The Norwalk Easter Public Library is excited to announce the launch of Brainfuse HelpNow – on demand, anytime, anywhere eLearning for all ages and educational levels. Brainfuse HelpNow offers free personalized homework help in core subjects – math, reading, writing, science, and social studies – including SAT preparation. The Adult Learning Center is included in the HelpNow offerings.
Brainfuse HelpNow will be made available to all library patrons from the public computers at the library or from any computer with an internet connection using a valid Norwalk Easter Public Library card from 2:00-11:00 p.m. daily. Visit the library’s website at https://www.norwalklibrary.org/online-library/ and scroll to Brainfuse to try all of the options.
“We feel this online homework help will be of tremendous help to students and their parents who may be struggling to find educational support and assistance, especially during the pandemic,” said Library Director Jean Bosch. “HelpNow’s online tutors are vetted and skilled in working with users in an online setting, so they can provide user-friendly assistance. Users log in, get set up with their tutor, let them know what the question or problem is, and the tutor works with the student to help them find the answer and how they get to the answer.”
HelpNow
HelpNow provides differentiated learning solutions for students of diverse needs and backgrounds. Students communicate with live, online tutors using an interactive, virtual whiteboard to chat, write, draw, copy/paste text or images, and graph homework problems. HelpNow also offers skill building and test preparation where after taking a quiz, the user can then connect directly to a live tutor to review the topics and questions covered in the quiz. Both the student and the tutor can view the quiz questions and the corresponding student answers for an intensive test prep which may include loading lessons onto the whiteboard. All live tutoring sessions are saved and can be replayed as well as shared with friends and teachers.
The Writing Lab and the Send Question Center options give users the freedom to receive assistance at any time of the day without connecting with a live tutor. Users can submit papers through the Writing Lab for detailed feedback. The Send Question Center is for non-writing assignments such as math or science. All reviews and comments from our tutors are found and stored in the Message Center, which is found on the student homepage. For students who prefer to work independently and form their own online study group, HelpNow offers a set of collaborative tools – Meet and Brainwave. Meet allows students to schedule their own online sessions using the Brainfuse Meet whiteboard, which is specifically designed for a group setting. Brainwave is a recordable whiteboard where students can draw, write, and chat and send it to others for feedback.
Adult Learning Center
Adult Learning Center is the adult learners’ version of HelpNow where patrons access GED prep, U.S. citizenship test prep, resume assistance, Microsoft Office support, and Career Resources which lists popular job search links. Microsoft Office support allows patrons to ask questions about Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. The Writing Lab, Send Question Center, and the Skills Building are also included in the Adult Learning Center suite.
For more information or to apply for a library card, contact the library staff at 515-981-0217 or email library@norwalk.iowa.gov.