The QUEST Program
The QUEST Program Helps You Strive for Success!
The QUEST Program (Quantitative Enrichment, Science and Technology for the 21st Century) is a virtual, online, personal academic support program created and maintained by Salem College faculty and staff in order to provide all Salem students with an extra outlet of educational support in fields which require quantitative and scientific thinking and technological skills.
Through the QUEST Program, all registered Salem college students have access to online resources, instructor- and course-specific information, as well as online chat-based tutoring and in-person peer tutoring opportunities. All services are free to all registered Salem College students. All peer tutors are trained by Academic Support staff and are recommended by the faculty who teach the supported courses.
Who Can Benefit from QUEST?
If you are an undergraduate who needs help in just one of the supported courses or technologies, a post-baccalaureate or certificate program student looking for skill enrichment, or a graduate student preparing for licensure examinations, QUEST is available to you twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. On the site, you will find a forum for requesting an in-person tutor for supported courses, if the online tutoring schedule is not convenient for you. Online tutoring schedules are usually set within the first three weeks of class and the site is constantly updated with new resources and information. You will also find access to off-site information about standardized examinations that have quantitative components (such as PRAXIS II, GRE, GMAT, MCAT), links to sites that offer tutorials in pre-college quantitative skills, as well as materials created by Salem College faculty members.
Why Use QUEST?
Quantitative, scientific and technological skills are an integral part of the Salem Signature Program, but are also essential skills for success in the 21st Century. According to the 2010 Jobs Rated Almanac, seven of the ten best jobs involve extensive skills in these areas, as do 16 of the best 20 jobs rated by the annual publication. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook, seventeen of the twenty occupations with the fastest projected growth in number of new jobs, through the year 2018, are deeply grounded in science, technology and quantitative skills. In fact, half of those twenty are in health-related fields.
No matter what your intended major at Salem is, the QUEST Program is here for you to help you boost those necessary skills and assist in preparing you for the future.
QUEST Supported Courses
During those semesters when the courses are taught at Salem College, the QUEST Program will support the following courses: ACCT 120, ACCT 130, ACCT 150, BIOL 010, BIOL 070, BIOL 100, BIOL 101, BIOL 205, BIOL 210, BIOL 230, BUAD 111, BUAD 240, CHEM 050, CHEM 110, CHEM 120, CHEM 201, CHEM 202, ECON 100, ECON 220, FINC 101, FINC 302, MATH 020, MATH 025, MATH 060, MATH 070, MATH 100, MATH 101, PHYS 210, PHYS 220, PLCY 140, PSYC 010, PSYC 101, PSYC 102, PSYC 220, PSYC 240 and SOCI 215. The QUEST Center also provides assistance with spreadsheet applications, graphing calculators, and other technology tools such as SPSS, R, Stata, and Maple 16 by request.
If you need help just once, try our walk-in tutoring, if it is available for your course (not all courses are supported with walk-in tutoring). If you need more regular, one-on-one help, use the forms on the Moodle page to request a tutor. You can also just peruse the resources available and work at your own pace. Whatever works for you and your learning style is supported by QUEST.
Who are the QUEST Tutors?
QUEST tutors are your peers who have been recommended by the Salem College faculty and who have been trained by the Office of Academic Support staff. Each QUEST tutor has distinguished herself as an exemplary student and has demonstrated excellence in the course(s) that she is authorized to tutor.
How to Access the QUEST Program
To access the QUEST Center, log in at my.salem.edu with your Salem login and password and click College Moodle. Select "QUEST Program" from the categories of courses and choose "The QUEST Program". The first time you access the site, you will be asked to enter the enrollment key, which is QUEST (all capital letters). Navigating through the site will allow you to see many different topics, courses, and resources that are specifically chosen to help you succeed. One-on-one tutor request forms are available for on-line completion for each of the courses supported by QUEST; click here to see an example of how supported courses are represented on the QUEST Program Moodle page.
QUEST offers walk-in tutoring in the Collaboratories in Gramley Library. The schedule is available as a PDF file, which you can download here. Walk-in tutoring is on a first-come, first-served basis. The most current changes and updates to the schedule will be posted on the QUEST Moodle page.
Please note that the QUEST Program does not offer one-on-one or walk-in tutoring during official College holidays, breaks, January Term or during summer sessions, but all resources on the Moodle site are available to enrolled Salem College students (undergraduate and graduate) twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, three hundred and sixty-five days per year. During the Spring 2013 semester, there will be no walk-in tutoring on March 6, from March 23 - April 1 (Spring Break and Easter Monday), April 24 (Celebration of Academic Excellence), or during Honors Convocation on May 15. Walk-in tutoring officially ends with the last scheduled session on May 15.
More Information about QUEST
If you have any questions about QUEST, or would like help accessing QUEST or getting started, contact the Office of Academic Support, the Dean of Undergraduate Studies, or e-mail Dr. Paula Grafton Young, Associate Professor of Mathematics, at paula.young@salem.edu. Let the QUEST Program help you strive for success!
