MaryBeth:  Yes, he likes to review the videos of his own sessions that he has had with a tutor when he’s studying.  And it helps him with the math skills he needs. He’s a very busy student with a full course load of challenging courses and he plays in two soccer leagues.  So having help available 24/7 is really beneficial.

Tutor.com:  Lt. Col Lanto, how do you think Reservists will use Tutor.com?

Lt. Col. Lanto:  Many Reservists are going to school on the GI Bill and need help with their own work, such as having a paper proofread. Reservists who aren’t deployed may be working, going to school, and doing their drills for the military. Having tutors available around their schedule helps them get everything done.   Many Reservists also have families and multiple children who benefit from online tutoring.

MaryBeth:   Tutor.com offers so much and really is a relief for parents.  There are so many different  ways for children to learn – videos, worksheets and live tutoring.  It’s a great resource.

To learn more about Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families and how it supports families of Reservists and National Guard service members, please go to www.tutor.com/military.

April was the Month of the Military Child, National Library week, and a variety of holidays from Earth Day, to Poem in your Pocket Day, to Patriots Day. Even though it was full of events, the debates on remediation in college, flipped K-12 classrooms, and e-tablets continued on. Those debates and more were the focus of our top reads this month. What were yours?

Have Increased Graduation Rates Artificially Depressed America’s 12th-Grade Performance? via EducationNext.org: One of the great mysteries of modern-day school reform is why we’re seeing such strong progress (in math at least, especially among our lowest-performing students) at the elementary and middle school levels, but not in high school.

With A New Educational Platform, TED Gives Teachers The Keys To A Flipped Classroom via TeleCrunch: As an increasingly powerful medium through which the world’s experts share their hard-won knowledge, TED is also an educator. In March, the organization launched the first phase of its “TED-Ed” initiative, in practice a series of a dozen short animated YouTube videos “created for high school students and lifelong learners,” in the big picture an invitation to teachers to collaborate with TED to create more effective video lessons that can be used in classrooms.

Report: College remediation fails students via Brownsville Herald: A new study released Wednesday faults college remediation programs for failing struggling students, but local trends suggest public schools have significantly helped lower the need for development education.

The rise of e-reading via PEW: One-fifth of American adults (21%) report that they have read an e-book in the past year, and this number increased following a gift-giving season that saw a spike in the ownership of both tablet computers and e-book reading devices such as the original Kindles and Nooks. In mid-December 2011, 17% of American adults had reported they read an e-book in the previous year; by February, 2012, the share increased to 21%.

Soure: Remediation: Higher Education’s Bridge to Nowhere, Complete College America

The stats are staggering:  51.7% of students entering a 2-year college and 19.9% of students entering a 4-year college are in remediation. And of those taking remedial courses, only 62% of 2-year college students and 74.4% of 4-year college students complete remediation. Even fewer complete remediation and associated college-level courses within two years. With 1.7 million students in remedial courses at a cost of $3 billion to states and students, it’s time to take a harder look at remediation solutions.

That’s just what the non-profit organization Complete College America did with their recently released report, “Remediation: Higher Education’s Bridge to Nowhere”. Relying on data from 31 states, the report takes a hard look at what’s going wrong with remediation and how to fix it to create a clear path to graduation for millions of more students.

The report shares compelling statistics as well as success stories from colleges around the country that have been implementing changes the group suggests including:

• Redesigning college classes with just-in time tutoring and support
• Moving extra academic help to be a co-requisite not a pre-requisite
• Working with high schools to provide transitional classes and earlier testing to see if students are on a college track
• Forcing students to choose a course of study right away

As a provider of online tutoring and academic support for 2-year and 4-year colleges and universities across the country, Tutor.com has seen firsthand how supplementing instruction with just-in time tutoring delivers results. And after a decade of delivering one-to-one, on-demand tutoring we have a good sense of why it works.

Anytime Help Motivates Students

The frustration of not “getting it” drives many students to tune out and then drop out of the challenging math and science coursework that they need for college. Once they are placed in remediation classes the same issues arrive. The introduction of 24/7 on-demand help from expert tutors gives students the support they need to ask the “dumb” questions and attain the skills they never learned in high school.

“Knowing I could connect to a tutor…whenever I needed to gave me the motivation to keep going and get the work done. The tutors always gave me encouragement and they gave me motivation to stick it out. It really helped my confidence, “ explained Melissa S a college sophomore referring to her experience getting on-demand help from Tutor.com for math help through high school and college. “I can’t picture my academic career without it. I don’t think I would have even tried to take college level calculus without Tutor.com.”

