Ministry of Education Press Release on Online Tutoring
NEWS RELEASEFor Immediate Release
2007EDU0078-000637
May 18, 2007
Ministry of Education
FREE ONLINE TUTORING EXPANDED TO GRADE 12 STUDENTS
VICTORIA - B.C.'s Grade 12 students will soon be able to take advantage
of free tutoring for seven additional subjects through LearnNow BC, the
Province's virtual school, Education Minister Shirley Bond announced
today.
"This first-rate service includes one-on-one help and so we're pleased
to have these new Grade 12 subjects available now, right before
provincial exams, when students need it most," said Bond. "Our
government is working to improve student achievement by listening to
students and giving them the tools they need - tools that support their
learning."
The Grade 12 courses being added to LearnNow BC are biology, chemistry,
geography, geology, history, physics and Principles of Math. Online
tutoring will be available starting May 22. Students can access course
content, sample tests and tutoring by visiting LearnNow BC at
www.learnnowbc.ca The website offers Grade 12 students taking any of
the newly added courses three ways to learn:
* Accredited teachers and peer tutors will be available via a chat room
Sundays through Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. with extended hours each
January and June to help students prepare for provincial exams.
* Workshops with accredited teachers will be featured nightly at 7:30
p.m., with logins available as of 7:15 p.m., and will be followed by an
online group discussion, including a question-and-answer period on the
session.
* StudyBUZZ, available 24 hours a day, allows students to test
themselves and helps them assess which areas of study require more
review and practice.
LearnNow BC is also being streamlined to make it more attractive and
easy to navigate. The new website design will include a search engine so
students can choose tutoring services by subject area or grade level.
"Adding these Grade 12 courses will benefit up to about 78,000
provincial exam writers, so we're making good use of technology to give
more students more support than ever before," said Bond. "Government
recently introduced new legislation to improve student achievement, and
this will build on those initiatives."
When LearnNow BC was launched in October 2006, online tutoring was
available only to distributed learning students taking Math 10 or
Science 10. In January 2007, the service was expanded to include all
B.C. students taking Essentials of Math 10, Principles of Math 10,
Science 10 and Social Studies 11.
LearnNow BC and the latest expansion of its online tutoring fulfils
government's 2006 throne speech commitment to provide B.C. students with
new options for learning and to help them successfully complete their
studies. Other recently announced technology services that benefit
students include the new virtual library reference service, AskAway,
which connects users with 60 librarians from 46 public libraries and 100
librarians from 20 post-secondary institutions, all in real time, and in
an easy-to-use live-chat format.
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Media
contact:
Lara Perzoff
Public Affairs Bureau
Ministry of Education
250 356-5963
250 920-9040 (cell)
For more information on government services or to subscribe to the
Province's news feeds using RSS, visit the Province's website at
www.gov.bc.ca
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