Online Math Tutoring: 5 Advantages
Online tutoring is the education of the future, and the future is here! Learning using an Internet interface, E-Learning, is continually evolving to meet the needs of the 21st century student. The advantages are limitless. The top 5 advantages to online tutoring are:
1.) Convenience
2.) Flexible Scheduling
3.) Technology Skills
4.) Communication Skills
5.) Confidence
Advantage #1: Convenience
No more missing tutoring sessions.
Traffic? Your kids wouldn’t get into the car? You lost your keys? You got into your car only to realize you were out of gas and would need to stop on the way and fill up? Bad weather? Exhaustion?
With online tutoring, all these problems disappear for you and your tutor. After all, the same list of reasons for being late that apply to you also applies to your tutor.
Tutoring sessions can be conducted from your home or anywhere the student has access to a laptop computer and Internet access. No more pressure to get to the tutoring location, you are already there.
Going on a trip, worried about internet access? See my other article Online Math Tutoring: 5 Most Common Misconceptions where I address this issue.
Advantage #2: Flexible Scheduling
With online tutoring, the scheduling is much more flexible. No travel required = no need to factor in travel time = easier to mesh schedules.
Your child can have dinner at 5:30pm and be ready for their tutoring session by 6pm.
A one hour session actually only takes 1 hour of your time!
No more having to schedule meals around drive time or stopping for fast food after school, so your child gets something to eat on the way to tutoring.
Being able to attend the tutoring lesson from anywhere there is an Internet access, students can pursue their busy extracurricular activities and still be able to excel in math. For example, I have a student who attends her tutoring sessions at an ice rink between figure skating lessons.
Advantage #3: Technology Skills
Technology is advancing in leaps and bounds. It is imperative that we keep up and educate our children in the use of technology. Online tutoring not only enhances your child’s educational knowledge, but also allows them a means to become more comfortable collaborating and communicating via an online interface.
Fast forward to your child’s future. More and more companies are allowing their employees to work remotely. Therefore, as our children grow and prepare to enter the workforce, they need to be prepared to present and conference with their coworkers and bosses via online interfaces.
Online tutoring is a great introduction to this skill.
Previous experience is not necessary in order to get started with online tutoring, see my article: Online Math Tutoring: 5 Most Common Misconceptions for how I will work with your student to develop these essential technology skills while still advancing them academically.
Advantage #4: Communication Skills
Online tutoring provides an excellent platform for developing communication skills. Communicating with someone via video chat is a different skill than talking face to face.
Whether the student works the problem using the online interface or in their notebook, I emphasize the procedure they used to get the answer. The discussion centers around mathematical thinking and explaining the process used to get the correct answer or to find their mistake.
Initially, this is a challenge for most students, because they are accustomed to a teacher just looking at their work and pointing out their mistake. They are not used to having to communicate how they solved the problem or figure out where they went wrong.
Research shows that being able to verbalize mathematical thinking leads to deeper understanding and higher test scores. I emphasize the “how” and “why” of problems rather than just the correct answer.
Through online tutoring, students gain essential and invaluable communication skills that will put them leaps and bounds above their coworkers in their careers.
I know this is important from my experiences at NASA. The individual system specialists were required to work as a team to keep the space station operating safely. Much of my training consisted of being able to communicate clearly, concisely and quickly; often times with only verbal communication. I also encountered highly intelligent people who really knew their profession. However, often times they were unable to explain the concepts to their colleagues or train new people. This resulted in missed opportunities and lost promotions.
Advantage #5: Confidence
Students learn best in an environment in which they feel comfortable and safe. Online tutoring is the perfect way to provide this environment for your child.
In their room, on the trampoline in the yard, swinging in a hammock, at the study desk, around a campfire? Wherever the student is most comfortable is where the session is held.
In the traditional setting, some students are intimidated talking face to face with someone and admitting they don’t know the material or the answer to the tutor’s questions.
This is another perk of online tutoring.
If the student feels uncomfortable talking face to face, they can just minimize the camera view and the tutor becomes a disembodied voice.
Through collaboration on the whiteboard and camera, the tutor is still able to teach the student, but the student doesn’t have to see the tutor.
Without the physical presence of someone there, many students feel more confident asking questions, admitting mistakes, saying “I don’t know”, etc.
The student doesn’t feel as vulnerable! This allows for unlimited growth potential.
One of my goals is to provide an open and comfortable environment for your student to learn, inspiring confidence in my students and allowing them to open up and really engage in the tutoring session. The online tutoring platform makes this so much more impactful than traditional one-on-one tutoring.
In summary, there are many benefits to online tutoring besides boosting your child’s math level. Hardt Tutoring Services, LLC utilizes a mixture of interactive technologies to enhance the students' mathematics understanding. If you have any questions or are interested in having a conversation, feel free to leave your comments below.
My website also has other articles that you may find useful. Additionally, you can view my services, and find contact information to reach me directly. I look forward to our conversation!
About The Author: Meghan Hardt
Meghan is a young entrepreneur with very specialized training. This includes NASA, Tutoring, and Engineering! Read more Here.