Learning Coaching

Your learning coach will help you set short-term and long-term learning goals as a PSFA student and work with you to achieve your goals. 

For example, if you want to be able to remember the works of art you will be tested on in your Art History course, your learning coach might introduce study strategies and provide time in a session for you to try them out, so you can find ones that will work best for you.

Learning coaching is only available to students whose majors are in the College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts and ROTC students at this time.

If you are unsure whether you qualify, or if you are searching for academic support for another college at SDSU, please email us at [email protected].

You may meet with your learning coach online via Zoom or in-person. You will get the Zoom link for virtual appointments when you make your appointment on WCOnline (see “Making Appointments” section of this document).
In-person appointments will usually be held in North PARC (PSFA 200) or South PARC (Adams-Humanities 4231).

Learning coaching sessions are one hour. This allows sufficient time for you to set goals, try out different approaches with the guidance of your learning coach, reflect on your learning, and make an action plan with next steps.

Appointments are one student with one learning coach. The PARC also offers drop-in workshops if you enjoy learning with a group. In-person workshops will be held in South PARC (Adams-Humanities 4231). Zoom links for virtual workshops will be provided on the workshop flyer or announcement.

Please bring any materials you and your coach might need to look at together in order to achieve your goals. These might include: 

• Syllabi for courses you want to discuss
• Assignments, including study guides and instructions for papers
• Books, articles, or other texts you are reading
• Special equipment (e.g. graphing calculator or software)
• Graded assignments with your professors’ feedback on them

You do not need to bring printed materials to your appointment, although it is great if you can. It is best to bring a computer or tablet instead of a smartphone if you have one, because a smartphone screen can be too small for two people to look at together.

If you are a student with a disability and believe you will need accommodations for learning coaching appointments, it is your responsibility to contact the Student Ability Success Center (SASC) at (619) 594-6473. To avoid any delay in the receipt of your accommodations, you should contact SASC as soon as possible. Please note that learning coaches cannot provide accommodations based upon disability until they have received an accommodation letter from Student Ability Success Center. Your cooperation is appreciated!

To protect the privacy of your student records, learning coaches do not discuss with faculty or staff which students participate in our programs without the expressed consent of the student. 

We really like it when you choose to tell people--your friends, classmates, professors, SDSU staff, or anyone else--about your experiences in The PARC, though!

If your professor or program would like proof that you attended a learning coaching session, you may ask your learning coach to send a message to the appropriate SDSU faculty or staff member summarizing your session. We do not automatically contact faculty after each session, so please remember to ask your coach if you need this!

When interacting with other people, whether coming or going from individual sessions, studying in the PARC, etc., we ask that you always make others feel valued and that they belong. 

There are many ways to do this. For example, you can learn the correctly pronounced, preferred names of others you meet and greet them by name; or, if you disagree with a fellow student in the PARC, you can ensure you are spending equal time listening and speaking in your conversation with them.  

Behavior that makes others feel excluded or “that threatens or endangers the health or safety of any person within or related to the University community” (SDSU Standards for Student Conduct) will not be tolerated. Students engaging in such conduct will be asked to speak with the PSFA learning coach or assistant dean and their access to tutoring and the PARC and its activities might be restricted. 

PSFA and ROTC students can make appointments through WCOnline.

In North PARC (PSFA 200) or South PARC (Adams-Humanities 4231). Your appointment confirmation will specify in which location you will meet your coach.

Individual coaching sessions are available by appointment only at this time; however, our group workshops are open to all students taking classes at SDSU. Check our website for workshop offerings this semester.
You are also welcome to study by yourself with a small group in the PARC.

Students may make a maximum of one 60-minute learning coaching appointment per week at this time, because the PARC team is very small.

You can schedule an appointment as far into the future as the end of the semester.

Appointments can be canceled through WCOnline.

You can cancel your appointment up to 5 hours before your appointment time (e.g. 1:00 am for a 1:00 pm appointment the next day).

If you miss an appointment, that is considered a no-show; if you have to cancel less than 5 hours before the session is scheduled to begin, that is considered a late cancellation. 

If you have more than 2 late cancellations and/or no shows, a member of the PARC team will check-in with you to ensure all is well before you can continue making appointments.

We do not provide private, fee-based learning coaching or tutoring, unfortunately.  If you are looking for a private tutor for a K-12 student, we recommend you ask the student’s school staff for resources.