by -Kris Henry, The Towson Flyer

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Did you know students can get free tutoring online — from a real-live, human person — every afternoon and evening, courtesy of Baltimore County Public Library?

BCPL has a partnership with Brainfuse.com, which offers the free tutoring to anyone with a BCPL library card. And in this age of data mining and security breaches, it’s nice to see a service that doesn’t even require the user to enter an email address.

It’s for students in kindergarten through college. They also have GED prep.

Here are some highlights from BCPL’s website:

• Select the “Live Tutoring” link to chat online with a tutor from 2 p.m. to 11:55 p.m.. Available seven days a week and Spanish-speaking tutors are available. During the hours that live tutors are not available, you can submit questions through the “Send Question” link and you will receive a response within 24 hours.
• Choose the SkillSurfer section if you need help learning a specific skill or subject, such as mastering long division or improving your reading comprehension. Receive instant, skill-by-skill results. Tutors are available to assist you with developing your skills.
• Utilize the 24-Hour Writing Lab and submit a file with your paragraph, essay, paper or resume/cover letter for review by a writing instructor. The paper is returned with comments on structure, grammar, style and content. The purpose of this service is not for the writing instructor to write or edit essays or resumes but to help you better organize and present your thoughts.

Here’s the link aimed at elementary-school students: http://www.bcpl.info/kids-teens-parents-teachers/homework-kids

And here’s the one aimed at teens: http://www.bcpl.info/kids-teens-parents-teachers/homework-teens

On either page, click the Brainfuse link to get started.

I would say this could be a game changer for many families, but I bet the tutors would advise against that cliche.

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