Hello, Cyberspace! Welcome to the Future of Learning!

The word ‘tutor’ probably conjures images of a kindly figure, glasses perched precariously on their nose, explaining the complexities of the Pythagorean theorem or the nuances of Shakespearean verse. Fast forward to the 21st century, and our friendly tutor is now aided by an even friendlier, and certainly more omnipresent, companion – technology.

With the rise of online tutoring reshaping how students and educators connect, the demand for tools that streamline scheduling, communication, and progress tracking has never been greater. So, let’s dive into this pixelated pool of information and explore how technology, in particular tutor management software like the wunderkind that is TutorCruncher, is revolutionising the world of education.

Rebooting the Tutoring Landscape

Prior to online tutoring, extra learning was really a matter of geography, where you lived and the availability of tutors in your area. Now, with online tutoring, the world truly has become a classroom. The tech behind this fascinating development? Virtual communication tools, interactive platforms, and comprehensive tutor management systems.^[1^]

These technologies have flung open the doors to a plethora of learning opportunities. Can’t find a local tutor who’s proficient in Swahili? Not a problem in the online tutoring world!

The Tech Behind The Tutor

It is important to understand how this revolution has come about.  It is perhaps obvious to remind ourselves that the global pandemic of 2020/2021 changed the importance of online tutoring, making it something that everyone embraced through necessity.

It has remained part of the educational mix ever since and shows no signs of stopping as the desire for better learning outcomes consistently grows.  Students, Parents and Educators alike are now using online tutoring as part of their learning journey.

In part the adoption of online tutoring is fueled by the idea that e-learning environments can improve the outcomes for learners.⁽¹⁾ Whether it is mainstream education or private tutoring arrangement, none of it would be possible without the technology behind the tutor.  

Whilst early adopters might have used video conferencing software like Skype with a physical whiteboard, they soon were treated to improved technology such as online whiteboards.

Fast forward to today and individual tutors, schools and tutoring businesses now have access to powerful tutor management software that not only improves teaching but helps them manage the business aspects of online tutoring.

Tutor Management Software

Now, let’s talk about the cornerstone of modern online tutoring – tutor management software. It’s like a Swiss Army Knife for tutors, packing in everything from scheduling and billing to analytics and communication.^[2^].  Some of the benefits of a fully featured tutor management software for both tutors and learners are outlined below.

1. Scheduling and Booking: No More Calendar Chaos

Remember the ‘good old days’ when tutors and students would scramble to find a common slot in their chaotic schedules? Those days are gone, thanks to scheduling and booking features. Tutors set their availability, and students can book lessons at their convenience. Easy-peasy, lemon-squeezy!

Most Systems will have extensive filtering and external integrations to popular calendar systems so you don’t have to be logged in to the system to manage and view your schedule.

2. Intelligent Tutor – Student Matching.

For both learners and teachers the right tutor is essential.  A tutor management system can help with matching educators with learners allowing filtering by skills, subject or location for instance.

3. Lesson Planning, Recording & Feedback.

Managing lessons is simplified by being able to schedule repeating lessons, future follow ups and having reminders sent to ensure everyone turns up on time to maximise everyone’s time.

Some of the better systems will include lesson feedback reporting, that allows instant notes for learners to understand their progress and for tutors to plan the best way to maximise pupil’s learning outcomes.

4. Easy Booking.

Booking lessons can be an administrative nightmare! Publicly bookable lessons removes some of this burden. In addition, a quality system will handle cancellations smartly based on your settings.  This means that cancellations that are still chargeable are handled with ease.

5. Invoicing and Payment: Keeping the Cash Flowing.

Goodbye Paperwork – Hello Payday!

Financials are taken care of on the fly.  No need for timesheets, the software will keep track of who owes how much and for what with details of every lesson.  You can create automated invoices  so your billing runs hands free.

If you are a tutoring business with multiple tutors the software can track who worked when and what they are owed, the better platforms will also automate payment to them for you.  Accounting is simplified because everything is tracked and sales tax and other costs are applied within the system ready for export.

6. Communication Tools: Making the Connection

Let’s not forget the importance of communication. Using a top level tutor management software means communications between tutors, students and administrators has never been easier. 

