Tutoring, Training & Student Success

The University of North Dakota offers the following products/services related to tutoring (Smarthinking), training (Infobase), and student success (Starfish).

Additional resources including Tutoring & Learning Services, Academic Advising, and the Writing Center are also available through Student Academic Success and Career Engagement.

Smarthinking Online Tutoring Service

Smarthinking’s online tutoring service is available 24/7 for assistance with UND coursework. To access Smarthinking, log into Blackboard and enter a Blackboard course. Select Tools or Student Tools from the menu on the left and click on Access Smarthinking.

Online tutors are available for the following subjects and skills:

Math (Basic through Calculus II)
Biology
Chemistry (General and Organic)
Human Anatomy and Physiology
Nursing and Allied Health
Physics
Statistics
Accounting (Introductory through Advanced, Cost, Payroll)
Finance
Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
Spanish
Microsoft Office
Reading Comprehension
Writing and Grammar (includes Online Writing Lab for detailed, personalized critiques of any written assignments as well as "live tutors" to assist with pre-writing techniques, research strategies, documentation, grammar, and mechanics).

Assistance is available in the following formats:

Connect "live" with an e-structor.
Submit writing for any subject and have it reviewed by an e-structor within 24 hours.
Pre-schedule an online personal session.
Submit a question and get a response, usually within 24 hours.
Search the schedule to find out when certain tutors are on-duty.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I access Smarthinking?

To access the Smarthinking 24/7 online tutoring service, log into Blackboard and enter a Blackboard course. Select Tools or Student Tools from the menu on the left and click on Access Smarthinking.

Use of this service for courses not offered by UND or misuse of the service will result in termination of your account.

PRINTABLE QUICK START GUIDE

How much time are students allotted and how can more be requested?

Students are given 5 hours (300 minutes). More time can be requested by contacting UND Tech Support.

Do students have to pay for Smarthinking?

There is no fee to use Smarthinking.

What hours are Smarthinking available?

Smarthinking offers live, online tutoring 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Students may also submit their written work (paragraphs, essays, papers) to Smarthinking for review and critique 24/7. With the exception of major holiday periods, a response will typically be received within 24 hours.

Visit Smarthinking for additional information on hours of service for specific disciplines/subjects.

How much time is needed by tutors once a student submits written material?

There is no guarantee, but most items are returned in less than 24 hours. When return times are longer, Smarthinking adds staff to bring the response times down to their target of under 24 hours.

How does the tutoring session work?

All tutoring services are provided within the Smarthinking platform. Live tutoring sessions provide for direct interaction between the tutor and student using the Smarthinking whiteboard.

Students may also upload their papers to the system, and return to their Smarthinking account to retrieve essay reviews.

Students can also submit questions for a later response.

Is telephone access to tutors available?

Telephone access to tutors is not available at this time.

What is the required level of training/education for tutors?

All tutors must complete Smarthinking's online training program, and are regularly evaluated for the quality and consistency of the tutoring they offer. The training is a minimum of fifteen hours of training modules and monitored practice sessions or returned essays. Each academic area is led by one of Smarthinking's directors or subject-area supervisors, all of whom are former college teachers, and experts in their disciplines. 90% of tutors hold masters or doctoral degrees in their fields, and they average 9 years of teaching experience.

What other tutoring resources are available?

UND Student Academic Success and Career Engagement - Offers academic advising, guidance on study skills, and tutoring assistance for a variety of academic areas.
UND Writing Center - Available for students, faculty, and staff to talk about their work in progress with a writing consultant in-person or online.

On Demand Training

Infobase provides online training solutions that answer “How do I do that?” questions through an extensive library of short, easy-to-understand video tutorials. Faculty, staff, and students will be able to stay on top of the latest technology applications and get answers to software question 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

To log in, enter your NDUS.Identifier and password. Visit the NDUS.Identifier page for username and password questions.

Instructors can embed Infobase video tutorials into their Blackboard courses. For more information on how to embed and assign these tutorials as assessments, please see this help article.

Starfish Academic Advising

Starfish is a tool that provides an efficient way to quickly offer coordinated support to all students ensuring they receive the right type of assistance/intervention to keep them on track.

For more information on Starfish visit the UND Starfish Support Page.