The Tools of the Online Tutor
Some parents may be unsure whether an online tutor can actually help their child! Why? There are many reasons for this. The most common is usually based on the notion that the parent thinks that an online tutor cannot produce the same results as an in-home tutor. Parents tend to think that a tutor has to be sitting right beside a student in order to teach him or her effectively. However, most online tutors are equipped with an online whiteboard, a headset with microphone, and access to a variety of resources on the internet, including practice problems, tables, graphs, alternate explanations, and very often a resource webpage posted by the student’s teacher. To increase the student’s understanding and facility with the subject material, online tutors have the ability to integrate these resources into their tutoring sessions rather than just relying on the material found in the student’s textbook. With these tools, the online tutor is able to convey any topic as effectively if not more effectively than if he or she was sitting with the student…while at the same providing more convenience and greater affordability.
The online tutor is able to access the internet along with the student. For example, if a student is working on a stoichiometry problem in chemistry, the teacher can access a periodic table online and look at it simultaneously with the student while typing out a chemical equation on the whiteboard. Documents may even be transferred from tutor to student or vice versa by e-mail or an application on the whiteboard in order to facilitate the lesson.
Active Learning versus Passive Learning
This type of tutoring is also exciting for the student because it uses technology which keeps the student engaged and also allows for more two-way interaction between the student and the tutor. Many parents have found that online tutoring is more effective than
in-home tutoring since it keeps the student more alert and focused on the topic being studied. The online student must focus on the content being presented by the tutor and is compelled to ask questions and give input in order to learn the subject. In other words, it involves active learning on the student’s part as opposed to passive learning which is sometimes the missing ingredient with in-home tutoring or even in the classroom at school!
Online Tutoring Makes the Student’s Life Easier
In addition to the points mentioned thus far, there are other perhaps less obvious benefits to working with an online tutor. The student is not obliged to trek across town to a library or even have a tutor travel to his or her home for that matter. That is, the student can fit online tutoring into a busy schedule that includes sports, clubs, and homework without having to waste time traveling to another location for tutoring! Even in the case of in-home tutoring, a tutor must come to the student’s home which may seem like an imposition especially if the student has had a busy day or just wants to relax while working on homework.
Online tutoring also allows the student to work with the tutor at different times of the day and from different locations that are not always possible with in-home tutoring. For example, the student can fit in an hour of SAT practice while on vacation with family as long as an internet connection is available! Also, online tutoring allows the student to work with a student who may be located far away or at a time which may be difficult for the tutoring session to take place otherwise. Think about the inconvenience of having an in-home appointment on a Saturday morning or after a soccer game at an away location! The online tutoring session is easier in both of these cases, because there is not much pressure put on the student. In the first case, the student can learn Precalculus in his or her pajamas shortly after waking up and in the second, he or she can grab a quick bite to eat and then get to studying online for tomorrow’s big French test without having to straighten up the house for an in-home tutoring session.
Conclusion
The benefits of online tutoring greatly outnumber those for in-home tutoring as can be seen above. This is because the online tutor has all of the tools that are available to the in-home tutor and more, including the use of technology. Also note that online tutoring allows the student to work from the comfort of home at any time that he or she pleases without having to have a tutor visit the home. All of these factors contribute to a better learning experience for the student!
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