The Regional Education Support Network (RESN) - which is run by university volunteers - provides a range of free services to Year 11 and 12 regional and rural students across Victoria and NSW.
“Our team of volunteers collaborate to support rural and regional students through their Year 11 and 12 experience with our range of academic and wellbeing services,” said Anusha Maheshwari, Head of Outreach at RESN.
“Students primarily interact with RESN via our online portal, where they can ask questions in written form and submit them to our experienced, high-achieving team of tutors for review.”
RESN’s tutor team is made up of over 450 high-achieving university students from across Australia All of RESN’s tutors are motivated by their love for learning, and their desire to help regional and rural students realise their full potential.
RESN is here to catch those unanswered questions that get lost due to a short lesson, or the fear of raising a hand, filling the gaps in students’ knowledge that could otherwise accumulate over time.
Among the services RESN provides are ‘Help’, ‘Learn’ and ‘Live’.
o RESN Help: RESN's original question-and-answer service where students can submit a question relating to a VCE or HSC subject, exam preparation or pathways post high-school and receive a detailed answer from a RESN tutor within 24 hours.
o RESN Learn: a resource database where students can preview, learn, and revise syllabus material with RESN’s custom content summaries and practice questions personally curated by high-achieving tutors, who know the content inside and out.
o RESN Live: subject-specific tutoring sessions with high-achieving tutors and rural and regional peers over Zoom.
Two students were surveyed by RESN; Here’s what they thought of the program.
A VCE student from Cobram Anglican Grammar School said she finds living in a regional area difficult because she can’t access any “academic help outside of school”.
But after hearing about RESN at the Victorian Careers Show, she uses RESN Help, RESN Learn and RESN Live for all her subjects. She finds “the quizzes and information sheets very helpful for study tips and extra revision” and hopes to get into further study in the field of Biomedicine.
Another student, from Echuca College, started using RESN at the start of the year for her VCE subjects because she said she “finds it challenging to access good quality study resources” in a regional area.
She loves that RESN can “help [her] prepare for SACs and exams”, consolidate her knowledge with practice questions and allow her to “ask any clarifying questions” and receive quick answers. She says “RESN has truly helped [her] access high-quality study resources that have assisted [her] in excelling in [her] school subjects”.
She also wants to undergo further study at Monash and hopefully become a neurologist. This same student also says she finds it hard to access various university related resources such as open days and study events. RESN fills this gap through its ROCC (RESN Online Coffee Chats) program, in which regional and rural students are able to chat to RESN volunteers, who are also university students, to gain an insight into life after high school.
RESN has been granted $20,000 from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) at The University of Melbourne to support the expansion of RESN’s operations in the Goulburn Valley.
“Through this sponsorship, RESN and the MGSE will jointly enhance the learning outcomes of VCE students in the Goulburn Valley in 2022 and beyond,“ Anusha said.
Reach out to seminars@resn.org.au to get your school involved with RESN! Students can sign up at resn.org.au
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