Having a comprehensive management dashboard with unique logins and communications history provides a safe accountable and trackable method of communication. The better systems allow you to send emails or SMS, all from within the platform.

7. Comprehensive Teaching Tools.

Providing high quality professional tutoring services that provide success for learners requires far more than an online whiteboard.  While it is the basis of most tutoring systems they are not all created equally.

By opting for a fully integrated technology stack you combine video calling, screen sharing and whiteboard facilities into one collaborative workspace. 

Tutor management platforms like TutorCruncher have become essential tools for modern tutoring. They offer a centralised system for managing lessons, tracking student progress, and handling administrative tasks. By integrating scheduling, communication, and billing into one interface, TutorCruncher helps tutors and agencies focus more on teaching and less on logistics—making online tutoring not just possible, but efficient and scalable.

The Result: An Enhanced Learning Experience

The impact of this technology on the online tutoring landscape is seismic. It has streamlined operations, enabled personalization, fostered engagement, and above all, enhanced the learning experience.  There is mounting evidence of the benefits of online tutoring in relation to better results for learner – “on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction” ⁽²⁾

After all, who wouldn’t want to learn when you’ve got a system that’s more organised than a librarian and more reliable than your favourite pizza delivery service?

So, hats off to the technology behind the tutor, the unsung hero of online tutoring. It has transformed a vocation once bound by geographical constraints and administrative nightmares into a service that’s helping learners across the globe. 

As for our friend, the tutor, they are no longer just a teacher. They are now tech-savvy educators, navigating the digital landscape with ease, thanks to tutor management technology.

So, here’s to the tech behind the tutor, making education more accessible, efficient, and engaging. Long live the digital revolution!

References:

(1).  https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/986213.986216

(2). https://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/eval/tech/evidence-based-practices/finalreport.pdf

Today, online tutoring is possible due to the advancement in technology. Unlike former times when online tutoring was not an option, nowadays, children don’t even have to meet physically with their tutors. Some online platforms offer specialized services that focus on specific subjects, such as Ezy Math, where you can get a Maths tutor in Leichhardt, for example.  

However, traditional and private tutoring remain options for some parents, even with the growing popularity of online tutoring. Both options are effective, but choosing the best one for your child is challenging. This article will outline the pros and cons of both methods to help you choose the ideal plan for your child.

Online Tutoring

Online tutoring refers to tutoring services that are offered virtually. The tutors and learners can be in different locations or time zones and communicate through video calls or zoom meetings. Both the students and tutor require a phone, tablet, or computer for communication. In some cases, they can share documents via email. One of the best online tutoring websites I have found is Youni Tutoring.

Benefits of Online Tutoring

The advantages of online tutoring include the following:

• Convenience

Online tutoring is more convenient than traditional tutoring since the tutor doesn’t need to meet the student physically. Learning can take place conveniently if both parties have a stable internet connection. Additionally, online tutoring offers flexibility as tutors plan classes around a convenient time for the tutor and student.

• Accessibility

Online tutoring services are easily accessible to students everywhere. Even students from remote areas can get tutoring services from the internet. Additionally, there are many tutors to choose from. All you need is a stable Wi-Fi connection. On the contrary, traditional tutoring requires the tutor and student to meet physically, which is thus time-consuming.

Cons of Online Tutoring

Online tutoring only works well for some subjects as some complex topics can be difficult to explain virtually. There’s also a chance that you can get scammed by fake tutors. Always follow up from the start to ensure your child is actually learning and enjoying the classes. 

Offline Tutoring

Offline tutoring is a method of tutoring where the tutor and student interact in person. The student can learn physically through the use of textbooks and handouts. 

Benefits of Offline Tutoring

Offline tutoring has numerous advantages, including the following:

• Better Interactions

The student and tutor interact better since they see each other in person. Additionally, the tutor can gauge the student’s understanding and easily explain challenging concepts.

• The Tutor Can Observe the Student’s Body Language

An educator can learn a lot about a student from their body language. For instance, a tutor can reassure a student who appears shy. Similarly, the tutor can change the teaching techniques if a student seems disinterested.

Cons of Offline Tutoring

Some disadvantages of offline tutoring include the following:

• It’s inconvenient as the tutor has to come to the student’s location.
• This tutoring method is time-consuming, especially if the teacher or student arrives late.

