Hi everyone. I actually did not plan to write out this post in advance. This post just came to me after a recent online tutoring session. I talk about silence during online group tutoring. This post is a bit of a follow up to my previous post on speaking to voices online.
One of my online math tutoring tasks involves tutoring 2-3 students at a time. Some of you may think that this is crazy and it kind of is. I do get paid a good amount per hour (x2.5 minimum wage in my area) for this. My one group of three Gr9 girls all have the same teacher so it is not too bad. The group I refer to in this post is a group of three grade 10 boys with one of them having a different teacher with a different order of math topics. In this case I cannot really teach two things at the same time. I do a guided homework session with one set of homework problems for the pair and a different set of problems for the third student.
In a recent online group tutoring session, I had to deal with a bit of silence from students. No questions are really answered and no call for helps are done if a student is stuck on a question. There is the one guy who did use the messaging feature as a method of communication as his audio and video does not work.
With this kind of situation you have to read the situation and make your best guess on when to correct student work online. I correct algebra math mistakes as soon as I see them to avoid further mistakes being made. Catching the mistakes early does help save time and can allow the student to do more practice problems.
There are cases when students do not write anything. A student may be thinking, stuck on a question or away from the computer for a few minutes. You never really know online.
Online one on one tutoring is nice for both the tutor and the student. The convienence factor is huge. No need to travel far to meet students. Technology advancements have provided us with online platforms that contain an interactive online whiteboard. Online whiteboards are nice to work with as you can do drawings, typing, interact with uploaded images and .pdf class notes.
One downside is maybe not seeing your students. I cover that in the previous post about talking to voices online. This downside is not a fault of online learning as it is just mostly human behaviour. Many would prefer not to show themselves online for comfort and/or privacy reasons.
In a past education post I talk about the luck of the draw when it comes to courses and teachers from the student perspective. There is the luck of the draw from the educator perspective. You never really know what type of student(s) you get in terms of skill level, personalities, attendance rates and/or level of respect from them.
Maybe I am focusing on the downside which results in this post.
Thank you for reading.
