By Marco Madron
NAIT and NAITSA have teamed up with Nimbus Learning to bring students a new way to have access to one-on-one tutoring. Though NAIT does have a tutor registry in their learning services, they have retired it and merged with the Nimbus platform which has been made available to students since September 15th.
Students can select the tutor that is best for them by reading reviews that other students have left. Nimbus also allows students to book appointments with tutors using their integrated calendar feature. Furthermore, these sessions can be rescheduled ahead of time, if needed. Students can then pick a location that they want to go to or they can opt for a virtual session. After the booking has been made, students are then able to pay.
Photo by Erica Cawagas
Nimbus also provides students with a chat that they can communicate with their tutor or Nimbus Tech Support should they run into problems during the process. During sessions, learners and tutors can engage with each other through features such as file sharing and whiteboard, which allows students to save drawings that are made as they learn.
Nimbus can be accessed from anywhere. The app is available on both the App Store and Google Play. You can also visit their website, https://nimbuslearning.com/.
Students who would like to become a tutor can visit https://naitsa.ca/service-hub/nimbus/ to find the tutor application form. With Nimbus, tutors can manage their policies regarding availability, cancellations and student restriction.
NAITSA service hub manager, Megan Brodeur said, tutors already registered in the Tutor Registry will have to reapply for the Nimbus program.
“There wasn’t a way to import them into the new system without having them read things regarding privacy and code of conduct again, so they’ll have to reapply. But when they do, they’ll be streamlined into the new system,” said Brodeur.
“Once an applicant has been approved on our end, the system will recognize that their email has been associated with a tutor profile.”
Brodeur said students can be both learning and tutoring using Nimbus.
“Students will be able to toggle between the tutor and learner profiles once the feature is implemented by Nimbus.”
Brodeur explains that pricing will be left to the individual tutor to decide.
“We’ve decided not to put any stipulations on what a tutor can charge. We want tutors to charge what they feel is appropriate to their experience and education level. If a tutor realizes that they aren’t getting as many learners because other tutors for their subject are charging $25/hr. while they’re charging $60/hr., they may have to change their rate. But we don’t want price to be a barrier and we don’t want to set a minimum so tutors are welcome to charge nothing and gain volunteer experience,” Brodeur said.
“Nimbus is a powerful tool to connect students with tutors and we are proud that we were able to get this involved with NAIT Student Life before the stress of midterms comes around,” said Brodeur.
