The Learning Center is available to students who would like assistance in almost any course. Peer and professional tutors are available to help students build skills in writing, math, science, and foreign languages.

Students can make appointments by calling the appointment hotline 610-796-1494 or by stopping by the tutor information desk in the Learning Center. Students are often able to recieve immediate walk-in assistance with writing and math during any of the Center's hours. However, if the center is busy there may be a wait. Students are advised to plan ahead and make an appointment.

The Center houses a wireless 10 computer lab that is open for student use during normal hours.

Mission
The primary objective of the tutors in the Learning Center is to help students acquire or improve skills that will enable them to succeed with future assignments. We attempt to give students the tools necessary to do well in their courses as well as in their future careers.

We understand that one of the most important skills a student needs for success in life is critical thinking. That is why our approach is non-directive. Tutors in the Learning Center are facilitators, guiding students through the process of learning the skills specific to the discipline they are studying. However, throughout the process we encourage students to think critically for themselves. Allowing students to generate their own ideas and solutions in this way provides them with lasting results and prevents them from using the Learning Center as a permanent crutch.

This approach requires tutors to help students from the perspective of both a fellow learner and of a teacher. Facilitating a session will often require tutors to focus just as much on the ways of learning as on the finished result. Therefore, the success of a tutoring session depends not only on the success of the particular item that the session focuses on, but also on whether or not the session increases the student’s permanent, often transferable, skills.

Our goal is not to provide students with a quick fix or to give them a band-aid for unsatisfactory grades. Instead, the Learning Center strives to:

• Develop students’ ability to think critically and creatively on their own so that they can overcome learning hurdles, even when a tutor is not available
• Provide students with the means to tackle a variety of learning situations successfully
• Help students to better understand “how” to learn by teaching them the skills necessary to study more efficiently and absorb information better
• Give students access to the resources they need to successfully complete the tasks required of an Alvernia student