About
Virtual Mathematics Tutoring Project - the VMT project
The AmeriCorps Seniors RSVP program provides grants to organizations with a dual purpose: to engage Americans 55 years and older in volunteer service to meet critical community needs, and to provide a high-quality experience for the volunteers.
The primary focus of the VMT project is targeted, online, one-on-one educational tutoring . Our project will utilize volunteers who are age 55 years and older, all of whom will be tutoring third-grade students who are “at-promise” in mathematics. Selected students are currently scoring below grade level in their district’s test of mathematics proficiency. All tutoring will be done online.
Volunteers will tutor students currently in third grade, for four or five days a week for approximately 30 to 45 minutes a day, in mathematics. Volunteers will assist their assigned students with their mathematics homework. Volunteers and student recipients will use an interactive screen in a virtual environment/online to complete the tutoring sessions.
Prior to service, volunteers will receive up-front (and ongoing) training in using the technology for online tutoring. Volunteers will be loaned a Chromebook for use in the project. The device will remain the property of the program.
Volunteers will also receive online mathematics curriculum resources, videos, and access to scheduled live, online math teaching sessions in order to refresh, or strengthen, their math knowledge of third grade curriculum.
Volunteers will remain with their assigned students for the academic school year unless extenuating circumstances arise. The program’s Volunteer Coordinator will be their point-of-contact
Teaching and Learning during COVID-19
The onset of the global pandemic has highlighted a series of new social changes and restrictions. But with it, a whole new set of hardware and software technology has come to help us cope with the new normal. During the lockdown, businesses had to adapt quickly to survive. Millions of employees began working from home across the globe, and shoppers that could not enjoy shopping in stores went online.
Technology has changed education in America. When the world was hit by coronavirus and countries went on lockdown, all schools had to close immediately to avoid spreading the virus. Teachers had to find ways to communicate with their students because we are unsure when the pandemic will end. Months ago, what was impossible has become a reality for many and educational software tools allow students and teachers to communicate and learn.
Virtual teaching was borne out of a need during the coronavirus pandemic. Schools have adopted this new way of learning, and even if they go back to the classroom, some will still use online learning and blend it into their curriculum even after the pandemic. (1)
1 excerpted from How Technology Has Helped Students Survive During COVID-19 | eLearningInside News, 2020.