Unlike other intervention programs, Tutor.com is introduced the day a course starts and is available to students throughout the semester for help just when they need it. This on-demand approach to learning lets a student seek ongoing help and encourages them to complete more assignments, be better prepared for class and more engaged in the classroom and their own learning.

Working one-to-one with experienced tutors also helps students learn at their own pace and on their own terms – they choose when to get help and how much help they need. Embedding tutoring time into the class schedule gives students a healthy dose of one-to-one time to work out their own problems and keep up with the class pacing and assignments.

While online and on-demand tutoring support may not solve all of the remediation issues facing colleges, it’s a compellingly good start.

To learn more about the Tutor.com College Center, please visit www.tutor.com/higher-education.

Each month our team of mentors nominates a “Tutor.com Tutor of the Month”. We are pleased to introduce this month’s Tutor of the Month, Hope W!

From Idaho to South Carolina, from kayaking to hockey, from Algebra to Biology, Hope W. leads a very busy life. Yet her motto is to keep it simple. Whether that means breaking down an algebra problem by drawing out each individual angle, or making a connection between a math problem and real life, Hope knows that students do their best when they understand the problem step by step. This teaching style combined with her stellar student reviews, are why Hope W. is this month’s Tutor.com Tutor of the Month.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I graduated from Brigham Young University with a B.S. in Integrative Biology. I am currently looking to get my Master’s degree in Marine Biology. I tutor students privately a few hours a week, and I am a supervisor at a county beach park here in Charleston, SC. I really enjoy kayaking, boating, and going to the beach. Before I moved to Charleston, I enjoyed playing hockey on a Women’s Team in Utah. I have been tutoring with Tutor.com for two years, and I am currently approved to tutor Algebra, Algebra II, Biology, Elementary Math, Mid Level Math, and Math en Español.

What is your favorite part of tutoring at Tutor.com?

My favorite part about tutoring is helping students find the right answer, without giving it away. A lot of students already know how to get the answer; they just don’t realize it and need a little bit of guidance. I like tutoring with Tutor.com because it’s a good way to earn some extra money, and I tutor as little or as much as I need to with my busy schedule.

How did you hear about us?

I found about Tutor.com from my sister, who is currently a tutor

What is some advice you have for students?

I’d tell students that to better understand the material they are learning in school they need to make connections  to real life.

What’s your favorite book?

Of the books that I have read recently, I really enjoyed The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks because it’s an interesting mix on ethics, biography and the history of cell research. (Check out our Tutor.com Reads Book Club Review of Henrietta Lacks here!)

What’s  your favorite movie?

One of my favorite movies is Rookie of the Year. I love it because it makes me laugh every time I watch it.

What is your best homework tip for current students?

My best homework tip is pretend like the questions on the homework are questions on a test. That way you are more motivated to work through the problems.

Working with the U.S. Military has led our team to some exotic locations (Hawaii!), but most importantly as we travel to events across the country we always meet amazing people. One of these inspiring individuals is Patty Barron, the Director of Family Programs for the Association of the United States Army (AUSA). Patty’s energy and enthusiasm for supporting military families is legendary. It’s no surprise that she has a great family, including a son who regularly uses Tutor.com. Patty and her son Joe squeezed us into their packed schedule to share some thoughts about online tutoring, Eagle Scouts and what it means to be a military family.

Tutor.com:  Besides your role at AUSA, what is your connection to military families?

Patty:  My husband (Col. (R) Michael Barron) recently retired after spending 30 years in the Army. In some ways I grew up in a military family because I was just 22 years old when I got married and my husband’s first assignment was in Germany. We had our first child there and we learned quickly to depend on ourselves and our friends. We didn’t have family close by, but our military friends were there for us. I love how diverse the military is, and yet we share many of the same values, including pride of our country and of our families and the importance of education.

Tutor.com:  So Joe, you are growing up in a military family. How does that affect your school life?

Joe:  I’m in 11^th grade and I’ve moved five times.

Patty:  My older children moved eight times! They went to four elementary schools, two middle schools and three high schools. That’s a lot of change. When you move so much you can’t request your teachers and you don’t know the lay of the land.

Tutor.com:  Joe, how have you handled all of the moves?  

Joe:  I make sure to be really active and join a lot of after-school events to meet people and make friends. I’m not a great runner, but I joined the cross country team. I’m also part of the stage crew for school plays and I’m working on becoming an Eagle Scout.

Patty:  I have to interrupt and brag a little about his Eagle Scout project. He just finished a 64-foot bridge to connect the Wounded Warrior Trail to the wildlife refuge to help extend the hiking experience. He was actually very sick that weekend. We had him in the Emergency Room on Friday and on Sunday he was out building a bridge!

