Frequently Asked Questions

We encourage you to schedule an appointment with a tutor or Learning Specialist to increase the likelihood that you will receive service. If you come to the Learning Center without an appointment (i.e. "drop in"), we cannot guaranteed that a tutor or Learning Specialist will be available to meet with you. At the time of your "drop in," our desk assistants will determine whether a tutor or Learning Specialist is available.

We ask that you please schedule no more than one appointment per service per day. For example, you can work with a course-based tutor and a writing tutor in the same day, but we discourage you from scheduling two writing tutoring appointments per day or two course-based tutoring appointments for the same course in the same day. You can, however, schedule two course-based tutoring appointments for different courses. 

In an effort to serve all students and to foster independent learning, we also ask that you please do not schedule back to back appointments for the same service. We encourage distributed learning, which involves study sessions of relatively short duration (1-hour or less) over a period of time. 

Students are able to cancel appointments through SSC or by calling the reception desk at 717-477-1420. Scheduled appointments appear in SSC on the bottom, right hand side of the homepage in a box titled Upcoming Appointments. Please click on the appointment service (e.g. Writing Tutoring or Course-Based Tutoring), and select “cancel” in the pop-up dialogue box. Please cancel at least one hour in advance of your appointment to avoid a NO SHOW.

If you do not attend a scheduled appointment, you will be marked as a NO SHOW in SSC. If you have two (2) or more NO SHOW appointments logged in SSC, you may temporarily lose your scheduling privileges. To regain these privileges, please speak with the Learning Center Director, Zack Grabosky by emailing zgrabo@ship.edu or calling 717-477-1420. Please attend your appointments or cancel in advance to maintain your scheduling privileges.

Course-based tutors offer content-based support for specific courses, such as BIO 100: Basic Biology or PLS 100: U.S. Government and Politics. Writing tutors focus on your ability to communicate this content in writing. Your course-based tutor can assist with content for PLS 100, such as your understanding of government branches, while your writing tutor can help you communicate this understanding in written form. 

Learning Specialists provide holistic support. A course-based tutor will ask you what questions you have in a particular course, a writing tutor will ask you what questions you have on a particular writing assignment, and a Learning Specialist will ask you what questions you have about your learning and studying in general. They can help you identify barriers to success, such as test-taking anxiety or time management, and overcome these barriers.

When you schedule an appointment in SSC, you will receive an automated appointment confirmation to your Ship email address. The confirmation asks you to attend the appointment in person if able or to join the appointment via the Zoom link provided. At the time of your appointment, you should click the Zoom link and wait for your tutor to meet with you. If you do not see your tutor within 5-10 minutes of your appointment time, please close your Zoom window and re-click the Zoom link.

While the Learning Center is the primary academic resource center on campus, there may be additional services, such as tutoring, offered within academic departments. Please keep in mind that the scheduling processes and tutoring procedures for departmental tutoring may differ from Learning Center protocol. Unless your professor has stated otherwise, you are always welcome to meet with a Learning Center tutor or Learning Specialist.