The Tutor.com Blog

To celebrate Valentine’s Day we’re sharing the top 5 reasons we and our students love our tutors!

5.  Patience, Patience, Patience: Yes, it’s a virtue that our tutors have in spades! They take their time to really understand what a student needs and work with him/her until they get it.

4. Enthusiasm: It may be 10:00 p.m., but our tutors are downright cheerful! They never miss a chance to say “great job!”. Their enthusiasm makes that looming calculus test seem not so bad.

3. Expertise: We work hard to recruit great tutors and every day they prove just how much they know from helping students write an A+ essay to working out that tough chemistry equation.

2.  Personal: Learning is a very personal endeavor and we <3 how our tutors personalize every session to what a student needs. They are not afraid to try a few approaches to ensure a student understands the problem.

1. Wow Factor: Check out our Tutor of the Month posts and you’ll say “wow” too. Our tutors are also NASA scientists, Hubble Space engineers, author and professors. We’re lucky to have them.

Have a few more reasons to <3 our tutors? Share them here or on Facebook or Twitter!

“Digital learning will never replace good teachers. Instead it empowers them to enrich learning experiences,” tweeted Arne Duncan during Digital Learning Day 2013 on February 6. Check out the other top reads and trends we took note of while following all the activity through Twitter, blogs and live chats!

Project 24 via All4Ed.org What is Project 24? It’s a call to action “on the need for systemic planning around the effective use of technology and digital learning to achieve the goal of ‘career and college readiness’ for all students.” It made its debut yesterday during Digital Learning Day and it has already made quite a splash. With a series of webinars and blogs in store for 2013, this project is on track to impact digital learning in classrooms all over the country.

Every Day Should Be Digital Learning Day via Ed.gov Karen Cator, Director of the Office of Educational Technology, U.S. Department of Education, blogs about the importance of digital learning within education and the goal of bringing into the classroom each day. A favorite quote of ours from the blog includes, “Access to technology has become as important to learning as access to a library.”

An Introduction to Technology Integration via Edutopia Not all teachers are familiar with how and when to use technology in the classroom. Sometimes a lesson can be taught without technology, and that is great, but sometimes technology can enrich the lesson and bring it to another level. Identifying those opportunities is key and this Digital Learning Day video provides an introduction for teachers across the U.S.

What resources or articles did you find informative during Digital Learning Day?

February 5^th is Digital Learning Day – a day that celebrates effectively using technology to strengthen a student’s learning experience and provide opportunities for individualized instruction.  We asked one of our expert instructional math coaches, Ed L., to share a fun lesson idea to celebrate! Check out his suggestions to teach abstract concepts using a free resource that empowers students to create and share simulations. You can also check out Ed’s Game Based Learning series for more ways to engage students.

This sample Netlogo simulation lets students explores the stability of a predator-prey ecosystems

Students often have difficulty with theoretical or abstract concepts. Many benefit from being able to play with the concepts in a simulated environment. Netlogo is a free resource with a supportive community that allows creation and sharing of learning simulations that teach by experimentation and play.

You can use simulation environments in many ways. Netlogo offers wonderful opportunities to either create your own simulation or use an existing one.

Existing simulations  on Netlogo  are listed by academic concentrations. Each model offers suggested uses with students including instructions, a list of inquiry questions to guide student learning, and suggestions on how to extend learning.
Models are designed to be used by individuals, small groups or as full classroom experiences. Teachers  I work with have found success using the following sequence:

1. Demonstrate how the model works.
2. Propose an inquiry question and students record their predictions.
3. Students share predictions with peers and then modify as desired.
4. The simulation is run to test the hypothesis.
5. Students individually reflect on their prediction and the observed results.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 with each question or challenge increasing the depth of learning and exploration

Even if you have no programming background, it is easy and fun to create a simulation with Netlogo. Just follow these steps:

1. Clarify the field of exploration to specifically highlight objectives of the simulation.
2. List key variables and the range of values that should be allowed.
3. Creation of the sliders and interface for those values.
4. Setting up the programming flow for the simulation (this step may need to be broken into planning stage then actual programming stage for some learners).
5. Test the simulation.
6. Document resources for how others use the model, questions or challenges, and extensions or variations.

Regardless if teachers choose to use existing models or encourage the creation of new models, the depth of learning is extensive in Netlogo. Student motivation is increased while still maintaining structured purpose to the playful environments available.  Share your experiences with others and join the community of those learning with simulations through Netlogo!

This post originally appeared on the MyLivePD professional development blog, Let’s Prep.

