How Do you Choose an Online Tutor?
December 29th, 2008
Elaine asked:
Education has become the new wild west on the internet. Every article in the national news media and a flury of new education sites appear. Websites have sprung out of the woodwork offering to turn every man woman and child into a high achiever in weeks for 10.99 an hour. In the midst of this clamor, tall promises, and out of sight providers choosing someone is not easy and could actually get complicated if not outright dangerous. So how is one to choose? Should one choose at all or should one simply ignore the phenomenon completely?
Over the last 10 years of the internet we have seen business after business being reengineered by new entrants exploiting the power of the internet, creating dynamic offerings that rival and often beat the existing service providers in the space. Retail, Banking , Financial services .. the list of segments and markets that have been completely recreated by these nimble fast moving companies is long. Names like Amazon, Ebay, Etrade are the new behemoths of today, Using the power of the internet, they have made their way to our living rooms and to our wallets, providing sometimes similar and often better services at prices that are irresistible.
Education too has been part of this trend. Institutions like the University of Phoenix have catapulted themselves from humble origins to being giants of the distance education market. Its the turn of tutoring institutions now. Institutions that offer significant personalized attention, remedial programs, enriched courses all delivering significant value yet at a fraction of the cost of the existing corporate providers like Kumon or Sylvan Tutoring or the thousands of individuals who tutor privately. We - Networktutors.com - are one of the early entrants in this field. This is our viewpoint, our story and what we have tried to avoid , what we have tried to do and above all what value we aim to provide.Our services include distance tutoring in Math , Science, Economics, Accounting at all levels -elementary, middle and high school, undergraduate programs and graduate studies as well. Our Tutors – many with Phds , and nearly everyone else with graduate degrees from premier institutions have taught and continue to teach similar courses in large universities today. Many of our teachers come are from India bringing to you the same set of skills that have made India the intellectual powerhouse it is today. Networktutors.com has multiple price points at which tutoring can take place. At the economical end tutors attend to queries submitted over email. They answer questions, provide detailed answers and provide the necessary background to answering similar questions in the future . Students can also avail of personal interaction through online chats or audio /video links.We are certainly not the cheapest nor do we have any desire to play in that space. We do pass on to you much of the cost benefits we derive because of our global tutor pool. But our objective is twofold. We want to exceed your expectations every time you come to us. That we believe is the only way to do well in business. And not by dangling an attractive price while compromising on quality. Our prices are very attractive when you compare it to what’s available from companies such as Kumon, Sylvan or the other tutoring companies. As for the quality you can form your opinion after you try us out once.
So what should you look for to select a good tutor for yourself or for your child. How do you select from the thousands of websites that you get the moment you plug in a query in Google or Yahoo?First and foremost follow the watchword of any purchase you make. Compare. Compare and then compare some more. Compare what the providers say on their web sites. Does the web site look professionally done? Is it just a few pages pushing tutors ? Or is there a lot more content in there? If there a free component that you could try before you actually initiate a conversation with someone? Have the providers invested their time and money in providing any free services? Maybe you could get them to let you browse through all the sections of the site. Get yourself an id and password if necessary. If the site is legitimate the provider should have no issue letting you go through all the content they have for a few days.Be careful if you see that the site just consists of a few pages. Send an email and see the quality of response you get back. Does it sound professional ? Competent?The price differential between what you get locally and an internet based provider is compelling but only if you do your homework right. Lastly please use discretion and common sense. If it seems too good to be true, it very well could be. If you wish to purchase services for your children please make sure that you get the responses to your mailbox rather than the child’s. If you purchase a “live” session do make sure that you randomly sit through the session yourself to make sure that everything is above board. The professional companies will vet their tutors and only provide the best and most reliable but they need to prove themselves to you first.
Good Luck.
Jonatan Wolma
Education has become the new wild west on the internet. Every article in the national news media and a flury of new education sites appear. Websites have sprung out of the woodwork offering to turn every man woman and child into a high achiever in weeks for 10.99 an hour. In the midst of this clamor, tall promises, and out of sight providers choosing someone is not easy and could actually get complicated if not outright dangerous. So how is one to choose? Should one choose at all or should one simply ignore the phenomenon completely?
Over the last 10 years of the internet we have seen business after business being reengineered by new entrants exploiting the power of the internet, creating dynamic offerings that rival and often beat the existing service providers in the space. Retail, Banking , Financial services .. the list of segments and markets that have been completely recreated by these nimble fast moving companies is long. Names like Amazon, Ebay, Etrade are the new behemoths of today, Using the power of the internet, they have made their way to our living rooms and to our wallets, providing sometimes similar and often better services at prices that are irresistible.
Education too has been part of this trend. Institutions like the University of Phoenix have catapulted themselves from humble origins to being giants of the distance education market. Its the turn of tutoring institutions now. Institutions that offer significant personalized attention, remedial programs, enriched courses all delivering significant value yet at a fraction of the cost of the existing corporate providers like Kumon or Sylvan Tutoring or the thousands of individuals who tutor privately. We - Networktutors.com - are one of the early entrants in this field. This is our viewpoint, our story and what we have tried to avoid , what we have tried to do and above all what value we aim to provide.Our services include distance tutoring in Math , Science, Economics, Accounting at all levels -elementary, middle and high school, undergraduate programs and graduate studies as well. Our Tutors – many with Phds , and nearly everyone else with graduate degrees from premier institutions have taught and continue to teach similar courses in large universities today. Many of our teachers come are from India bringing to you the same set of skills that have made India the intellectual powerhouse it is today. Networktutors.com has multiple price points at which tutoring can take place. At the economical end tutors attend to queries submitted over email. They answer questions, provide detailed answers and provide the necessary background to answering similar questions in the future . Students can also avail of personal interaction through online chats or audio /video links.We are certainly not the cheapest nor do we have any desire to play in that space. We do pass on to you much of the cost benefits we derive because of our global tutor pool. But our objective is twofold. We want to exceed your expectations every time you come to us. That we believe is the only way to do well in business. And not by dangling an attractive price while compromising on quality. Our prices are very attractive when you compare it to what’s available from companies such as Kumon, Sylvan or the other tutoring companies. As for the quality you can form your opinion after you try us out once.
So what should you look for to select a good tutor for yourself or for your child. How do you select from the thousands of websites that you get the moment you plug in a query in Google or Yahoo?First and foremost follow the watchword of any purchase you make. Compare. Compare and then compare some more. Compare what the providers say on their web sites. Does the web site look professionally done? Is it just a few pages pushing tutors ? Or is there a lot more content in there? If there a free component that you could try before you actually initiate a conversation with someone? Have the providers invested their time and money in providing any free services? Maybe you could get them to let you browse through all the sections of the site. Get yourself an id and password if necessary. If the site is legitimate the provider should have no issue letting you go through all the content they have for a few days.Be careful if you see that the site just consists of a few pages. Send an email and see the quality of response you get back. Does it sound professional ? Competent?The price differential between what you get locally and an internet based provider is compelling but only if you do your homework right. Lastly please use discretion and common sense. If it seems too good to be true, it very well could be. If you wish to purchase services for your children please make sure that you get the responses to your mailbox rather than the child’s. If you purchase a “live” session do make sure that you randomly sit through the session yourself to make sure that everything is above board. The professional companies will vet their tutors and only provide the best and most reliable but they need to prove themselves to you first.
Good Luck.
Jonatan Wolma
