SHREVEPORT – LSU Shreveport desired to create a tutoring system that better catered to a student population that worked a lot of hours and needed academic help on their terms.
Eighteen months into its partnership with tutoring app Knack, LSUS is experiencing exponential growth in the number of students being tutored and the number of LSUS tutors who can lead sessions.
Two-thirds of LSUS students that have used Knack since the partnership have never accessed tutoring before, said director of academic success Brandon Winningham.
Nearly 350 students have been tutored in around 1,400 sessions from 35 different tutors since the Knack partnership began in Fall 2024.
“We wanted to remove barriers to tutoring, and being able to tutor outside of business hours through Knack means we’re reaching more students,” Winningham said. “We’ve seen steady growth, and we’re seeing buy in from students, faculty and staff.”
Winningham described Knack as the Uber of tutoring, meaning students seeking tutoring can request a session, and a tutor can accept that session.
The app connects LSUS students to tutors, who are usually LSUS peers that have previously taken those courses, at any time on any day.
Tutoring sessions can occur in person or online, though Winningham said 83 percent of sessions do take place online.
Winningham said students who access tutoring are realizing the academic benefits.
“For students who engaged with any of our services, they are earning a full letter grade higher than students who don’t,” Winningham said. “Based on tutoring patterns, I’m comfortable in saying that we give these students what they need at first – a strategy and a plan.
“They begin to feel comfortable in the subject and become independent academically. Our goal is to break the dependency cycle students may have coming from high school where academics are teacher-centric to college, where it’s learning-centric. We want students to gain the skills to be academically independent and confident.”
Winningham can measure that confidence through surveys from both students and tutors. He said the parties combined to report an average 37 percent increase in confidence in the material after tutoring sessions.
Tutors are taking advantage of the newfound flexibility as well.
Many of the tutors are student workers on campus, and because they are employed by Knack as tutors and not the university, students can supplement their 20-hour-per-week campus jobs with tutoring sessions.
“When tutors get going, they stay with us,” Winningham said. “They are having good experiences that are meaningful.”
This technology expands the previous tutoring system in which students scheduled sessions in the Student Success Center during normal business hours.
But that doesn’t mean the traditional model doesn’t have value.
Winningham is able to deploy traditional tutors into classrooms, specifically science classes like biology and chemistry, to build relationships and lead in-person study groups.
“We are able to focus on specific workers to tutor specific classes because Knack has freed us up to do that,” Winningham said. “This new setup has allowed us to be more agile on our academic coaching and seminal instruction.
“This encourages more organic creation of study groups and circles through supplemental instruction. We want our students to connect with their peers in this way because research shows that students who develop connections with peers are more likely to persist toward a degree.”
Winningham is still spreading the word on campus to reach more faculty members and students, particularly male students.
Females consist of two-thirds of the tutors and students being tutored, which Winningham says is typical but wants to better engage the male student population.
More tutors are needed specifically in Master of Business Administration courses, which is the largest program on campus.
But Winningham expects tutoring services to increase in popularity and use as the campus becomes more aware of its new capabilities.
“There have been learning processes, but we think we’ve got a great start to making tutoring visible and accessible to our students,” Winningham said.
Learn more about Academic Success services, or download the Knack app.