Tutors at Tutor.com come from all different walks of life. Some are retirees looking to help students across the country, others are current professionals looking to earn some extra income, and many are recent grads getting ready to jumpstart their careers. Shawn K. falls into the last group. With a career in children’s literature on the horizon, Shawn currently puts her writing expertise to work helping students with their English and Writing assignments. Check out our Q&A with her below!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I live in North Carolina and have been tutoring with Tutor.com for five months. I graduated from North Carolina State University last December where I studied English with a focus on creative writing. Go Wolkpack! Right now I tutor English, Essay Writing, and Social Studies with Tutor.com and am working on my first novel. I hope to break into the field of children’s literature.

How did you find out about Tutor.com?
I was looking into some different tutoring opportunities but realized that with gas prices, traveling to and from each student’s home wouldn’t be financially beneficial. A friend of my mother’s told me I should look into online tutoring and Tutor.com ended up being an excellent fit for me!

Glad to hear that! What makes it a great fit?
Tutor.com is not just a part-time job to pay some bills, though the extra income is a major bonus. It’s a rewarding experience. I know that I’m devoting my time to something worthwhile and helping students feel more confident in their studies and themselves. Every session is a new puzzle to figure out, and when those pieces fit into place – nothing’s better!

What is your favorite part of tutoring in general?
I love that moment when the concept I’m working on with the student “clicks” in their brain. It’s very rewarding. I think I’m more excited than they are!

Why do you think the 1-to-1 feature of Tutor.com is so important?
I think any time you can focus all of your attention on one student and cater to their specific learning style, chances of educational success increase 100-fold. Also, students are also more likely to express confusion or uncertainty on a subject in a one on one situation. It’s just an ideal setting for honesty and openness.

What advice do you have for students looking to improve in 2013?
Organize, organize, organize. It sounds simple but the benefits are endless. Seeing what you have due in the coming weeks allows you to prepare accordingly. Devoting a little bit of time each night to a large assignment means avoiding that last minute panic mode. Studying for a test for 30 minutes each day will yield better results than cramming for four hours the night before.

As soon as we hopped off the plane in Seattle, we were ready to start talking! Discussing market trends, brainstorming new solutions for clients’ challenges and showing off our new outreach materials dominated our time at the ALA Midwinter Meeting which featured the theme The Conversation Starts Here. This past weekend kick-started many conversations that will continue well through 2013. Check out our recap of the hot topics below!

Building Stronger Communities. The recently released Pew Internet and American Life Project report, Library Services in the Digital Age found 91% of Americans age 16+ say public libraries are important to their communities. And access to the Internet for research and school projects is a big reason 16+ year olds go to the library. Libraries play a pivotal role in providing lifelong educational resources across diverse populations. From online tutoring and free classes to maker-spaces that support STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), libraries are being creative about supporting their communities. Tutor.com is finding more students continue to access live tutoring from their libraries too.  In 2012, our community of tutors completed close to a million sessions with students coming from their libraries’ websites using their computer, smartphone or tablet.

Get Back to Your Life. New for 2013, Tutor.com launched a series of fun, engaging outreach materials that encourage library patrons to get their homework/work done and then get back to their busy lives. Thanks to all the clients who gave us great feedback!  If you want to see some of our favorite outreach materials and programs check out the Tutor.com Connecting with the Community page on Pinterest.

Protecting the Freedom to Read. This year it was amazing to see so many librarians taking a stand together.  The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom declared Sunday, January 27^th, Sweater Vest Sunday at ALA Midwinter to defend the freedom to read. OIF encouraged everyone to don sweater vests for the day and discuss the importance of reporting challenges of library materials to ALA OIF. We dove right into this conversation by bringing along our very own sweater vests to wear at the Tutor.com booth and show our commitment to the freedom to read!

Now that we’re back in the office we are already thinking ahead to our next stop, ALA Annual in Chicago this June. We can’t wait to join that conversation, Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves!

If better grades are on your 2013 resolutions list, then you’re in luck!  Below are some recommendations straight from our expert tutors to help you ace your tests, homework and final grades for the rest of the school year. What homework or study tips do you find work best for you?