Tutor.com:  That’s worth bragging about! Joe, we know when you’re not building bridges, you’re getting ready for the SATs or finishing homework for your tough schedule of Honors English, German, Pre-Calculus and AP Biology and History classes. Why did you start using Tutor.com?

Joe: My mom told me about Tutor.com, and for the first two months I didn’t think I needed it. Then during my final math exam I decided to get online and work with a tutor to study. I had the tutors help me with all the problems I got wrong during the year. I got an A on that final. Now I use Tutor.com pretty regularly for help with pre-calculus, and I work with English tutors to proof my papers and help with grammatical mistakes.

Tutor.com:  What do you like best about online tutoring?

Joe:  The tutors help show me the process to use and break down the problems. I like having one-to-one time to ask direct questions. No matter where I am, I can just get online and get help. I also like connecting to tutors on the iPad.

Patty:  My older kids were very bright, but they were at the mercy of what I and their father could help them with, which is mostly writing. Neither of us was great at math. Tutor.com would have really helped my older children.

Tutor.com:  We are always impressed with how military children seem to handle themselves and excel at school. Do you think there is something about being in a military family that supports this?

Joe:  All military kids are proud of their parents. We are so proud of our family and we never want to let them down. We want to make them proud.

Patty:  You have to be very well educated to move up in the military and our kids see that. We really value our families and a great education.

Tutor.com:  What advice would you give to parents and students who may be struggling a bit with school?

Patty:  I learned a lot from the experience of raising my two older children (now 29 and 27 years old). Parents need to know that their kids will be just fine. If they don’t go to Harvard, that is okay. You need to know your children and what they can do and really push them to be their best. I have a nursing degree and a master’s degree in counseling, and I always gave my children one mental health day a quarter. Just to give them time to sleep or catch up on homework or whatever they needed.

Joe:  Talk to your teachers and let them know you are trying. They will help you. It’s good to figure out the best way you learn. For me, working with a tutor online is the best way for me to get help.

Patty: I just want to add that it’s an enormous benefit for students to have access to Tutor.com to get help. I really love the program!

If you’d like to learn more about Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families go to www.tutor.com/military .

Every week millions of teachers spend time planning out lessons that will engage a classroom of students. Mat Doty, a ninth grade teacher at the Crossroads Center, an alternative education center that is part of the Baltimore County Public School System, is one of those teachers. But, Mat doesn’t have to plan alone.  Mat has been participating in the MyLivePD™ Online Coaching Service pilot program since September 2011. Thanks to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, several school districts, several Teach for America (TFA) regional districts and National Education Association (NEA) members have enjoyed free access to experienced Algebra coaches online.

Mat uses the service regularly to connect to a coach during his prep period or after-school hours to collaborate on lesson plans especially for upcoming high stakes exams. Here’s how MyLivePD is helping Mat every week.

Tutor.com: Mat how long have you been teaching?

Mat: I’m in my fifth year of teaching at the Baltimore County Public School System. Right now I teach Algebra to classes of 18 ninth graders, who all have different challenges when it comes to school and school work.

Tutor.com: Ongoing professional development is an important part of your profession.  What types of professional development programs have you participated in?

Mat:  I’ve done a lot of professional development (PD) since I started my teaching career. I’ve attended conferences, workshops and I have even provided PD to other teachers, as well.

Tutor.com: What type of PD were you providing?

Mat: I focused on helping teachers make math relevant to their students to help really engage the students in the classroom. The program also brought the elements of urban culture to suburban teachers.

Tutor.com: How is MyLivePD different from other PD programs you’ve done?

Mat : It’s a completely new way to get help. Before MyLivePD, if I had a question about a teaching technique or wanted to try something new in my classroom, I would have to wait for a larger workshop or seminar that may be weeks or months away. Now I can get help from one of the coaches right when I need it, which is really exciting.

Tutor.com: How often do you use MyLivePD and what types of topics do you discuss?

Mat: I started using the program this past September. I have been using it pretty regularly. In the fall I used it to get my courses fully planned and to tweak some of my lessons. I also connected to coaches to prepare for my observation. Now, I’m using the service for suggestions on engaging my students to prepare them for the Maryland High School Assessment (HSA). Our recent benchmark tests were not as high as I’d like and I want to find innovative ways to prep them for the test.

Tutor.com: What do you like best about connecting to a coach for PD online?

Mat: I like how immediate the help is and how personal it is. I get to ask a specific question and get a very personal experience and response. Not long ago, I prepared a lesson and it didn’t work out as well as I had hoped. That day I was able to connect to a coach online during a prep period and work through some other options. I had a new lesson plan ready to go for the very next day. Other PD doesn’t work like this.

