Guest Anoel Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I'm currently working at a startup and we're looking into creating a website that allows high school kids to do peer tutoring with each other or middle school kids. I was hoping I could get some input from parents on this forum to help us focus our idea. If anyone could answer any of these questions, I would really appreciate it! Does your child participate in peer tutoring right now? What do you and/or they like/dislike about it? Would your child be interested in participating in peer tutoring remotely? What tools would they need? What subjects would your child be most likely to participate in? What would convince you to try out and/or pay for remote online tutoring? What would or do you look for in a peer tutor? How much would you want to pay? Any other comments, suggestions, related sites, etc would be helpful. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StephanieZ Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 My biggest concern would be who is on the other end . . . I would not consider peer tutoring (on either end) with strangers unless I had means to easily view all correspondence and/or online sessions. I'd want to be able to take 3-5 min and skim through a recording/screen capture/video capture all of it periodically to make sure the peer on the other end wasn't behaving inappropriately. The recordings could just be available for, say, a week if storage space was limited. Some degree of screening of tutors would also be needed. That said, I have no need for peer tutoring for my kids. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 (edited) I am running a learning center with peer learning assistants (not quite tutors from the philosophy, but similar) for my physics courses at the university. My DD is involved as a peer tutor. She likes the contact with the students and the fact that explaining the material to others helps cement her understanding. Our requirement for peer tutors is the successful completion of the course they are tutoring with a grade of A. Tutors are required to participate in monthly training workshops where they are instructed in the use of the Socratic method, pedagogy, efficiency, dealing with difficult students etc. If I were a customer looking for peer tutoring for my high school student, I would expect a similar expertise from the tutors: mastery of subject matter as verified and guaranteed by the company, and training in pedagogy. My children do not have any current need for tutoring, but if they had, I would first try to find local in-person tutoring. We have needed tutoring in French, and wanted a native speaker and a private setting. I would utilize a for-pay online resource only after having exhausted all local possibilities and all free online opportunities; I would expect to pay significantly less than I would have to for an in-person tutor. Edited July 19, 2012 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 We have a good face-to-face tutor with a qualified and vetted adult. We did have a younger person (college aged) as a tutor and I was quite unhappy as he was not as professional as we had hoped. Now we have a qualified and screened adult tutor that we are quite happy with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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