“I encourage students to not put anything off. Make the most of your time and use it wisely. Also, my own personal little study tip for all those visual learners out there: color-code everything! Write exam study guide questions on different colored note cards, and highlight different portions of your text in a different color for each topic. When you’re staring at that exam question, you’ll be surprised how your memory can so quickly recall that color and consequently, the answer.” – Shawn K, English Tutor

“My best tip for students is: practice! practice! practice! That’s how you learned the ‘elementary’ math topics and science facts that you already know. Don’t think that you’re ‘not good’ at math or science.  If necessary, get help from Tutor.com to better understand the logic behind the concepts and then do lots of practice questions. And soon enough, the new concepts will become familiar to you, and you will be able to add them to the growing list of things that you already know!” – Leah S, Science Tutor

“I have always told my students that just like any sport math requires practice and more practice. The best thing about Tutor.com for the students is they can get individualized help on demand. This teaches them the important skill of advocating for their own learning.” – Deborah M, Math and Science Tutor

“I’d tell students that to better understand the material they are learning in school they need to make connections to real life.” – Hope W, Science Tutor

“It’s tough to say one thing that will make someone a better student but if I had to, I would remind students to constantly keep their mind on the long term goals they have. Think about how much your future self will thank you for doing all the right things to make the rest of your life easier on yourself with what you do in the present.” – Andranik A, Science Tutor

E-books, MOOCs, BYOD, Big Data. 2012 was full of trends that are changing the way students learn.  We see more attention being lavished on these topics in 2013 as administrators, students and the press debate the merits of new types of learning from joining a massive online course with 20,000 other students to very personalized experiences thanks to new data programs. Here are the top three trends we’ll be following and not-to-miss articles that hit on the key issues. What trends are you following this year?

Online Learning in Higher Education.  The 2012 Survey of Online Learning conducted by the Babson Survey Research Group reports that “32% of higher education students now take at least one course online” and that “77% of academic leaders rate the learning outcomes in online education as the same or superior to those in face-to-face classes.” And whether you are talking MOOCs or simply online course options, these findings have been steadily increasing since 2003 and experts believe 2013 will be no different.

E-books for libraries and schools. The access that e-books could supply is undeniable. Providing what ideally will be a cost effective option with the most up-to-date information would help students across all age groups learn better, faster. But we still don’t have it quite figured out. Libraries are still at odds with publishers and schools have a tough time getting clearance for what can be an overwhelming initial cost. But if we can get some of the basics figured out we may be able to take a huge step forward

Big data creating personalized experiences. Now that schools have the option to have classes, assignments, and a ton of other student activities online, the capability to track those actions is at their finger tips. The hard part is figuring out how to utilize that data to better the student. Monitoring when certain students become high risk for failing or recommending classes where students will be successful are just two examples of how big data can be used for student success. Once we figure out the how, the possibilities are endless.

We’re just weeks into 2013 and Massive Open Online Courses or MOOCs continue to be the hot topic in higher education. A recent New York Times cover story follows the progress of Coursera, Udacity, Udemy and other institutions such as MIT and Harvard that are all spending money to offer free courses. While MOOCs continue to evolve with new ideas ranging from how to provide proctored exams and grant certificates of completions, we’re more focused on the online courses that students are really taking.

According to Changing Course:  Ten Years of Tracking Online Education in the United States, a collaborative effort between the Babson Survey Research Group and the College Board, more students are taking online courses each year. Not a MOOC, but a credit-bearing course provided by one of the many schools that offer online classes. The survey found that the number of online enrollments have been steadily increasing as a proportion of total enrollments from 11.7% back in 2003 to 32% in 2011.

This is the trend worth watching. Students choose online courses for a variety of reasons, but perhaps top of the list is convenience. As more non-traditional students go back to school they must juggle work, family and school. The good news is that 77% of chief academic officers report that the learning outcomes from online classes to be the same, somewhat superior or superior to face-to-face classes.

We don’t see an end to this trend of online classes, but it is not without challenges. How do schools support students they may never see? And how can they support professors who may be spending more time and energy creating these classes? Many are choosing online tutoring as a key tool. Online tutoring supports students and professors because it is:

• Available 24/7 while on-campus tutoring centers and professors must have more limited hours to provide help
• Accessible from any mobile device from tablets to smart phones
• High quality with a community of vetted tutors ready to provide instruction in anything from essay writing to advanced statistics
• Personalized to the student’s needs
• A data-rich tool that provides an in-depth look at students’ challenges

While many schools may bring in online tutoring to support their online students, they quickly realize that online tutoring can benefit all students.

While many questions surround the future of MOOCs as you can see in Revolution in Higher Education by George Cigale founder of Tutor.com, online courses at accredited universities are here to stay. Continuing to support students to successfully complete their online coursework may not be the hot topic, but it’s the one that matters right now.

This post initially appeared on George Cigale’s blog, ceotutor.blogspot.com.

I am excited to share that IAC/InterActiveCorp has acquired Tutor.com. IAC owns more than 50 successful Internet businesses, including Newsweek, Ask.com, About.com, Match.com and Dictionary.com. As an IAC company, Tutor.com will have the opportunity to innovate and meet our customers’ needs like never before, while maintaining our devotion to the highest quality learning for the students who have come to rely on us every day. Our team and I are looking forward to this next stage in Tutor.com’s growth and evolution. More on the acquisition in this press release and in a New York Times article today.

