Learning Center kicks off academic year, welcomes nearly 150 student employees

students smiling, laughing
photos by Nancy Rosales

Leading up to the start of the fall semester, the Learning Center’s professional and student staff members gathered in the Satellite Student Union to take part in team-building exercises and connect with each other on a personal level prior to students’ arrival on campus. 

“Before the beautiful chaos of the academic year begins, this opener event gives us an opportunity to come together, to center ourselves on our purpose, and to inspire each other to give our very best version to every student who seeks our support,” said Ruby Sangha-Rico, director of the Learning Center. 

“Our Learning Center is one of the most effective and highly valued academic support resources at Fresno State, largely due to our remarkable team of student staff members who provide a quality-driven support system. The informal and relatable nature of peer-to-peer connection makes learning fun and engaging and welcomes vulnerability with open arms.”

The Learning Center advances student success by improving content understanding and course grades through three programs: 

  • Tutoring is a subject-based academic support service between a student who sets the goals and a peer tutor who applies effective strategies for learning. Tutoring is offered in-person and online, by appointment and drop-in. The tutoring program offers course-based support and specialized skill support (i.e. writing citations, Excel, SPSS, computer-aided design, and Canvas navigation).
  • Supplemental Instruction (SI) provides students with peer-led group study sessions and office hours outside of the classroom for historically difficult courses. The sessions are facilitated by SI Leaders, students who have passed the course and now collaborate with faculty and attend lectures alongside current students. Within SI sessions, students compare notes, discuss readings, develop retention strategies and prepare for upcoming quizzes and exams.
  • Academic Success Coaching (ASC) offers individualized support to address unique student needs, especially for students on academic probation. Academic coaches connect students to campus resources and share valuable skills such as time management, study strategies, and ways to effectively navigate through procrastination and lack of motivation.

In the 2023-24 academic year, the Learning Center saw over 27,000 visits from students. 

Students utilizing the Learning Center saw the positive impact on their grades compared to their peers not utilizing the Learning Center, with SI users earning nearly a full letter grade higher, and Tutoring and ASC users seeing higher GPAs. Students who connected with an academic coach also had a retention rate of 84.8% in comparison to the 0% retention rate of those who did not utilize ASC services. 

As one of the largest departments on campus, offering support for over 700 courses, the Learning Center employs students from all eight colleges and all areas of General Education. 

Abbas Dadawalla, a chemistry tutor who has worked at the Learning Center for two years, said, “It might be simple for someone to say that a tutor and student have a purely transactional relationship, but to me, it’s a lot more than that.”

“When students come to the Learning Center for tutoring, they are putting themselves in a vulnerable position to ask for help, and so it is my job as a tutor to make them feel welcome, ensure that they are in a safe space to learn, and utilize evidence-based strategies to make tutoring sessions as effective as possible.”

students building lego model
students building lego model
students building lego model
students building lego model

To close their opening event — planned and hosted by the Learning Center’s professional staff members: Sonia Sanchez, Rigo Flores, Stephanie Izaguirre and Mazie Moua —student staff members worked in teams of four to recreate a Lego model, as part of an exercise facilitated by EDGE Challenge Course staff. In this exercise, only two students in each team were allowed to look at the original Lego model and relay information about the design to their other two team members who then tried to rebuild the model at their table. Students were led to believe that one of their group members was secretly working to sabotage the reconstruction, but later came to learn they were all working toward the same goal through the entirety of the exercise. 

Sangha-Rico said, “This activity was all about the ways in which the Learning Center – and by extension, our student staff members – play a prominent role in building a brand of trust among our student users.”

“If we aim to support students as they expand their skills and knowledge or as they navigate through unexpected moments of stress and uncertainty, the space that we create for them must be based on trust. This activity gave our student employees the opportunity to reflect on their role in building trust within our department and think through the most effective ways of caring for the vulnerability others share with them.”

To learn more about Fresno State’s Learning Center, visit https://studentaffairs.fresnostate.edu/lrc/index.html.

by MARISA MATA

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