Concluding thoughts…

Learners are different. Some get better results through offline tutoring, while others perform better through online tutoring. It would help to compare both methods and decide on the best one for your child. You can also try both ways and ask your child which one they prefer. 

Doing your research before hiring an online or offline tutor will help you avoid getting conned. Ultimately, both methods are effective when the tutors employ the right teaching tactics. So choose a tutor with the ideal qualities to ensure your child gets the best tutoring services.

The pandemic has got the whole world actively engaged in online learning to one degree or another.  

Online learning can be challenging for both learners and educators alike, as it demands more attention and self-discipline on the part of the learner than traditional in-person classes.  That being said, the ability to work remotely does provide greater flexibility for learners and educators.

Here are some excellent tips to excel in your academics through an online learning system:  

1. Put an end to distraction 

During online learning, every learner must pay full attention to the teacher. Due to social media and household chores, people may feel less able to concentrate and more inclined to get themselves distracted. This distraction must be confronted directly, which requires active communication with parents and students, to ensure students are working in a quiet environment free from as many distractions as possible. 

2. Effective online communication

Given that in-person interaction is minimal, there should be an established relationship between students and teachers. Communication is a two-way street though, so both parties should work to develop their social presence. Communicating with instructors leads to effective learning, as it provides an opportunity to ask for help and engage with the content of the course.  It is particularly important to give thought to how much of the online communication should be asynchronous versus how much should be synchronous.  For more information on this topic, take a look at this post in which I discuss The Best Combination of Asynchronous & Synchronous Communication. 

3. Actively participate in class 

More opportunities for active participation and discussion leads to greater levels of student satisfaction and better learning outcomes. Students will experience deeper learning and feel more satisfied by their learning experience.  

When the teacher asks a question or fellow students share content, for example, it can help to have a discussion board where students can post questions and engage with their classmates after the lesson.  This discussion board can be found on the assignment window or stream of Google Classroom or a dedicated space on Padlet could be created, for example.  The idea is simply to get students posting their questions about the assignments they are working on.  Evidence-based learning shows that a peer-to-peer learning environment leads to more profound and memorable learning experiences. 

4. Goal Setting & Schedules 

It is imperative that students have a clear schedule for their studies. This can be simply be a spreadsheet timetable with hyperlinks to all the students’ Zoom lessons, for example.  This helps students to manage their study time to remain more focused. 

5. Avoid tiredness and fatigue

Attending continuous classes via Zoom screen can make anyone feel tired. It is important that both teachers and students take regular breaks away from their screens to avoid “Zoom fatigue”!   Rest and physical exercise form a crucial part of the learning process. 

6. Stay Motivated

The world has changed significantly over the the past year and a half.  Self-isolation, social distancing and mask-wearing has naturally left many people feeling down.  Students can need help to keep themselves motivated, so rewards and praise for excellent progress or for completing assignments can go a long way. 

This was a guest post by Abroo Murtaza.

Abroo recommends See TEFL for online courses to teach English as a foreign language.

Google Docs is an online word processor and one of Google’s free suite of tools, which many students and teachers all over the world now use.  My experience with Google Docs is that it makes a very significant contribution to social constructivist learning.  Social constructivism is the idea that learners construct their own mental models, and these models develop through collaboration with others.

The concept of social constructivism began from the work of psychologists, namely Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner.  Vygotsky came up with the idea he referred to as the ‘zone of proximal development’ – the notion that there is an area of activity just a little bit beyond what a child can already do – it is what they can do with help.  Bruner gave educators the analogy of ‘scaffolding’ the new skills that the child was learning, by providing support and guidance to get to the next point.

Google Docs not only makes these elements of social constructivism possible, but it actively promotes this type of pedagogy.  One of the most important benefits of Google Docs is that documents can be shared, which means several users can work on the same document from different computers – synchronously or asynchronously.  In my experience, this gives a feeling of shared ownership and collaborative effort, helping to increase student motivation.  The document below is an example of a 4th grade group project in which groups of three students work as a team to research and answer the following questions about oil.