Want to keep up with what we’re doing?  Follow us on Twitter or Like us on Facebook.  And you can always email me at gcigale@tutor.com with ideas and suggestions.

George Cigale, Founder and CEO, Tutor.com
gcigale@tutor.com

Whether she is reading up on molecular orbitals or gazing at the stars with her astronomy club, Leah S. is always fascinated by the world around her. And with her Master’s Degree in Biology, we’re happy she is able to bring that excitement to students each week as a Tutor.com tutor. The appreciation and passion for knowledge is just as important as mastering a concept itself. And Leah’s passion makes us proud to call her the Tutor.com Tutor of the Month!

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

My name is Leah S, and I live in Arizona. Next year my husband and I will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary.  We are proud of our three grown children, and two adorable granddaughters. I have a Master’s Degree in Biology.  But choosing my major in college was a difficult decision, as I found all fields of math and science to be fascinating!

When did you first hear about Tutor.com? 

I first heard about Tutor.com from a newspaper article about online tutoring, and realized that this format would fit in well with my schedule and other responsibilities.  It enables me to tutor whenever I have some free time.  I have been tutoring with Tutor.com for five years now.

What is your favorite part of tutoring? 

I love tutoring because of the opportunity to help the students understand their schoolwork, and sometimes -to help them feel better about themselves in general.  Being a tutor means being part teacher and part cheerleader.  It’s a great feeling to be able to take the student from “I don’t know where to begin this problem” or even “I’m not good at math” to “I get it!  It makes sense to me now!”

Why do you like tutoring with Tutor.com?

I think the one-to-one connection on Tutor.com is an important feature.  It enables us to make sure that each student understands the concepts, and all the student’s questions are answered.  It doesn’t replace the classroom, but is an important supplement to make sure that each student is understanding the classroom material fully.

Another thing I like about Tutor.com is the challenge, because questions can come up from so many different topics.  I tutor math (elementary, mid-level, and algebra) and chemistry; and each of these includes a very wide variety of topics.  In one evening I can go from sessions on adding fractions, to balancing equations, determining pH, graphing a parabola, or solving distance or mixture problems.

What is your number one piece of advice for students?

My best tip for students is:  Practice! practice! practice!  That’s how you learned the “elementary” math topics and science facts that you already know.  Don’t think that you’re “not good” at math or science.  If necessary, get help from Tutor.com to better understand the logic behind the concepts and then do lots of practice questions.  And soon enough, the new concepts will become familiar to you, and you will be able to add them to the growing list of things that you already know!

What are your hobbies outside of work?

In recent years, I have become an amateur astronomer.  Arizona is known for its beautiful clear skies and I belong to a local astronomy club, where we give “star parties” at schools and other public places.  We bring our telescopes and show people the beautiful and fascinating objects that they can see in the sky.  (To find similar events in your area, just google “astronomy club” and your city or state.)

Check out more of our Tutor of the Month blog posts here!

At the end of November, our Military team headed to Alaska to spread the word about Tutor.com for Military Families. While we were there we found a lot of things that were unusual to us cheechakos (an Alaskan word for newcomers). Like why does the sun set at 3:47? Why do we need to carry static clings in our clothes? The list goes on and on! So, when we got back we asked a few of our tutors to help explain the science of it all. Here’s what we found out!

Question #4: What causes the Northern Lights?  [7^th-8^th Grade Science]

Answer:  The Northern Lights occur when the sun sends out solar flares which have electrically charged particles. When those particles reach the earth, they are drawn towards the poles where they mix with gases in the earth’s atmosphere, causing them to glow.

Image Credit: NASA

View the full session transcript here.

Session Note:  Session is between a Tutor.com employee and a Tutor.com science tutor and was used with permission.  Student sessions are kept private and will not be made public.

At the end of November, our Military team headed to Alaska to spread the word about Tutor.com for Military Families. While we were there we found a lot of things that were unusual to us cheechakos (an Alaskan word for newcomers). Like why does the sun set at 3:47? Why do we need to carry static clings in our clothes? The list goes on and on! So, when we got back we asked a few of our tutors to help explain the science of it all. Here’s what we found out!

Question #3:  Why do people need to carry static-cling sheets in their pockets in Alaska? [Chemistry]

Answer:  Because it is very cold and dry in Alaska, the dry air causes static electricity to build up on different objects. Static cling sheets, also known as dryer sheets, help prevent differences in static electricity between two objects.

View the full session transcript here.

Session Note:  Session is between a Tutor.com employee and a Tutor.com science tutor and was used with permission.  Student sessions are kept private and will not be made public.