Struggling with some of your program’s courses? Take a deep breath and pay a visit to the Student Academic Learning Services (SALS) office for the help you need, delivered the way you need it.

SALS has been helping Durham College (DC) students excel academically and earn the credits they paid for through strategically organized workshops for more than 10 years.  Their services offer a variety of classes that directly reflect student life as well as each individual learning techniques to ensure optimal results and a good grade.

Located on the second floor of the Student Services building, SALS is open Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and has staff to assist students in their quest for academic excellence. They also offer services at the Whitby campus from Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Nicky Patel, Manager of SALS, says these resources have become even easier for students to access since the addition of SALS to DC Connect last September. “You don’t even have to go to (the office) if you don’t want to, everything you need is right online,” she said.

Recognizing that each student has specific learning styles, SALS has developed their workshops to meet the unique methods each person uses to store information most efficiently.

Since the launch of SALS on DC Connect, there have been 2700 self-registered members who have downloaded the tool for extra help. There are currently 469 resources available online through SALS as well as video modules, quick tips and a personality test to determine your own learning style, as well as practice tests and quizzes created by faculty to allow students to get the most out of these workshops just by putting in the effort.

“As a student who has been out of school for a long time, readjusting back to studying and being in a class was extremely hard for me,” said Jimmy Whorms, a first-year student in the Mechanical Technician – Mechanical Maintenance and Control program at the Whitby campus. Then I decided to try SALS. I was suddenly able to understand math formulas, and as a result, I was able to salvage my grades for the first semester, now I’m looking forward to making the honour roll for my second semester!”

Patel has seen the positive results of SALS first-hand and says if help is sought soon enough there is no reason any student should ever have to fail a class.

“84 per cent of students who came for help last year received their credit,” she said.