It’s easy to see what each individual student contributes to a document like this because Google Docs assigns every contributor a unique colour. My advice though, would be to keep the groups working on the same document small.  You don’t really want too many students working on the same document because it does become difficult to disentangle who has made which changes, and as with any online collaborative tool, it simply becomes more of a challenge to coordinate who should be doing what.

In small online working groups, it’s also easier to keep track of different comments made on the work by others.  This brings another benefit of Google docs documents, which is the ability to add comments on the side of the work.  To insert a comment, highlight the text, then choose Insert a Comment under the Insert Menu.  You just highlight some text in the body of the document and the comment will appear on the right side of the page. It’s basically a digital post-it note on the side of your document.  Click on any comment and watch the highlighted text in the document change colour to quickly pinpoint the suggested revision. Comments are clever and they disappear after the issue has been addressed by the author so students feel a sense of accomplishment as they work their way through the suggestions of their peers.  I would also say that students are more likely to revisit their work if they know someone else will be commenting on it.

This feature of comments can be particularly good for documents shared just between a teacher and student – the teacher can use the comments to bring the student’s attention to mistakes, and to facilitate a form of scaffold questions to improve the student’s writing.

The comments also remove barriers between writers and further creates a sense of class community.  In addition, Docs provide support for collaboration in real time so students and teachers can have a virtual mini-conference about the work in front of them from any location if the timing is right.  This can be done by instant messaging chat, in which users shared into the document can chat synchronously about their project.  By adding this synchronous communication medium into the tool, it also gives a feeling of social presence, which adds to student engagement.

These features of Google Docs gives rise to what I consider to be the most valuable of all pedagogical benefits – small group work.  By producing the conditions of small group work, concepts, skills and attitudes such as cooperation, collaboration and rational argument can be developed. Exploring and valuing the contributions of others is excellent preparation for life in a culturually diverse society.  According to the ideas of Brown, Barnfield & Stone (1990), small group work can lead to:

– a secure environment that some less confident students need in order to express their ideas;

– some children accepting responsibility to help others;

– full involvement of all the children in the task;

– children recognising the contributions of others as important as their own; and,

– children being able to recognise the individuality of others.

Small group work that is faciliated through the use of Google Docs naturally leads students to pool their ideas, listen to each other and to have respect for each person’s contributions to the work of the group.

When students are at the planning stage of an assignment, they can use the Word Art feature (as shown below) to make mind maps and do collaborative brainstorming.  The asynchronous nature of digital brainstorming sessions provides all students with an opportunity to contribute, unlike traditional brainstorming sessions which encourage contributions from the “quick thinkers” in the room. Students can use shapes, arrows, text, and imported images to build a visual map for any task. Again, the revision history uses colours to highlight and track changes to the Google Doc, making it easy to see what each student has contributed to the big picture.

Another big advantage for students and teachers is the use of templates.  You can provide students with a starting point for digital writing by creating templates. This saves time and guides the learning by giving students a consistent page format which can include links, images and directions, all helping to jump start the learning. All you have to do is just create a Google Doc and then save it as a template. Students can pick up a copy of a template and instantly store it in their own list of Google Docs.  The Google Sheet below is a brilliant example of a template for a maths project in which students need to complete the information about regular polygons.

As you would expect for a word processing tool, there is a built in smart spell-checking system that identifies spelling errors as you type. There is also a context-sensitive grammar checker, which can make appropriate suggestions for corrections. While Word uses color coding to make distinctions between spelling and grammar errors, Google sticks with one colour (a red wiggly line), but the suggestion box offers smart and appropriate suggestions.  There is also a built-in dictionary and thesaurus, allowing learners to look up words without leaving the document.

This is a video I made to summarise some of the benefits of Google Docs:

Google Docs at a Glance:

• Google Docs enables the creating, uploading and storing of documents
• It facilitates collaboration with others in real-time or asynchronously
• It is a free tool available anytime anywhere
• There is no worry of losing your work because it is continually and automatically saved
• There are many useful features for teachers and students, for example:
• Word Art facilitates collaborative brainstorming
• Templates save teachers time and help guide students’ learning
• There is a Smart Spell Checker with Grammar Support
• And, there are Integrated Reference Tools, which are ideal for research

Remember though, to get the best out of Google docs, you and your students need to:

• Have a google account and reliable high speed Internet access
• Use folders to keep documents organised and easily accessible
• Keep student online working groups small – especially important for the editing of documents and discussions
• Finally, think carefully through the levels of sharing – what roles do you want your students to have for specific documents and folders? When should your students be editors, viewers, or commenters?

