Excel! Zone

Welcome to the CCD EXCEL Zone!

The EXCEL Zone student learning and support offers CCD students a robust and innovative set of services to assist students in achieving their desired learning goals. Success can be defined differently based on individual situations or goals. Some students define success as earning a final course grade of a “C” in more difficult subjects while other students have a goal to earn all “A” grades. Students may also find the need to hone their professional skills with technology. Whatever the learning goals are, come learn how to work smarter, not harder!

All EXCEL professional tutoring is free to current CCD students.

In-Person Tutoring

To receive in-person tutoring, students should check the hours of operation below for the Zone they need and drop into the Confluence Building 4th floor. Students are welcome to work independently within the Zones prior to needing support from tutors.

Student Preparation

• Attempt to work through homework first. Then, come to the tutoring session with 2-3 questions - no quiz or test questions allowed. Tutors will not do student work.
• If students are unprepared for the session, the session may be canceled or skipped by the tutor.
• In-person tutoring is offered on a drop-in basis. Remote tutoring appointments are strictly for remote services and will not be honored in person.

Remote Tutoring

To get started with remote tutoring, watch this short How-to-Video to set up an Accudemia account and learn how to schedule appointments with a professional tutor in Math & Physics, Writing/ESL, Digital Technology Support, or Academic Study Skills. To set up an account, select the “New Users Click Here” button and follow the prompts. Students who already have an account can go to the “Returning Users Click Here” button and schedule appointments.

Appointments

• Three to five appointments per week; often same-day appointments are available.
• All appointments are considered confirmed at the time of scheduling. Students will receive a confirmation email to their @student.cccs.edu email with a WebEx meeting link for each appointment.
• Cancelations: In the case that a session appointment needs to be canceled, students should proactively contact EXCEL by responding to the appointment confirmation email at least two hours prior to the session.
• No Shows: Students who do not communicate with EXCEL to cancel a session appointment prior to the session will be considered a “no show”. Students that have three cancelations and/or no-shows to session appointments will result in the loss of EXCEL online tutoring privilege for the remainder of the current semester.
• Log into the session appointment a few minutes prior to the session start time. This ensures technology is working prior to the session.
• Remote tutoring is only available for remote delivery needs. These appointments are not honored in person.

EXCEL's Computer Lab

The EXCEL Computer Zone is dedicated to individual study use and digital literacy tutoring. Computers in these spaces have internet browsers to access CCDConnect, D2L, and Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint).

• Computers are for basic use, but there is limited capacity to support online attendance to synchronous classes. Computers with webcams are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please be mindful of your volume and limit talking by using the chat function in online calls.
• If you need to listen to something, bring your own headset. We have a limited number of headsets to borrow.
• As a tutoring space, computer use is drop-in only with a maximum of two hours when there is a waitlist.

Computer Lab Hours

The computer lab will be open from May 31, 2022 through August 5, 2022 and operate on the following schedule:

• Mondays - Thursdays, 8:00 a.m.- 5:00 p.m.
• Fridays, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Writing Zone Paper Drop-off

The Writing Zone Paper Drop-off can help you with your writing, even if you don't have time to meet in real-time. Available as a free, self-enrolling course on D2L, the Paper Drop-off provides expert feedback from the CCD Writing Zone tutors. Students can submit their written assignments for feedback on a range of writing-related concerns: citation, proofreading, rhetorical analysis, organization, and more! Watch this short video to locate the Paper Drop-off in D2L.