Lesson 15:

Brock Hoffman
bshoffman@vt.edu
10/26/21

Introduction:
Virginia Tech’s Student Athlete Academic Support Services (SAASS) is a department that is in place to
help ensure the student athletes have services in order to help the student athletes perform
academically at a high level. One of the main services that SAASS provides is a tutoring service for the
student athletes when needed which helps allow them be at their best academically. Due to the
pandemic starting last year that service had to switch over to online tutoring, and even now student
athletes have the option of in-person or online tutoring, so the goal of my evaluation is to examine and
see how efficient the online tutoring service is for the student athletes in order to best help ensure they
obtain the results they are looking for in the classroom. Upon completion of the evaluation, I will be able
to determine the efficiency of the online tutoring service and what can be done to improve it.

Background:
Virginia Tech is a university that is well known across the nation for having very good athletics teams.
One thing I believe that could get overlooked by the great accomplishments the university’s student
athletes are making on the field is the strides they make academically to allow them to play the sport
they love. No matter how smart a student athlete is college courses can be difficult and challenging and
in order to help themselves succeed in the classroom they may need some assistance. This is where
tutoring comes into play, more specifically the tutoring service provided by SAASS. Kelsey Wooten who
is the SAASS tutor coordinator is tasked with finding good tutors that will help the student athletes
succeed, this can be a difficult process because she has to make sure they are proficient in the subject
they tutor, as well as know they will act in a professional manner.

Purpose:
The evaluation I will be conducting will be a formative evaluation of the effectiveness of the ONLINE
Tutoring Services for the student athletes at Virginia Tech, that is provided by SAASS. The part being
evaluated in this is the online tutoring services ability to better the student-athletes knowledge on the
subjects he/she are taking. Ultimately, I want to find ways that work for the student-athletes within the
online tutoring service so that I can find ways to make improvements and better help the student
athlete population as a whole.

Key Questions:
- Are the student athletes satisfied with the online tutoring service?
- How can the online tutoring service be improved?
- What works and doesn’t work for the student athletes in the online tutoring service?
Key Stakeholders:
I believe that the person who will use the information from my evaluation is the Director of SAASS Sarah
Armstrong. Her job and position in SAASS will allow her to make actual changes to benefit the online
tutoring service for the student athletes because she has a direct involvement being the director.

The secondary stakeholders for this will be the online tutors as well as the student athletes themselves
because it will allow the tutors the ability to reevaluate their work to make changes in order to benefit
the athletes. It will also help the student athletes in their choice on in person or online tutoring for the
future.

Sample & Sampling Strategy:

For the sample of my evaluation I will be questioning student athletes that have specifically taken
advantage of the online tutoring service at Virginia Tech. My plan as of now is to select all of the student
athletes that are using the online tutoring service. I plan on selecting all of the student athletes instead
of random selecting because the number of students using online tutoring will be smaller than face-to-
face tutoring so I want to make sure everyone’s voice is heard. This sample size group will be 10 people
that range from student athletes that are freshman through grad’s using the online tutoring service.
Upon the end of the semester the student athletes will receive a survey that questions the different
aspects of the online tutoring service.

Instrumentation:
For my evaluation I plan on using the system Qualtrics in order to conduct a survey on my sample size. I
believe by using a survey I will be able to easily attain the information and data needed directly from the
student athletes involved in the online tutoring service provided by SAASS. I will use a total of 10
question in the survey to determine the usefulness of the service. The survey is located in the appendix
section of the report.

Logistics & Timeline:

Target
Task Responsible Person Required Resource
Completion Date

Receive Permission to Survey
Documentation that
SAASS Coordinator:
10/23/21 allows me to survey the
Sarah Armstrong
student athletes

Completion of the Survey 11/6/21 1. Myself Student Athletes

(selecting 10
student athletes Survey
using the online
tutoring service)
2. 10
selected students
to complete the
 survey

Surveys completed

Analyze the Data Collected 11/20/20 Myself Computer with Word to

type out my findings
and save them.

The new-found data

Prepare Evaluation Report 12/4/21 Myself collected from the
survey

Completed evaluation
report
Report to Stakeholders 12/9/21 Myself
New-found data from
survey

Budget:
With regards to this evaluation I believe I will be able to conduct this evaluation without having to spend
any real money. With already having familiarity and background in creating surveys with Qualtrics I will
be able to design a neat and organized survey myself. Secondly, I will be asking the sample size in a well
wrote out email to complete the survey for me in order to conduct my evaluation on the SAASS online
tutoring service. If struggle to get responses back I will in return, I will write out another emailing them
incentivizing them with a $5 gift card upon completion of the survey. If it gets to this point that means I
will end up spending $75 on the evaluation, which in my opinion is worth it because it will benefit
student athletes to come.

