Clinical assistant professor discusses tutoring program, combines service learning with hybrid teaching

David Chiesa, a clinical assistant professor in the department of language and literacy education and coordinator of the online TESOL and world language education program, recently discussed a new tutoring program with the Loganville Insider.

The tutoring program, held at Bay Creek Elementary School in Walton County, brings undergraduate and graduate students in the College together to help children improve aspects of communication. Each elementary student is paired with one undergraduate and one graduate student. Both students attend the child’s tutoring session—one via Zoom and one face-to-face.

According to Chiesa, this helps the college students comprehend technological pedagogical content knowledge, understanding how technology influences the way one conceptualizes teaching, while simultaneously improving elementary school students’ language skills.

“The hybrid tutoring is an interesting combination of many interactions that I haven’t see anywhere else,” he said. “Teaching language in this new era of online spaces requires us to reconceptualize the space and how technology influences teaching and learning.”