25th April 2012 12:31
By Blue Tutors
Online tutoring - not just second choice
Cleveland.com reports a real rise in the number of students taking advantage of a new system on online academic support. While this is for University students at the moment, there is no reason why this kind of thing cannot happen here in the UK with school kids. And indeed it does on an informal level, where teachers often answer students’ questions posted on homework forums etc.
But it could be formalised, with the sharing of teachers available for online assistance when the kids need it most - when they are doing their homework.
Here’s how it works in Cleveland:
Schools provide tutors -- often faculty members or retired professionals -- whose services are available to students from any member of the collaborative.
More than 3,000 students this school year are regularly seeking online help in seven subjects and a writing lab, said Karen Boyd, the coordinator of the collaborative, which is part of OhioLearns, a University System of Ohio site for distance learning.
"Schools can pool their resources to provide hours of academic support," she said.
The program saves universities money since they share tutors, and they coordinate who can provide the stronger tutors.
Students and parents often think correspondence tuition is a poor second choice but this doesn’t have to be true. Online help can really make a difference.