2nd August 2013 11:39
By Blue Tutors
In the last couple of years, online tutoring has become increasingly popular amongst school students and their parents. Advancements in digital technology have changed the way school-age pupils relate to the learning process, and this is something that both teachers and the tuition industry need to cater for. Computers are now regularly used in classrooms, and there has been a proliferation of education programmes that both schools are parents use to aid children’s education. These innovations are crucial in order to keep up with students’ increasingly digital perspective, with computer games and social networking sites becoming a big part of their lives.
Online tutoring is popular in particular because costs are much lower than a face to face tutor. Whilst home tuition with a tutor costs up to £60 an hour, online tuition usually comes in between £15 and £25 an hour, offering huge savings to schools and parents. Programmes such as skype allow video calling and live sessions, which means that students who are able to use the technology can receive ‘face to face’ tuition for a much lower price. Online tuition is also a benefit to families who live in more remote areas and struggle to find tutors who are able to come to their houses.
Some parents have also found that their children are more willing to work with a private tutor online than face to face, feeling more comfortable using the technology that facilitates this. There are several programmes which act as shared online ‘blackboards’, whereby tutor and student can share information which can be viewed during the lesson. It is no secret that school students in the UK today spend a huge amount of time online, and use various sites, chat programmes and computer games to unwind and communicate with their friends. For this reason, it makes sense for schools and parents to use advances in technology to encourage students to work with private tutors.