One-on-one peer tutoring sessions through UM-Dearborn’s Office of Academic Success have increased 287% since the last academic year. Director of Academic Success Jess LaGrange says adding a new-to-campus online peer tutoring platform called Knack, which was added in Fall 2024, is a big reason for the increase. Through the platform, users connect with fellow UM-Dearborn students through an online and mobile app 24/7 for tutoring assistance.
“It acts like an Uber or Lyft, in that it sends out the request to all available tutors in real time for the course someone needs assistance with. Then tutors can choose to accept,” LaGrange explains
Once connected, students can work together right away or make an appointment at a time that works best for them both. They can choose to work online or in person. “In Winter 2024, we had 40 completed appointments. In Fall 2024, after adding Knack, we had 155. It’s making an impact on student success,” LaGrange says.
So far, more than 500 UM-Dearborn students have signed up. With the first semester using Knack in the books and the continued growth, LaGrange is looking for more Knack student tutors, which is a paid position. Through Knack, student tutors provide assistance with a specific class — Introduction to Statistics, for example — and the tutor must have already taken the course and gotten a B+ or higher. There’s a two-hour paid online training.
Students can apply to tutor here. Faculty and staff can refer students at this link.
LaGrange credits the increase in tutoring sessions to the ability to now request appointments at any time. Also, if UM-Dearborn tutors are not available, there are on-demand Knack professionals, who are masters-level students. “We prefer peer-to-peer tutoring and to keep it among our UM-Dearborn students, but there is a safety net to ensure there is someone available to help students get what they need,” she says.
Emmalyn Coon, a senior studying computer and information science, is a Knack tutor. She likes how the platform connects students with help when they need it. “No matter what your degree is in, we all have life going on outside of college,” says Coon, who is also the UM-Dearborn Knack student ambassador. A student ambassador provides feedback to Knack from a university perspective and promotes the platform to students. “There's a lot of stressors that we have and those can affect our focus. The university recognizes this and is providing this free resource — so why not use it?”
Coon says she became a tutor after she got help with her macroeconomics course. “When I came to UM-Dearborn and saw that macro was needed for my major, I panicked. I had done a macro class in high school and it was going well until it wasn’t — there ended up being a divide of who understood the subject and who did not get it at all. I was totally lost. It was a really negative experience, But college was completely different because there was a support system for me,” she says. “I had an understanding professor and great tutoring. I grew confident in the material and then wanted to help others like how I was helped.”
Knack is only one of the many academic assistance offerings at UM-Dearborn, which include three subject-based learning centers — the Math Learning Center, the Writing Center and the Science Learning Center — and Supplemental Instruction, which are group study sessions for challenging courses that are led by students who performed well in the class.
LaGrange says the university community continues to look for ways to connect students with what they need to meet their academic goals and get to graduation.
“If students reach out to us for help, we're going to find some way to support them, and I really think that all other offices across our campus feel the same way,” she says. “The university is always looking at changes we can make to move the needle and get students what they need to succeed. One student’s success is a win for everybody — their peers, their professors, their community — and in my role, I get to see that in action.”
Story and photo by Sarah Tuxbury
