UC San Diego Teaching Professor Launches Winward Academy

SAN DIEGO - Oct. 2, 2017 - PRLog -- Winward Academy (https://winwardacademy.com/?utm_source=Media&utm_medium=Press&utm_campaign=Press%2520Release%2520Launch), an online tutoring platform providing personalized ACT, SAT, math, and college preparation courses to students and life-long learners, launched its revolutionary new service.

Founded by Dr. Jennifer Winward - a private tutor with more than 18 years of experience and a distinguished teaching professor at the University of California, San Diego - Winward Academy incorporates research-based techniques that promote effective learning and build confidence for life. Winward Academy's unique features maximize learning and retention. They include supportive feedback and step-by-step, video-based explanations on over 5,000 practice questions, a personalized Mistake Bank that saves users' mistakes with hints they write to themselves, and handouts that accompany each video lesson. All promote student engagement and facilitate a more active learning process.

In short, Winward Academy is transforming how students master the ACT and SAT, thrive in math class, and shine in their college applications.

"Online learning provides convenience and flexibility but fails students because it's not personalized. The most effective way to learn is in person, with a tutor. My goal was to recreate that powerful approach online," Dr. Winward shared. "Students need control over speed of instruction, easy access to study guides created automatically based on their performance, and flexibility to study exactly the topics they need." These features offered by Winward Academy dramatically extend capabilities found in current online learning platforms.

"With other online learning programs, if you make a mistake, you don't receive a meaningful explanation of what you did wrong. If you do, it's a five-paragraph essay, and nobody wants to read that. They want to be shown," Dr. Winward said. "For the first time, people can learn online and experience what it's like to work with a private tutor, at a fraction of the cost."

As an extra service, Winward Academy offers complimentary videos featuring professionals who promote Mindful Moments by sharing tips and life advice on everything from nutrition and test anxiety to brain and sleep research.

Winward Academy recently completed a successful four-month beta testing with students affiliated with Outside the Lens, NJ SEEDS (https://njseeds.org/), KIPP's Newark Collegiate Academy, and various San Diego high schools. The beta testing yielded excellent results: 100 percent of students self-reported improved topic understanding after a Winward Academy lesson (p<.001). Students also completed pre- and post-lesson assessments to examine baseline knowledge and document any changes. Students showed a 74 percent increase in their question accuracy from 17 percent pre-lesson to 91 percent post-lesson (p<.001). The most telling testimonial from a student was that for the first time in her life she felt smart because she'd never learned anything so easily before.

Bridging the opportunity gap is a guiding principle of Winward Academy. "This platform offers exceptional yet affordable tutoring to any student, anywhere. It's helping individuals get the results they deserve." Through affordable pricing, charitable programs, and the Carol Kimmelman Memorial Scholarship, Winward Academy hopes to ensure all students have the opportunity to receive quality teaching, regardless of their location or economic circumstances. When one high school purchases a full-access subscription for its students, another school on the sponsored list receives full-access at no charge. For each Game Changer package purchased, the same package is donated to Computers 2 SD Kids, a charity that provides 9,000 computers to San Diego students each year.