Limitations:
In regards to limitations I knew I was going to face some eventually, but throughout the semester I felt
like my evaluation plane was going smoothly. I felt like I was designing and developing a good evaluation
plan. When it came time for surveying this is where I assumed I would have some limitations due to it
being out of my control and on the student-athletes time. I had to nag them a little bit and send multiple
emails for some but eventually got the desired responses I was looking for.

Results:
In my study, I contacted 10 Virginia Tech student athletes that were taking advantage of the online
tutoring service provided by SAASS here at VT. I sent a 10-question survey to all 10 of my targeted
students where I asked them questions that I believed would result in good information. I was able to
find the student athletes did a good job of answering both my multiple-choice/sliding bar questions as
well as the short answer questions that really resulted information I was able to use. Below is the
collected data from the 10 surveys taken.

- Question 1: Has this fall been your first experience with the SAASS online tutoring service?
o Yes = 50%
 o No = 50 %
- Question 2: How many times a week do you have an online tutoring appointment?
o 4=1
o 3=1
o 2=5
o 1=3
- Question 3: How would you rate the tutoring service? (1-10) (1 being the worst 10 being the
best)
o Minimum = 4
o Maximum = 10
o Mean = 7.10
- Question 4: Would you say the online tutoring service has benefited you academically? (1-10)
o Minimum = 1
o Maximum = 10
o Mean = 6.60
- Question 5: Do the online tutors have a good knowledge of the subject they are tutoring?
o Yes = 7
o No = 2
o No Comment = 1
- Question 6: Was the online tutoring service beneficial in regards to time management? Easy to
cancel and add tutor sessions throughout the week.
o Yes = 8
o No = 1
o No comment = 1
- Question 7: Did technical difficulties play a role in missed or shortened online tutoring sessions?
If so, please describe the details of the technical difficulty
o No = 7
o Yes = 3
 Reasons Why:
 Yes, sometimes connection wasn’t always very good
 Yes, the WIFI would be slow and would lose connection
 Yes, sometimes they would make me be late
- Question 8: Do the SAASS coordinators still check in and make sure you are attending your
sessions even though they are virtual?
o Yes = 6
o No = 3
o No Comment = 1
- Question 9: Would you recommend the online tutoring service to other student athletes?
Yes/No and Why?
o Yes = 7
 Reasons Why:
 If you need it
 Easier to cancel appointments
 Easier to use and more time efficient
  Because it helps you learn
 You get the help you need at a safe distance
 Very helpful and will check in on you and see how you are doing with
your work!
 Because it is a very efficient way to receive tutoring
o No = 3
 Reasons Why:
 Learn better in person
 N/A
 I would try to get help from other people in your class
- Question 10: Do you feel like the SAASS online tutoring service can be improved? If so, what do
you think can be?
o It would be helpful if it automatically set reminders in Canvas or Teamwork’s
o Need more upper level tutors
o Need more appointment availability
o Hire better tutors that are willing to do whatever it takes to make sure you pass the
class

Discussion & Recommendations:

I believe in this evaluation report I did a good job of laying out the data and information clearly, which
allows the stakeholders clear readings. As I surveyed my data I believed that I found both positives and
negatives within the online tutoring service provided by SAASS to VT student athletes. Some of the
positives that you can build off of, for the most part the tutors that are hired are doing a good job in
regards to knowing the required material as well as being flexible with the student athletes on adding
and canceling appointments. With majority of the feedback I believe the online tutoring service is
benefiting the student athletes. Some things moving forward that I believe will allow it to reach its full
potential in helping the student athletes are adding upper level tutors for the upperclassmen students
and adding a capability that allows the online tutoring server to virtually add appointment reminders to
both Canvas and their respective Teamwork’s.

Appendix:
Please answer the following questions to the best of your ability.

1. Has this fall been your first experience with the SAASS online tutoring service?
2. How many times a week do you have an online tutoring appointment?
3. How would you rate the tutoring service?
a. (1-10) (1 being the worst 10 being the best)
4. Would you say the online tutoring service has benefited you academically?
a. (1-10)
5. Do the online tutors have a good knowledge of the subject they are tutoring?
a. Yes
b. No
c. No Comment
6. Was the online tutoring service beneficial in regards to time management? Easy to cancel and
add tutor sessions throughout the week.
 a. Yes
b. No
c. No comment
7. Did technical difficulties play a role in missed or shortened online tutoring sessions? If so, please
describe the details of the technical difficulty
8. Do the SAASS coordinators still check in and make sure you are attending your sessions even
though they are virtual?
a. Yes
b. No
c. No Comment
9. Would you recommend the online tutoring service to other student athletes?
a. Yes/No and Why?
10. Do you feel like the SAASS online tutoring service can be improved? If so, what do you think can
be?