The Academic Development Center

Mission/Purpose | User Profile | Facilities | Services | Resources

Mission/Purpose
The overall goal of the Academic Development Center (ADC) is to enhance teaching and learning at Boston College. The ADC mission is divided into three main parts: peer tutoring for all Boston College students, support services for students with documented learning disabilities and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, and instructional support for all Boston College teachers.

User Profile
The peer tutoring program is available to all BC students. In 1998-99, there were 5,500 tutoring appointments. The clients of the tutoring program are mostly but not only undergraduates. The tutoring is not remedial and most of the users are ambitious students who want to get as much as possible out of their courses.

The users of special services are students with documented learning disabilities or ADHD. There are currently 270 students receiving services.

All full- and part-time faculty and teaching assistants and teaching fellows are offered instructional support.

Facilities
The ADC is on the second floor of O'Neill Library, an ideal location for a facility that provides services to all segments of the university community. The ADC has a large open room for tutoring, with 12 tables, 5 computer stations, a reception desk and waiting area. An adjoining classroom seats thirty and serves as the testing room for students with learning disabilities and as the seminar room for ADC programs and meetings. This room is equipped with a TV and VCR. In addition to staff offices, an additional office is shared by graduate assistants and provides additional testing space.

Services
Subject-specific tutoring is offered for a wide range of courses in all schools of the university, notably math, science, foreign languages, economics and computer science. Tutoring in writing and English as a Second Language offers a broader form of assistance. Tutors are recommended by their academic departments and trained by the ADC staff. The Center is certified by the College Reading and Learning Association.

The services for students with learning disabilities and/or ADHD include a summer transition program for entering freshmen, consultation with a learning specialist, letters to faculty, and extended time on tests and exams.

All students are invited to attend academic skills workshops on subjects including time management, writing papers, preparing for exams and improving grammar.

Instructional support services include a two-day orientation to teaching for new teaching assistants and teaching fellows (offered in collaboration with the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences), regular seminars on teaching and academic life, advice on creating a teaching portfolio, mid-semester course evaluation, and consultation with an advanced graduate student or with ADC staff. Special programs are offered to faculty in the form of workshops on teaching, teaching and technology, and other topics of interest.

Resources
The most important resources of the ADC are its staff members, both professionals and students. The professional staff consists of an administrative secretary and three specialists, all of whom are knowledgeable and experienced in their fields. They are all very available to students and faculty. The student staff includes approximately 90 undergraduates and graduate students. They are well trained to offer subject specific tutoring as well as advice on study skills. The ADC has one graduate assistantship, which is usually filled by a Ph.D. candidate who can assist in the program for students with learning disabilities.

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