Tutor.com: How would you recommend other teachers use MyLivePD?

Mat: There are many ways teachers can use MyLivePD. I recommend it for planning lessons to help make them more exciting and to better engage students. When you are planning alone you can hit a wall sometimes. It’s great to have a coach to share ideas. The service also helps teachers take more risks and try something new like inquiry-based lessons. And I like that I can have a great new idea and lesson plan in 30 minutes or less. It really saves me planning time.

If you or your school district would like to check out MyLivePD go to www.mylivepd.com to watch a video and read more about this new, teacher-driven PD.

This year Operation Homefront declared April 13^th PURPLE UP day to show your support for Military Children. Once Tutor.com got wind of it, we knew we wanted to participate. So, today we got a few members of the Tutor.com team to wear their various shades of purple: eggplant, lavender, violet, etc. Luckily enough we were able to all pile into the picture behind the purple Tutor.com for U.S. Military table drape that you may have seen at an event near you!

Another way we wanted to celebrate Military Children this April was by sharing what they have to say. We receive thousands of post-session comments from students after they finish up working with a tutor, and many of these comments are quick to put a smile on our face.  Check out below what students from National Guard and Reserve families shared with us these last few weeks!

“I was having a bad night with math and I was really frustrated and not in the mood to talk with anyone. But when I got Alexandra, I felt way better. She helped me with my math and was so nice! She was really bubbly and fun. Thanks for everything Tutor.com!”  —7^th Grade Student in Army National Guard family

 “Thank you for making this free for the military I am very thankful. Doing homework is a pain when I don’t know how to do it. Luckily I have tutor.com to help me when I’m in need. Thank you!” —9^th Grade Student in Army Reserves family

 “This was the first time I had used this and the first tutor I got was of great use to me!! I now can look at my homework and know what to do!!! He was great!! Thanks!” —7^th Grade Student in Navy Reserves family

 “This has helped me so much and I can now understand my homework which helps me understand what is going on in class as well.” —10^th Grade Student in Army National Guard family

For more information on Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families click here.

Tomorrow marks the end of National Library Week 2012 and we’ve had a great time these last few days recognizing all our libraries have to offer. We thought a fun way to close out the week would be to share some quotes from prominent figures that celebrate what libraries mean to them. From members of the Supreme Court and astrophysicists to actors and actresses, we all value the resources that the libraries in our communities provide. Where else could we fight dragons, study for the SAT, and file our taxes, all at the same time?

“Libraries store the energy that fuels the imagination. They open up windows to the world and inspire us to explore and achieve, and contribute to improving our quality of life. Libraries change lives for the better.” Sidney Sheldon, Author

“In my work a good library is essential. It enables me to learn the background and previous discussions of the various issues I am called upon to decide. It provides the stability and continuity for the rule of law.” Sandra Day O’Connor, First female member of the Supreme Court of the U.S.

“My guess is (it will be) about 300 years until computers are as good as, say, your local reference library in search.” Craig Silverstein, Director of Technology, Google.com.

“Libraries have always seemed like the richest places in the world to me, and I’ve done some of my best learning and thinking thanks to them. Libraries and librarians have definitely changed my life and the lives of countless other Americans.” Barbara Bush, Former First Lady of the United States

“When I was young, we couldn’t afford much. But, my library card was my key to the world.” John Goodman, Actor

“I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture, and our concern for the future, can all be tested by how well we support our libraries.” Carl Sagan, American astronomer, Astrophysicist, Cosmologist, Author and Science Communicator

“What in the world would we do without our libraries?” Katharine Hepburn, Actor

Source for all quotes comes from: http://www.libraryquotes.org/index.html

The buzz in 1-to-1 right now is about BYOD – Bring Your Own Device – and it’s not a fad and it’s not going away. There’s a convergence of factors causing it including:

• Hardware is diverse and at price points that are more affordable
• Schools are hyper budget conscious
• The “cloud” (previously called The Internet, the Web and the Information Superhighway) is ideal for core apps which are free or inexpensive with such as Google (although be sure to use GAFE), and Zoho
• Parents are realizing that a digital device is necessary for learning
• Schools want to be sure students possess 21st Century skills

But BYOD upsets apple carts right and left. We’ve been building school infrastructures for a long time that have supported a data-centric model in that IT directors allow or disallow devices on the school network according to a set model which is partly about good design and support, partly about supporting what already exists and partly about not taking on new projects or approaches that require more work, resources, and skill sets. And I’ve been a tech director in schools so know firsthand that opening a can of worms when it impacts the network, the laptop/desktop standardization, and the hardware replacement plan is not something many people will relish.

