Edgardo D.

Edgardo's Bio & Tutoring Experience

For the past five years I have been tutoring student athletes in the subjects of algebra, precalculus, calculus, and linear algebra, as well as in some Computer Science and engineering courses such as C/C++, MATLAB, Java, statics, and dynamics. I am fully bilingual in English and Spanish and currently tutor students in both languages. I have tutor students as young as 8 years old and professional adults as young as 60 or less young. Most of my current students are seniors in high school to seniors in college.


In State College, I have worked for ITS Training Services as an Instructor Assistant, Instructional Developer, and Programming Instructor for Penn State. I also worked for South Hill School of Business and Technology as a computer programming instructor. During my studies at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico I worked as a math tutor for their science labs.

My style of tutoring is very practical and to the point, with an emphasis on the use of technology and the Internet in order to accomplish the task through visualization, real world examples, and resourcefulness. I try to avoid as much as possible memorization and repetition and instead concentrate in teaching my student general key concepts that they can use through all of their technical classes. I do use repetition, memorization, and mnemonics once I realized the level of disposition and learning ability of my student is not very high on an specific subject. My major emphasis is on trying to make the learning process fun, engaging, and interesting; I accomplish this with back-and- forth questions at the moment when the student faces a challenge. I use regular reviews (generally after every exercise through which I noticed the student have struggled), and light topics of conversation to avoid mental obfuscation (mental blocks), and frustration.

My tutoring sessions generally consist of the following: Reviews, at the beginning of the session, after every challenge, and at the end of the session. Questions, as needed, to teach the student how to ask the right questions, to encourage the student to ask questions, and after every challenge. Challenges, to solve the actual exercises or homework at hand and to reaffirm concepts. Light related (slightly unrelated) conversation to relax the mind, and separate topics and concepts.

My primary goal is to teach my students how to think in a way that is general, inductive, and out of the box so they can apply those same skills to any facet of their academic work and life. Some tutors solve exercises for their student, other tutors teach how to solve specific exercises, etc... my goal is to teach my students how to solve any exercise, but more than anything, to teach them how to teach themselves so they become autodidacts!

"Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and ... "

Edgardo's Expertise

Edgardo's Education & Certifications

My formal education is in Mechanical Engineering and one of my hobbies is computer programming. The following is a list of the classes I have helped students athletes through the years at Penn State: ART 003, CAS 483, CMPSC 101, CMPSC 121, CMPSC 200, CMPSC 201, CMPSC 203, CMPSC 221, CMPSC 311, CMPSC 402, CMPSC 455, EDPSY 101, EMCH 211, EMCH 212, EMCH 213, MATH 001, MATH 003, MATH 004, MATH 018, MATH 021, MATH 022, MATH 040, MATH 041, MATH 081, MATH 082, MATH 083, MATH 097C, MATH 110, MATH 111, MATH 140, MATH 140E, MATH 141, MATH 141E, MATH 220, MATH 230, MATH 231, MATH 232, METEO 255, MIS 204.

I am currently working on my certification as a NCAA tutor. With that goal, I have taken several seminars dealing with different styles of learning or limitations. Combined with my years of experience as a tutor, this preparation allows me to quickly asses the type of student I am tutoring, identify their weaknesses, and if needed, to build their confidence so they develop the willingness to confront their leaning challenges and fears on specific topics.

Edgardo's References