Online help for homework

Library, schools team up for Web tutor program

By NATALIE HOFFMAN
Register Staff Writer

Solving a geometry problem under pressure just got easier.

Parents struggling to help children with homework during the hectic dinner hour now have a new, technology-based tool to help them cope. Thanks to a combination of federal funds and money from the Friends of the Napa Library group, local library card-carrying students now have access to free, live, online tutors.

Available in English and Spanish, the Live Homework Help program was created by a New York-based company called Tutor.com and boasts professional, background-checked tutors. Students ranging from kindergartners to adult learners can log on to the Internet site every day from 1 p.m. to 10 p.m. to get help with a wide range of subjects, according to Danis Kreimeier, director of Napa City-County Library.

Access to on-demand tutors from any place equipped with a computer and Internet connection is a boon to students and their parents — some of whom shell out hundreds of dollars for private tutor sessions. Kreimeier said the tutors include certified teachers, college professors, graduate students and other professional educators.

When a Register reporter recently logged on to the program, a tutor was available in about three minutes.

“Everybody’s very excited about the program. … When we tell the parents, they are very, very interested,” she said. About $13,800 in federal money and $2,400 from the Friends of the Napa Library group will pay for the first year of the program, which is available in more than 1,500 public libraries across America and Canada, said Kreimeier.

On a recent weekday afternoon, she put the program to the test in front of some 10 area school librarians, principals, library technicians and others at Napa High School. In the library, the small crowd looked on as Hana Wright, a Napa High senior, connected to the program, logged in, and “waited in line” for a tutor who soon helped her solve a problem from her calculus homework.

Although face-to-face tutoring is preferable in many ways, Wright said, the system also has its strong points.

“It’s really good that they don’t tell you the answer and they make you figure it out,” she said, adding that high school students will likely use the service most for their math homework.

In addition to math help, students can be linked to tutors who specialize in science, social studies and English.

“(Locally, the program) just went live last week. We’re excited that it’s available in English and Spanish and I think this whole community is really going to get behind this,” said Kate MacMillan, coordinator of library services for Napa Valley Unified School District.

Barbara Franco, principal of Napa High, said teachers are starting to get acquainted with the new service.

Live Homework Help is available through the Napa City-County Library’s Web site, www.co.napa.ca.us/library.

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