Hive Mind Free Tutoring Program

Let Our Engineering Students Help You!

Join our pilot project providing free virtual tutoring sessions to high school students in need. 

The Hive Mind tutoring program is a free humanitarian project from Waterloo Engineering Outreach and its purpose is to assist students struggling with physics, calculus or chemistry. The hope is that by helping struggling students they will achieve better grades and gain more confidence in these subjects, which may lead to a broader array of future educational choices – especially in STEM programs. We accept all students: however, because our Hive Mind team is small, we are focusing on helping the struggling students (and not the already successful student who is looking for those 90%+ grades).

Note: The Hive Mind Tutoring Program is not associated with the Waterloo Engineering admissions process and participation is not required for admission.

Girls participating in an event.

What Is It?

The program provides FREE online tutoring sessions and drop-in events to students in need. The sessions are available on Mondays and Tuesdays between 4pm - 8pm* during the school year giving high school students flexibility in attendance.

*Some exclusions apply

Hive Mind is staffed by university co-op students as their official work term and supervised by Outreach’s Senior Manager. It is a co-op student-run work term initiative that is also giving them transferable entrepreneurial skills.

Who Will be Tutoring Me?

"I’m Amira, a first year Architectural Engineering student that loves art and design. I’ve been a tutor for the past few years and have developed a love for teaching students and helping to make their learning experience more enjoyable. If you’re struggling in school, I would love to help you out! I’m excited to get to know you and help you meet your goals :)"

Session Details

These 45 minute, one-to-one sessions will be available on a first-come first-serve basis to all students who have registered through the system. If a student is looking for assistance in a specific subject or for anything they'd like to go over in more detail, they can book a session with one of our Learning Assistants through our Learning Assistant calendars (see 'How to Register' below for more details). 

Specific Learning Assistant schedules and their availability will be provided for online booking once a student has registered to join the program. 

In order to allow us to help as many students as possible, please only book one tutoring session per week. If you need additional support, please email wie@uwaterloo.ca.

See 'How to Register' below for more details 

Who Should Attend?

  • Anyone in grade 10-12 who is struggling with calculus, physics and/or chemistry and wants to work towards improving their grades through focused learning assistance and group work.
  • Students who are applying for STEM programs in university and would like extra help so they can improve their grades are welcome.

This program is NOT associated with Waterloo Engineering admissions and participation in this program will have no impact on acceptance or non acceptance. It is a free service to help ameliorate the affects of the pandemic on high school students, especially students who have struggling with hybrid or online learning during this stressful time. 

How To Register?

  • Create an account in our registration system here*Remember to create your account as the parent/guardian!
    You’ll be able to add children into your profile afterward.
  • At this point, you can add all information for the children you are registering by clicking on 'Manage People and Household Information' in the bottom left corner. Remember, you must be the legal guardian of the child (please don’t ask your wonderful friends or neighbors to register for you!)
  • All high school students who want to use this FREE tutoring service will be enrolled through our Outreach online registration process that will request permissions, liability waivers, a code of conduct, and contact info similar to our other Outreach student programs. These may take a few minutes to fill out.
  • One to One Sessions

    • After logging into your account in our system, choose Start a New Registration > Hive Mind Tutoring Session (grade 10-12). The system will guide you through the next steps.
    • Upon registering and completing permission/liability/waivers, the student will receive a confirmation email that will link to calendars with Learning Assistant availability to schedule one-on-one sessions. Students must be registered with forms completed before booking a session. 
    • Sessions can be booked up to 2 weeks in advance (on a rolling basis) and must be booked at least 24 hours in advance of the session time. 
    • Cancellations and reschedules must be given with a minimum of 48 hours advanced notice. If a student does not give advanced notice or does not show up, they will be sent an email notice. Should a student miss more than one session without advanced notice, they will no longer be able to book future sessions with a Learning Assistant

The University of Waterloo/Waterloo Engineering Outreach is committed to accessibility for persons with disabilities.  If you require an accommodation to utilize this software, please contact the Engineering Outreach office at 519-888-4856 or email us at wie@uwaterloo.ca. 

Hive Mind Swarm Week

Need help when studying for your winter exams? Introducing for the first time, Hive Mind Swarm Week!

In order to help high school students prepare for winter exams, Hive Mind is offering free tutoring sessions from 4:00 pm-8:00 pm daily starting January 18th-24th (excluding weekends). These 45 minute, one-to-one sessions will be available on a first-come first-serve basis to all students who have registered through the system.