References:

Brown, Barnfield & Stone, 1990, ‘Working toward social justice’ in A Spanner in the Works

Last year I completed my MA in Digital Technologies, Communication & Education with the University of Manchester.  Living in El Salvador had made it necessary to study this course by distance, and I was very satisfied with the guidance, course materials and teaching that I received online.  As a result, I enjoyed the whole course from start to finish, as it was challenging and kept me engaged all the way through.  I credit much of the success of this course to be down to the right combination of asynchronous communication, in which students are separated by time and space, and also synchronous communication, in which students can participate simultaneously.

Using Google Docs and Google Hangout, I discussed with two of my fellow students, Susan Johnson and Nick Kiley, who were based in Ireland and Latvia respectively, what is the best approach to delivering a distance learning course.  Together we wrote a Paper titled, The Best Combination of Asynchronous & Synchronous Communication.  I include an abridged version of our Paper below:   

The primary purpose of any online communication tool for education is to provide a means of discussion and collaboration between participants, thereby enabling the sharing of knowledge. For Vygotsky (1962), discussion and collaboration are fundamental to learning because the act of articulating an idea is itself a contribution to what it means to know that idea – this has formed the basis of an approach that is now referred to as “social constructivism” (Laurillard, 2012, p. 49). Swan (2005) summarises the importance of social constructivism for online practices by making the suggestion that “learning is essentially a social activity, [and] that meaning is constructed through communication, collaborative activity, and interactions with others” (p. 5).

Both synchronous and asynchronous tools can serve to promote an exchange of ideas between participants.  However, the nature of the ideas exchanged varies according to the communication tool used.  Synchronous communication brings a much greater level of social presence onto an online course, which helps to maintain student motivation and engagement.  Asynchronous communication on the other hand, by having a time lag between responses and thus allowing thinking time, can facilitate deeper understanding of the subject matter.  By combining the two modes of communication in the right way therefore the benefits of both modes can be maximised, and the potential pitfalls minimised.

In order to strike the best balance in the complementation of these two distinct modes of communication, my peers and I came up with a sequence to follow for when to use the different modes of communication.  This is because we believe that the best way to combine synchronous and asynchronous communication tools to maximise student learning should be determined according to the stage in which learners find themselves on an online programme.

[embeddoc url=”https://technologyforlearners.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/The-Best-Way-to-Combine-Asynchronous-Synchronous-Communication.docx”]

Without conducting research to test our hypothesis, it can be argued that, although rooted in a review of relevant literature, the effectiveness of the above outline is based on conjecture. However, the outline attempts to establish a sequence that most effectively balances the positive and negative features of synchronous and asynchronous communication, to determine the best way to combine these modes.

At the beginning of an online learning programme, the first type of interaction between participants should be synchronous in the form of a video chat in order that faces can be put to names and to enable a learning community to be created.  After this stage, we suggest that the subsequent progressive stages should alternate from asynchronous to synchronous communication and then back again.  The asynchronous communication, be it in the form of discussion boards, emails, or wikis all serve to afford the learner time to process information in which to plan, coordinate and share ideas with others.  Intermittently, synchronous communication should be used, which by this stage can be video chat again or an instant messaging tool.  This type of communication then offers the benefits of immediacy for the learner, enabling the learner to collaborate in real-time and therefore receive instant feedback from the instructor and peers.  When used in this way, synchronous communication also helps to maintain learner engagement and motivation by maintaining a sense of social presence, which can be particularly important for many learners.

We acknowledge that flexibility needs to be afforded to online learners, due to the diverse range of personality types that come onto a course, ranging on a spectrum of extroverts to introverts. Given the myriad of different factors then that can affect a learner’s preference for either synchronous or asynchronous communication, as well as the apparent benefits of combining both, it is our conclusion that following the sequencing pattern presented in this paper is the best way to combine asynchronous and synchronous tools, in order to encourage collaboration, cognitive processing, and engagement – and therefore maximise student learning.