{"451841":{"#nid":"451841","#data":{"type":"news","title":"FOCUS Offers Tools for Learning","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EYou\u2019ll find them five nights in the Learning Commons on the fourth floor of the Whitaker Building, home of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) \u2013 students helping students, sharing knowledge, a rising human tide trying to lift all boats.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EWelcome to FOCUS (for Facilitated Open Collaborative Undergraduate Study), a new tutoring program introduced this semester.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s all part of the BME Learning Commons movement, as we like to call it,\u201d says Joe Le Doux, associate chair of undergraduate learning and experience in the Coulter Department. \u201cWe have a large student body, and we want our students to help each other out. \u201c\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EFOCUS is an accurate acronym, because the point of the program is to focus on specific academic subject areas each night, according to the BME undergraduate students who comprise the inaugural tutoring team, and who are filling an important gap.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cWhen you get deeper into your concentrated major specific courses, it\u2019s harder to find tutors,\u201d explains Nima Mikail, a third-year student. \u201cSo it\u2019s nice to have a group of like-minded individuals who already took some of these classes that can help students who might be struggling.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003ESo, Sunday through Thursday, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. (\u201cPrime study hours,\u201d says Le Doux), students can just drop in to the BME Learning Commons and ask for help from the tutor working that night.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EMikail and his fellow FOCUS tutors are like a team of academic super friends, each with a specific super academic power, or focus area.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EMikail teaches biostatistics and human physiology. Gloria Bowen teaches human physiology and conservation principles. Ana Gomez specializes in systems physiology and conservation principles. Daniel McNavish primary areas are biostatistics, biomechanics and cell physiology. Jimmy Zhou focuses on biostatistics, biosystems modeling and cell physiology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EBut they aren\u2019t constrained by those courses, and sometimes the student tutors are facilitating as much as tutoring.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cI can easily take a step back and just guide the group,\u201d says Zhou. \u201cSometimes, the students end up just figuring out the problems by working together without any of my input.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EIt\u2019s the collaborative, drop-in approach to the FOCUS tutoring program that sets it apart from something like, say, the 1-to-1 Tutoring program offered through Georgia Tech\u2019s Center for Academic Success. That program requires a student to make an appointment with a tutor. The FOCUS tutors have worked in that program, too, and recognize the distinct strengths of both. But they\u2019re intentionally trying to do something different with FOCUS.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cI like the group dynamic of FOCUS,\u201d says Bowen. \u201cStudents are actually encouraged to work together to figure things out, versus us just telling them what to do. One on one can be a little intimidating sometimes \u2013 it\u2019s just you alone with a tutor. FOCUS is a great way to collaborate with other people.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003EThe FOCUS tutors see the experience as a win-win, a kind of enlightened self-interest. Bowen, for example, has an interest in teaching, so she sees this as a way to help prepare for that.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003E\u201cThere are selfish reasons for doing this,\u201d Mikail quips. \u201cTutoring is the best way to study something yourself, and that\u2019s something I try to impart to the students I tutor. It\u2019s all about giving them tools for learning. The idea is that I work myself out of a job.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ECONTACT:\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp class=\u0022p2\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"New BME tutoring program aims to help struggling students"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp class=\u0022p1\u0022\u003ENew BME tutoring program aims to help struggling students\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"New BME tutoring program aims to help struggling students"}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2015-09-24 13:46:21","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:19:36","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-09-24T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-09-24T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"451821":{"id":"451821","type":"image","title":"FOCUS tutors","body":null,"created":"1449256280","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 19:11:20","changed":"1475895194","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:53:14","alt":"FOCUS tutors","file":{"fid":"203348","name":"dsc_0184_0.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0184_0_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/dsc_0184_0_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":884876,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/dsc_0184_0_0.jpg?itok=0DAhkQTt"}}},"media_ids":["451821"],"groups":[{"id":"1254","name":"Wallace H. Coulter Dept. of Biomedical Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"}],"keywords":[{"id":"249","name":"Biomedical Engineering"},{"id":"105971","name":"Learning Commons"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/node\/jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECommunications Officer II\u003Cbr \/\u003EParker H. Petit Institute for\u003Cbr \/\u003EBioengineering and Bioscience\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}