How to Access Online Tutoring

Hello and welcome to SUNY Schenectady! As a registered student, you have access to free online tutoring. You can set up an appointment with a tutor within minutes by following the step by step directions below. If you need assistance at any time, please contact Tutor Services: TutorServices@sunysccc.edu or Michelle Ragucci: RaguccML@sunysccc.edu.

Video Instructions

Setting up an Upswing Tutoring Appointment

Using the Upswing Virtual Whiteboard

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1:

Visit www.sunysccc.upswing.io

Step 2:

Once you visit www.sunysccc.upswing.io, you’ll use your SUNY Schenectady email address and password (same password you use for all college accounts) to log-in to Upswing:

Step 3:

Set-up your account options and alerts

To edit your profile picture and set-up Text/Email alerts (strongly recommended), visit your “Account” settings icon on the bottom left side of the menu:

Main screen of online tutoring, with "Account" circled in yellow on lower left side.

If you’d like to receive text alerts and reminders for your tutoring sessions, be sure to add your phone number and click “save” as well as click all the “SMS” (text) alert options you’d like to receive:

Account information screen that shows area for "Communication Preferences" where you can select how to get reminders.

Step 4:

Schedule a time with a tutor! To set-up an appointment or to see who may be “available now” for an immediate session, click on the “Meet with a Tutor” icon on the home page:

Online tutoring home screen with "Meet with a tutor" circled in yellow.

Then, simply search for either the exact course name (ENG123), a general subject (English/Writing), or for the name of a specific tutor if you want to meet with the same tutor or were recommended a specific tutor for your course:

Tutoring screen showing an example of how to search for a course.

Once you pick the course/subject you need assistance with, you’ll be presented with a list of tutor options...

Step 5:

Pick a tutor!

Some tutors may be highlighted in green as “Available Now!” This means they are ready and able to tutor and do not have any scheduled appointments. You can simply click the green “Get Tutored Now” button and connect with that particular tutor.

Example of available tutor screen, showing the green "Get Tutored Now" button.

If you’d rather make an appointment for a later time or day, you can schedule an appointment instead:

Tutoring screen showing where the "Schedule" button is.

TIP: You can view a tutor’s profile, “about me” information, their background, and what subject(s) they tutor before deciding who you want to meet with. Their availability may be a factor for you as well, so feel free to filter your search results by a certain day and/or time.

Scheduling an appointment:

Once you’ve selected the tutor you’d like to meet with, click the “Schedule” button on the listing:

Screen with a selected tutor, with a yellow circle around the "Schedule" button.

*Important* Be sure to click on the “online” availability for the tutor…not “in-person” to see their available days/times.

Tutor schedule with "Online" circled in yellow and "Select a Time" circled in yellow.

Once you view their availability and decide on a day, click “Select a Time”

A box will pop up and you select the exact time you’d like, length of appointment (30, 60, or 90 minutes) and have the option to upload a document ahead of time if you’d like your tutor to have what they need in advance (assignment, rough draft of a paper, etc.)

Tutor screen showing the pop-up box showing the time selection and length of sesion.

Once the details are set, click “Schedule.”

A notification will be sent to the tutor and the tutor will need to approve/accept the request before it’s officially an appointment. Once approved, you’ll receive a notification via email and/or text (if you set-up your alerts in Step 3!) that the tutor approved the session.

Tutor screen showing what a scheduled and approved session looks like.

Step 6:

“Go” to your session

When the day/time of your session has arrived, simply visit your Upswing account and go to the “Tutoring” section on the left-hand menu. There you will see the appointment time, tutor name, subject being tutored, and a green “Go to Session” button.
You can enter the room up to 5 minutes before the session start time or anytime after the start time (but please arrive on time!).

Upswing tutoring screen, with "Tutoring" on the left circled in yellow, and "Go to Room" in center circled in yellow.

*You can cancel an appointment at any time on this page as well, but please be considerate and give the tutor at least 12 hours’ notice so other students may sign-up for an appointment during the time you previously scheduled
Tip: If you still want to upload a file in advance, you can still do so on this page

Once you click “Go to Room” you will enter a virtual chat room with interactive whiteboard. You are asked before entering the room if you’d like to set-up/use/confirm your audio (mic) and/or video (webcam). You can turn on or off these options after you join the chat as well if you change your mind.

Example of screen to turn on audio and video within Upswing.

Once you are in the room, you can use your audio to speak with the tutor or use the chat feature if you do not have a mic.

There are many tools available to you while in the whiteboard…and it’s easy to explore the options. You can:

Upload a file or share your screen with the tutor
Make the background look like graph paper and add shapes and equations
Download the chat text or whiteboard pages to review later
Draw, highlight, add a text box…and more!

Example of the whiteboard inside Upswing tutoring session.

When you upload a file, it creates a new page on the whiteboard so you can still access any other materials/pages you were previously working on:

Example of an uploaded file inside the whiteboard of an Upswing tutoring session.