But then there are the students. They grow and develop and move to the next grade level and out the door to college and to life. They need to be empowered and learn in an environment that encourages them to think and write and research and publish and present and analyze and create new ideas and solutions to problems. They also need to own and understand the vehicles used for learning. So this might mean BYOD.

In order for BYOD to work well there must be a strong partnership between administration, Board members, teachers, technology, students, and parents. Everyone is going to be impacted by 1-to-1 no matter how it is implemented, whether BYOD or a standard hardware platform either provided or specified by the school or district. But with BYOD it’s likely you are going to see some pushback from technology people because of the complexity, change, work, planning and resources required. So here are some questions to consider:

• Have you visited a BYOD school or district?
• If not a team with representative stakeholders should do so armed with lots of questions
• Are you already using Google or Zoho or some cloud solution?
• Without cloud apps BYOD is going to be nearly impossible to implement in a meaningful way
• You need the entire school/district community to be able to communicate, publish, present and share centrally
• How will you define BYOD?
• Will there be a minimum device or specification?
• Will smartphones be one of the devices?
• How’s your network – is it ready for
• Wifi everywhere with multiple roaming wireless devices
• Centralized data security (Barracuda, Lightspeed, etc.)
• How will you address logistics?
• Will students be charged with keeping their devices charged, ready and safe/secure?
• Will you have “loaner” devices?
• Will devices be locked up somewhere/somehow during lunch, tests, sports?
• How’s your curriculum?
• Are teachers already used to assignments in Google and in using online social media tools so that student work is already free of hardware requirements – and happening in “the cloud”?
• How’s your digital citizenship education?
• Do students already know how to keep a respectful appropriate digital footprint?
• In my book I talk about L.A.R.K. – technology use by students should be L – Legal, A – Appropriate, R – Responsible, K – Kind
• How’s your communication channel with parents, students?
• If the device is purchased, maintained, repaired and managed by parents and students, it’s going to be important to communicate often and well
• How’s your budget?
• Unless you have planned fully for the changes of BYOD you might be blindsided by some upgrades or unexpected costs so make sure to ask these questions when you are visiting BYOD schools

There are terrific schools that have been BYOD for years, The Harker School in San Jose comes to mind for instance. Many people I respect have been writing about BYOD including William Stites who posted this blog post for Educational Collaborators early this year, Lisa Nielsen who wrote about debunking BYOD for T.H.E. Journal and a recent article in District Administrator starts with a quote from Lucy Gray who I respect very much -this entire article by the way is an important read. The Laptop Institute which is highly recommended will have threads this summer in Memphis on BYOD.

BYOD can be a solution if you do your planning and homework and try to figure out up front exactly what you’re getting into and plan carefully. You’ll want to be ready to rethink your network as not being about enabling a few models of specific controllable devices but instead as a pathway to the cloud where your school/district-wide learning community resides.

Each April thousands of libraries across the country are celebrated throughout National Library Week. This year, NLW takes place from April 8-14^th and we are as excited as ever to join in on the fun! You may have recently heard about our <3 Tutor.com campaign that we kicked off at the 2012 PLA Conference a few weeks ago. The campaign centers around the fact that over 60,000 student comments have included the word “love” or “<3” in our post-session surveys. We celebrated at PLA with bookmarks, banners, t-shirts and more. But for NLW we wanted to share the <3. Check out some of those comments below where students have taken the time to tell us that they <3 their libraries.

“I love and am so grateful for this service!  I think it’s great that the library offers it.”

“I love how my library offers this! It definitely helps me improve and get better grades ”

“I LOVE THIS! NEVER STOP THIS! I USE THIS AND IT HELPPSSSS! <3 YOU LIBRARY AND TUTOR.COM!!!!”

“i luv it  thx library! and website for tutoring    yay!    ”

“I  LOVE IT SOOOOOO MUCH.. I AM GRATEFUL MY LIBRARY OFFERS IT! MUCHO GUSTO”

“Hilary E. was a good tutor. She helped me a lot with my essay. I really love this service! Thank you SJ library”

“I love this site.. my library provides it which is awesome! I use it all the time.”

“Bilal M. was the best tutor I have had so far.  I love that the library offers this service, it really helps me with school.”

“Every time I use this service I am so thankful for it! When I don’t remember how to do things or am confused over topics discussed in class, I can come here and have somebody explain it to me- which is simply amazing! I am ECSTATIC that my library offers this service and I hope they never stop.”

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