Academic Coaching

West Liberty University is committed to helping students become engaged, active participants in the educational process and academic community. Academic Coaching provides students the opportunity to engage with one of our Graduate Assistants to better understand strategies to be successful academically inside and outside the classroom. This learning support service differs from Peer Tutoring in that Academic Coaching is not course-specific, but allows students to consider various methods for common tasks within the classroom to decide what may work best for that student. Examples of items that could be covered in an Academic Coaching session include: Goal Setting, Note Taking, Developing Study Plans, Time Management, Active Reading, Study Strategies. We encourage students to meet with an Academic Coach once per week or once every other week to maintain regular contact and be able to review previous efforts and develop action plans for subsequent weeks. For students that may feel uneasy about an upcoming semester or maybe did not experience success, we recommend students to meet with an Academic Coach within the first week or two of a semester, not wait until they feel overwhelmed. Academic Coaching sessions are intended to be proactive and allow a student to be better prepared for challenges they may experience throughout a semester.

Students can sign up for an Academic Coaching appointment through TutorTrac by following the steps below. Appointments will occur within the Learning & Student Development Center (Main Hall 147) unless otherwise communicated or specified. Additional resources are available at the bottom of this page for students to review as may be helpful. If you have questions or require additional assistance, please contact the Learning & Student Development Center at 304-336-8185, ssc@westliberty.edu, or stop by our offices in Main Hall 147. Our hours of operation are Monday-Thursday (8:00 AM – 8:00 PM) and Friday (8:00 AM – 4:00 PM).

Scheduling Academic Coaching – TutorTrac

All West Liberty University students are eligible for Academic Coaching. Students are automatically assigned an account within TutorTrac, the web-based service utilized to reserve appointments. To schedule an appointment:

Log in to TutorTrac (see log-in credentials below)
Click Search Availability at the top left of the page
Select Center (Academic Coaching)
Select Section*
Select the day(s) you are available for tutoring and click Search. Available appointments will appear.
Click on a time slot to reserve your appointment. A confirmation email is sent to your West Liberty University email address.

*The system requires you select a course to schedule an appointment. Feel free to choose a any course to complete this portion of the process.

TutorTrac Login Information

TutorTrac login credentials are part of your Single Sign On (SSO) credentials set up for other campus systems (e.g. Sakai, WINS). Please utilize this information to login and utilize TutorTrac.

Username: First part of West Liberty University email address before the @ sign (e.g. camcpherson if your email address is camcpherson@westliberty.edu)
Password: This will be the password a student has set up for their SSO credentials. Initially, this will be your eight (8) digit birth date in the format MMDDYYYY

If you have questions or require additional assistance, please contact the Learning & Student Development Center at 304-336-8185, wltutor@westliberty.edu, or stop by our offices in Main Hall 147. Our hours of operation are Monday-Thursday (8:00 AM – 8:00 PM) and Friday (8:00 AM – 4:00 PM).

Additional Resources

The resources below are meant to be helpful guides for students to consider reviewing. We encourage students to meet with an Academic Coach or other member of the Learning & Student Development Center staff if they are experiencing challenges in any of these areas.

Goal Setting

For students interested in setting goals for an individual semester, academic year, or beyond, they should be intentional in this process. While having a goal is helpful, many students do not accompany this with an action plan or steps to achieving this goal. For example, wanting to make the Dean’s List is a worthwhile endeavor, but not developing a regular schedule or plan to review notes, read course material, or create study plans means a student is less likely to achieve this goal. Here are resources for students to consider when setting goals:

Note Taking

Some students experience difficulty with the transition to college because they have not had to record detailed, informative notes in the past. Various note taking methods exist and this resource list is not meant to be exhaustive, but students struggling with note taking may also want to consider audio recording lectures so they can refer back to these recordings if notes are unclear or do not contain enough detail. Students should communicate to faculty they they intend to record course lectures and may utilize THIS FORM to formalize this arrangement.

Study Plans

The anxiety of preparing for a quiz or exam can be exhausting as it is, but without experience developing and executing a proper study plan. In high school, many students are able to study the night before an exam or during the day prior to taking a test. In college, exams can cover weeks of material, multiple chapters, and PAGES of student lecture notes. Here are helpful resources to creating a helpful study plan.

Time Management

For many students, the transition to college comes with more freedom on how they structure their day-to-day life. This can be challenging, especially for students that were accustomed to a busy schedule and now find themselves with free time and don’t understand how to fill that time effectively. It’s easy to fill this time with a video streaming service (Netflix, Hulu, etc.), video games, or scrolling through social media instead of focusing on academic success. The best method or strategy to find that balance and appropriate time management is different from person to person and there are various options to consider. Below are multiple resources that can be helpful in developing the best way for you to experience success managing your time.

Active Reading

Effectively utilizing your time can be difficult enough, but understanding how to become a more active and engaged reader can prove to be even more difficult. In a week when a student may have to read hundred of pages to prepare for course lectures, discussion, quizzes, and exams, being able to get the most out of your time with your textbooks is integral to success. Various strategies are available to consider and try, so find the one that works best for you and regularly utilize it to retain information and incorporate this into your everyday learning and conversations.

Study Strategies

Preparing for quizzes and exams can create a feeling of anxiety and that a student is never fully prepared. Once a student is able to effectively develop a study schedule and manage their time well, the next step is utilizing that time efficiently and effectively. In high school, many students have been provided a study guide or other resources to assist in studying for a quiz or exam. This may not be the case in many college courses, so students may be experiencing a new stressor to their preparation process. Effective studying does not just occur the night before an exam, but is part of an ongoing process that ties a student’s learning to material for effective recall. As a result, many strategies highlight ongoing engagement with notes, text, and other learning resources to prepare. Below are resources that can assist in this ongoing preparation.

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Scheduling Academic Coaching – TutorTrac

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