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Introduction

Among other things, GradesFirst allows students to

• Request and schedule appointments with advisors and tutors without having to contact or visit these offices
• Integrate Google Calendar with GradesFirst so that you can have all of your calendars in one place

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GradesFirst and Google Calendar

When you integrate your Google Calendar with GradesFirst, your tutors and advisors will be able to schedule appointments for you without your having to contact those offices.  Since some offices already require students to integrate their calendars and set their availability, you should save yourself some time and effort by reviewing both of the links below as soon as you can:

• Integrating GradesFirst with Google Calendar – Integrate the class schedule, tutoring appointments, and advising appointments that appear in GradesFirst with your Google Calendar.
• Integrating Google Calendar with GradesFirst – Integrate your personal Google Calendar with GradesFirst so that tutors, professors, and advisors can see when you're available and when you're busy.  They will not be able to see the details of the events that you created in Google Calendar.

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Advising Centers

One of the features of GradesFirst is to allow students to schedule and request appointments with their advisors, and to make sure that the process for scheduling and requesting appointments with one advisor or department is the same as the process for other advisors and departments.  As of August 2014, the following UWF advising centers and academic departments are the only ones using GradesFirst:

• First Year Advising Center (FYAC)
• Criminal Justice Advising Center

• • Scheduling an Advising Appointment with GradesFirst, for students

Please contact directly any advising centers not listed above.

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Tutoring Centers

Accessing GradesFirst

The website for GradesFirst is uwf.gradesfirst.com.  You may also access GradesFirst through my.uwf.edu.

Tutoring Appointments

As of October 2014, the Academic Center for Excellent (ACE) is the only UWF tutoring center that Another feature of GradesFirst is to allow students to schedule and request appointments with their tutors, and to make sure that the process for scheduling and requesting appointments with a tutor from a particular UWF tutoring centers is the same as the process for tutors from other tutoring centers.  As of August 2014, the only UWF tutoring center that allows students to schedule and request tutoring appointments through GradesFirst is the Academic Center for Excellence, .  Please visit the MathStat Tutor Lab or the ACE Lab (formerly known as the UWF Learning Center). Writing Lab if you would like to learn how to utilize their services.

• Schedule a Tutor Appointment for a Course
• Schedule a Tutor Appointment for a Service
• Request a Tutor Appointment
• Scheduling a tutoring appointment using GradesFirst, for students
• Requesting a tutoring appointment using GradesFirst, for students
• Signing in and out of a kiosk, for students

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Changes to the ACE Lab

How the ACE Lab operated before the fall 2014 semester

Students wanting to receive help from the ACE Lab did not have to schedule appointments.  They could walk-in at any time to be served.  All the students had to do was read the tutoring schedule correctly and hope that they would be helped when they arrived.  

The tutors could work with more than one student at a time if the situation permits, and the students could work with a tutor for as long as that tutor was available.

How the ACE Lab will operate during the fall 2014 semester

Students wanting to receive help from the ACE Lab will have to make an appointment through GradesFirst.  Walk-ins may be accepted, but only if a tutor is available.

Unless otherwise noted, every appointment will be a one-on-one session with a tutor.

Unless otherwise noted, every appointment will last no longer than 45 minutes.

Rationale for the changes

1. Scheduling appointments will save you the frustration of being rejected at the door and will help the tutors better secure the resources you need, when you need them.
2. You would be less likely to misread the schedule posted on GradesFirst, than the one that was usually posted on the ACE Lab website.
3. Scheduling appointments will require you to schedule your time wisely and to come to the tutoring session prepared with specific questions and concerns.
4. Results from a number of studies suggest that students benefit more from individualized one-on-one tutoring sessions than from group sessions.

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Other UWF Tutoring Centers

There are two other UWF tutoring centers:  the Mathematics and Statistics Tutoring Lab and the Writing Lab.  Please contact these centers directly if you would like to receive help from them.

NOTE:  Some professors may require their students to visit specific UWF tutoring centers, so check with your professor to be sure you are visiting the correct tutoring service.

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Preparing for Your Tutoring Session

1. Attend all class meetings.  Tutors are not responsible for teaching you concepts that your professors discuss in class; the tutors should only help you understand the materials.  So, the more you attend class, pay attention during class, and take sufficient notes, the more likely that the tutors will be able to help you.
2. Know your class assignments and your professor's instructions before attending your tutoring session.  Sometimes, not understanding the assignments and your professor's instructions can keep you from learning and from completing your work.  Discuss the assignments and the instructions with your professor to make sure you understand them.
3. Complete as much of the homework on your own as possible, and study as much of the material on your own as possible.  You will make the most of your time and the tutor's time if you read the text, review your class notes, and prepare your questions beforehand.
4. Bring the appropriate materials (textbooks, assignments, class notes, handouts, calculator, syllabus, etc.) to your tutoring session.
5. Have your questions already written down.  If you can, write down specifically what you are having issues with.  Writing these down will help you determine what you do and do not know, and will assist your tutor in helping you.
6. Do not wait until the last minute to realize that you need help.  Budget your time wisely.  Understand that having smaller study sessions over a longer period of time is much better than cramming for several consecutive hours before a test.
7. Be prepared to talk as much as, or even more than, your tutor!  The best way for you to learn the materials, and the best way for the tutors to make sure you are learning, is to have you use your words to explain the concepts being discussed.  Keep in mind that choosing words that accurately reflect what we're thinking is a difficult, but necessary process.

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Preparing for Your Paper Reading Appointment

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Advising Appointments

• Schedule an Advising Appointment

Google Calendar Integration

• Integrate GradesFirst with Google Calendar – Follow these procedures so that you can see your class schedule, tutoring appointments, and advising appointments in your Google Calendar.  Please keep in mind that this particular integration may be delayed.
• Integrate Google Calendar with GradesFirst – Follow these procedures so that tutors, professors, and advisors can see when you're available and when you're busy.  They will not be able to see the details of the events that you created in Google Calendar.