1780 – The Official Blog of Transylvania University

1780 | The Official Blog of Transylvania University

Transylvania French tutor spotlighted in national newsletter

person in front of a castle
person in front of a castle

A Transylvania University French peer tutor and Embedded Learning fellow has been featured in a national newsletter for his innovative work and enthusiasm.

Sam Showalter ’23, pictured in France, is the spotlighted tutor in the National College Learning Center Association Fall 2022 newsletter. The write-up is by Transylvania tutoring director Laura Scroggins.

“At the beginning of this current semester, Sam developed a ‘special topics section’ for drop-in tutoring to help introduce the tutoring center to first-year students,” according to Scroggins. “This was a new concept that Sam developed while he was working with faculty members to identify a course topic that would support students’ learning and would be advertised directly to the students by visiting introductory level courses.”

Next term, Showalter will design and lead Embedded Learning Forums in French. This new approach benefits students in certain historically difficult classes.

Additionally, Showalter’s work in upper-level Spanish courses recently earned him a faculty recommendation to tutor in Spanish. “His successes as a student continue to enrich his work as a peer tutor,” according to Scroggins.

And helping his fellow students learn will benefit his future career.

“After graduating, Sam plans to teach abroad before pursuing his master’s, all in pursuit of making language education more accessible for students.”

Showalter, from Georgetown, Kentucky, is double majoring in French and sociology/anthropology.