Smarthinking: online academic writing support for students
Giving students 24/7 access to assignment support and feedback
Thanks so much... I received some really useful feedback and suggestions on my work – all within two hours of submitting it. I will definitely recommend this to my peers and use this service again myself.
Impact of Smarthinking
Studies show that Smarthinking has a positive effect on both student success and retention, with more than 20 years of proven results and over 10 million students having used the service across 1000 institutions worldwide.
The quality of feedback has been proven effective for students and is highly valued, especially by those students reluctant to ask for help from their course tutor. Recent studies have found that Around of 1/3 of university students aren’t confident in asking for help with their academic writing, or even realise when there is a potential problem.
Whether this is due to confidence issues, being the first in the family to attend, or simply not wanting to show weakness, our research has found that many students are simply not comfortable asking their lecturers/course tutors for help.
Helping to extend the reach of your support
Faculty staff benefit from using Smarthinking as an extension of office hours to help with the demands on their time – enabling their attention to be focused on the areas that will make the greatest difference.
Our approach to online tutoring and writing services is respected by faculty, with Smarthinking tutors using a pedagogical method tailored to individual student needs to help, encourage, and involve them in understanding the subject matter.
Smarthinking tutors do not edit or correct student work. Instead they focus on expanding students’ understanding of good writing techniques – including grammar, structure and spelling – helping them to improve and develop the confidence to handle future assignments on their own.
Staff also have visibility of every interaction between their students and Smarthinking tutors through the live dashboard, including all archived sessions.
There are always going to be students that can’t get to one-to-ones with their tutors, whether face-to-face or online, so how could we extend that reach beyond the working day? Smarthinking helps us do that and frees up more time for staff to address students that need particular kinds of interventions.
Michele Milner, Director of Learning and Wellbeing, Royal Veterinary College
The Smarthinking experience
Discover how students submit work, receive feedback and get help from tutors via the virtual whiteboard...
Access
Access to Smarthinking is through mobiles, tablets or laptops, allowing students to get support exactly when they need.
Students log in through their VLE or via our website or app (Android™ and iOS) to submit an essay for review, ask a question or work through a question with a tutor in real time.
Data
Keep track of progress and identify knowledge gaps via a dashboard that lets you see how the service is being used, view tutor feedback and identify common issues.
This data can also be used to examine trends for planning and conduct detailed studies on the impact of online tutoring.
Service options
Students access a range of services 24/7, either by scheduling appointments or requesting immediate help with writing or exam questions.
This includes live 1-2-1 or group tutor support sessions, writing reviews and careers support. Tutors use a virtual whiteboard with students.
Implementation
Simple to integrate into your existing VLE, such as Moodle or Canvas, we work with you to create a tailored plan - rolling out Smarthinking effectively to your staff and students.
After implementation we help you focus the service to meet your institution’s specific needs, offering out of hours support.
Faculty training
Our team offers training on campus as well as webinars to make sure you get the best from Smarthinking. We will carry out demonstrations, set up student logins and are on hand to answer any questions.
Your institution will be given a dedicated Pearson staff member to help you set up Smarthinking as well as supporting you as your students use it.
Tutors you can trust
Smarthinking tutors are highly qualified educators and professionals. Ours is the only service of its kind to have 90% of our tutors educated to Masters or PhD level, with each averaging nine years of teaching and/or tutoring experience.
Smarthinking has over 1500 tutors located across the globe to ensure the service is staffed around the clock and to ensure quality metrics and services levels are met for all subjects.
Research shows that the quality of tutor training makes a differencein the impact of tutoring on students. All of our tutors go through an intensive training programme and tutor certification specific to online, one-on-one tutoring, including:
- effective teaching methods
- student management
- our proprietary whiteboard technology
- subject-specific advising.
Tutors are also reviewed for quality assurance and effective educational practices on an ongoing basis.
Success stories
"The tutor’s feedback was spot on per my teacher. Great job. Because of my revising, I made my paper stronger and received an A."
— Student, Broward College, USA
Who are the experts behind Smarthinking?
Smarthinking has been developed over the last 20 years by professionals in the fields of online tutoring and academic writing
Please get in touch using the form below to find out more about Smarthinking.
If you are a student interested in the online tutoring or academic writing support provided by Smarthinking, please forward this web page to your course tutor or a member of your institution's Study Skills department.