SMARTHINKING provides online tutoring services to students and institutions, offering over 2 million tutoring sessions and essay critiques. It employs over 900 tutors with advanced degrees to provide private, on-demand tutoring sessions to supplement academic support. Studies show students using SMARTHINKING services have improved grades by up to 33% and increased pass rates by 12%, with higher retention rates compared to non-users.

1. Research-Proven Online Tutoring

2. SMARTHINKING : What We Do SMARTHINKING provides students and institutions with professional, online, on-demand, 1:1, live tutoring resources, that leverage the “learning moment” SMARTHINKING enables educational institutions to supplement academic support thereby improving student achievement and retention.

3. Founded 1999. Based in Washington, DC. Provided over 2 million online tutoring sessions; over 1.2 million essay critiques. Broad offering of general education subjects Largest online higher education tutoring company; largest online writing lab in the world Over 450 colleges including many online and for-profit ~900 tutors; 90% have Masters or PhD. degree

4. Selected Institutional Users

5. Tutoring Methodology SMARTHINKING approach Treat students with respect Encourage students with constructive criticism Help students identify areas for improvement Involve students in discussion and problem-solving strategies Employ Socratic problem-solving techniques to internalize concepts Goal: create confidence, replicable skills, academic independence What we will NOT do Finish assignments for students; provide homework answers Make corrections without student involvement Predict grades

8. How SMARTHINKING Is Being Used General education academic resource (13-20) Supplement to existing resources Resource for online, distance ed, after-hours students Fulfill requirement to make commensurate resources available to all students ESOL K-12 (actually 6-12) for Developmental Gifted Continuity program (Washoe) Bridge to college Prepare for placement Advanced placement GED prep; placement prep to avoid developmental courses Adult Learners Off-campus students CE, GED, WFD, ESOL

9. Defining On-line Tutoring 24/7 access- Anytime/Anywhere SMARTHINKING - On Demand 24/7 T otal number of “live” hours per week- 807 Private-drop in , live, on-demand, one-on-one sessions SMARTHINKING -No need to pre-schedule No viewing of other students’ sessions Asynchronous/Synchronous Access SMARTHINKING- Drop-in “for live tutoring” Submit questions for a response within 24 hours Pre-schedule sessions View archives of past sessions

10. Defining On-line Tutoring Online Writing Lab - Ability to upload a writing assignment for critique SMARTHINKING -Individualized critique of writing, not a proofing service Average paper turnaround = 21 hours Option to schedule a one to one review FERPA ( Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act) – compliant

11. Additional Value Complete archive of all sessions for student review and reference Comprehensive administrative reports Professional implementation services provided during set-up, including technical, administrative, user and marketing support; ongoing support Pedagogically sound service as independently demonstrated by partner studies Option for seamless, single sign-on LMS integration.

12. Today’s Issues: Achievement and Retention Too many students arrive at college under-prepared in writing and mathematics Low achievement drives many students out of institution because of low grades or personal frustration Achievement and retention are key indicators of the success of an institution for incoming students and parents Competition for acquiring students is becoming intense and lost students mean lost revenue and resources Students have choices and they will choose the institution with the best reputation and the best learning resources that they can afford

13. General Tutoring Results Tutoring Works; Tutoring from Trained Tutors Works Better; Tutoring from Trained Tutors at the “LEARNING MOMENT” Works Best.

14. SMARTHINKING Achievement and Retention Published Client Studies Math, Broward CC -- Avg. grades improved 16 points (33%) Self-published: Broward CC Office of Institutional Research. Writing, Kapiolani CC – Avg. writing grades improved 16%. Student pass rates increased 12%. More use equaled better grades Journal for Applied Research in the Community Colleges, Fall 2007 Writing, Open University Australia – 80% of ST users passed compared to 35% of non-users. ST users 17% more likely to be retained to the next term and 36% more likely to be retained for the term after that. To be published

15. Kapiolani Community College, Hawaii Average Grades: Spring 2003 – Spring 2005 Success Rates Spring 2003 – Spring 2005 The Journal of Applied Research in the Community College, Fall, 2007 Note: English 22 – Others include students who did not use Smarthinking initially, but then used face-to-face tutoring at the CC Tutoring Center Subject Average Grade English 22 - Others 2.09 English 22 – With Smarthinking 2.42 Grade Distribution A B C D F Total Success Rate English 22 – Others 388 480 454 202 437 1961 67.4% English 22 – W/ Smarthinking 70 72 59 33 33 267 75.3%

16. Broward Community College, Florida Study Pass Rate Comparisons - Students Using Smarthinking vs. All Other Students Course Smarthinking Students All Other Students % Difference Pre-Algebra 66% 49% 17% Elementary Algebra 52% 36% 16% Intermediate Algebra 50% 40% 10% College Algebra 58% 46% 12% College Trigonometry 88% 68% 20% Pre-Calculus 81% 59% 22% Introduction to Statistics 71% 63% 8% Composition I 76% 66% 10% Composition II 76% 71% 5% Developmental Writing 76% 57% 19%

17. Open University—Australia Assumption: Using SMARTHINKING increases success rates, course completions, and retention Study Profile Stage 1: 1312 students in 3 courses used OWL over a 3 month period (Fall 2007) Students submitted essays for individualized critique and review.

18. Open University—Australia Results Achievement 80% of students using ST passed 34% of non-users passed ST students were students of limited academic background Retention “ SMARTHINKING users are more likely to re-enroll than non-users” ST users re-enrolled at rate of 54% Non-user re-enrolled at the rate of 43% Quality 93% of students were satisfied or highly satisfied with the OWL

19. Open University—Australia “ The use of the SMARTHINKING Online Writing Lab has contributed substantially to improved student outcomes, completion and retention. Subject matter tutors [OUA college instructors] appreciate the reduced demand for individualized student guidance on writing tasks.” “ Highlights of 2007 SMARTHINKING Trial at Open Universities Australia” – March 2008

20. Outcomes in Pre-Calculus at Large, State University Fall - 2008 Out of 900 students who had math needs prior to taking calculus, 188 students used some type of intervention: F2F peer tutoring, group tutoring, ST Student Pass Rates: With Intervention = 60.1% With No-Intervention = 49.2% Pass Rates by Intervention Type: F2F Tutoring = 59.3% Group Tutoring = 61.5% SMARTHINKING Tutoring = 67.7%

21. Des Moines Area Community College Retention rates increased 10-12% for students using SMARTHINKING Source: Sharon Bittner – Director, Tutoring Center

22. Product Demonstration

23. Where Do We Start?

24. Interaction Environment and Tools

25. Online Writing Center Submission

27. Pre-scheduled Session

28. Student Session Repository Location to retrieve essays and submitted questions Archives all sessions for review Provides review on use of interface

29. Additional Resources

30. Why SMARTHINKING? SMARTHINKING staffs live, professional tutors to help students with immediate assistance with over 800 subject hours per week SMARTHINKING provides private, drop-in, one to one tutoring with median wait times of under 30 seconds SMARTHINKING average session length to demonstrate comprehension is 25 minutes SMARTHINKING hosts an online writing lab which provides an individualized critique of writing, not a proofing or editing service SMARTHINKING is the only online tutoring company with independent research proving that our unique service increases student achievement and helps improve student retention SMARTHINKING is FERPA compliant