Pros and Cons of Online Tutoring

Internet infrastructure has developed to a point that it has become extremely easy and convenient to hire an online tutor. This option usually presents itself as a dilemma to parents looking to hire a tutor for their child. While it is easy to presume that live teaching can in no way match the experience of having the teacher physically present, the experience actually varies depending on the student’s age, his/her comfort with technology, the subject taught and the experience levels of the educator. Let’s take a look at some of the pros and cons of online tutoring in more detail.
PROS:
a) Online tutoring eliminates the need to travel for either the student or the educator. This not only saves time, but also money, making live coaching far more cost efficient.
b) Older students accustomed to Internet technologies will generally find online mentoring more comfortable than home coaching.
c) Evolution of software technologies has reached such a point that, an educator could write, dictate, speak or draw in real time while the student watches. The mentor too, is able to view the student’s work real time. This real time face-to-face interaction maintains a personal touch to teaching, while the distance assures the parents the safety of their kids.
d) Recording is possible when it comes to one-on-one lessons, this enables the student to visit back on any of the older lessons for more efficient revisions. These recordings can also provide a valuable insight to parents about the quality of the lessons provided.
e) Finally live tutoring provides a lot of flexibility with timings, content of the subject, quality of the teacher etc. Since distance is never an issue, a good instructor is easier to find.
CONS:
a) No matter how you look at it, live tutoring keeps the student physically away from the teacher, allowing for mischievous or unruly behaviour.
b) Lack of quality Internet access can severely hamper the quality of online teaching. Other than this, software compatibility issues, user experience in dealing with computers etc. can have a negative impact on the quality of education.
c) Students participating in such programs might simply email each other and chat online since distances involved make it impossible to physically meet. This might hamper social skills in young children.
As with most things, live coaching might be a good thing or a bad thing. It is up to you to gauge the personality of your child and the value of a given tutor, and decide if online is the way to go or not.