To tutor online, or not to tutor online - that is the question

It seems to be generally accepted wisdom that tutoring is best in person and one-to-one. My personal experience is that the real answer is... sometimes.


When I was in full swing with my tutoring business during grad school, I tutored many levels of math and physics to a wide range of people. I even tutored a guy in the air-force who needed to brush up on trigonometry for an aviation refresher exam! It was clear he didn't actually need to know the stuff to fly the plane, which we both found very funny.


I found that the question of online vs. in person depends mostly on the what and the who: What information you are imparting, and to whom you must provide it.  For example, I taught two twins age 15 together in person once (a giant error of judgement!), and also a high school student over video chat for many months. Both made excellent progress and in the process, I learned quite a bit about the best technical and payment solutions for online delivery.



There are just a few key concepts I found:

• First, payment up front for online tutoring is essential, as quite a few of my clients have tried to sneak off with the last lesson.  This is especially true if the tutoring is international i.e. languages, mentoring, etc.  Luckily, many quick and reliable systems already exist. Paypal is most likely the easiest if you don't want to use an escrow service. However, offering escrow can protect your clients and build trust over time.

• Second, get good equipment! A quality headset and microphone are essential if you're going to deliver a quality experience. Depending on your computer's built-in camera, a nice external webcam may also be a wise investment.  Try a test run with a friend before you begin with real students.

• Third, if you're going to use Skype or similar nonspecialized software, supplement the experience with an online whiteboard using a touch screen or stylus.  Because you can save the board at key times to leave them notes to review after the lesson, they will feel like they are getting a lot of value from your tutoring.

• Finally, if you're going to tutor a small group online, it's best if they are all in the room together rather than trying a multiple screen share. A friend of mine tutors Italian and this method has worked very well for her. Doing a group lesson with all students online at once seems so fraught with technical issues that it's sometimes not even worth it! Much of the value of a group lesson can be lost this way.  

I hope you find this advice helpful! Please comment about your experience below if you feel I missed anything important!

#tutor #whyitutor #whydelphi