Tutor.com
photo credit: Beard Papa
Recently I embarked on a new teaching journey and would love to share a great resource with my readers.
Tutor.com is a website designed to connect students with qualified tutors. Students can either access the site from a library and receive 20 minutes of free instruction at a time (the library pays for the service) or students can pay for unlimited online help.
I stumbled upon the site a few months ago and thought it may be a nice way for me to use my degrees and skills during my leave. In order to become a tutor, I first needed to take a couple of online tests regarding grammar and writing. Once I passed these objective tests, I then took an essay test. Once that was approved, I spent a week reading and studying the ins and outs of how the system worked before running a practice session with a Tutor.com mentor. The last piece was a background check and one final exam on the website itself. Then I was approved!
My first official session will take place on Tuesday afternoon — I signed up for two hours initially, although I was allowed to start with 10 hours.
Here’s a snapshot of how the sessions work:
A student logs in with a question. If the tutor is able to help, then a chalkboard appears with a text message dialog at the top. The student explains the dilemma and then the tutor guides the student to discover the answer on his/her own. This is emphasized and monitored closely — the tutors are NOT to simply provide answers.
Once the student seems to be getting the idea, the tutor ensures that the student truly understands the concept beyond the specific answer. So far I have been very impressed by the process I needed to go through to become a tutor, as well as the emphasis on learning.
Feel free to ask me any questions! I may wait until my Tuesday session has been completed to answer them, but so far I whole-heartedly recommend this website for interested tutors or struggling students!
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Thanks for the comment, Tanya! Tuesday went very well — I loved the variety of questions. It felt great to be able to help kids again, too. My next session is this afternoon and I’m looking forward to it!! So far I definitely recommend it!!
Beware of this company. Check out the reviews of Tutor.com by tutors:
http://www.jobvent.com/
search for Tutor.com
Hi- I found your blog doing a blog search of tutor.com I’m curious about this program. What do they pay? How did Tuesday go?
Thanks! -Tanya