The Tutor.com Blog

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.

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.

One of the great things about the holiday season is the spirit of giving it brings out in so many people. It’s a time where we can all be thankful for what we have and are glad to lend a helping hand or some holiday cheer.  We’re lucky enough to work with people who carry that spirit with them throughout the whole year. Learn more about the work they do below!

TEAM X-T.R.E.M.E.
We’ve written about the amazing work that this organization has done before, but one of the wonderful things about TEAM X-T.R.E.M.E. is how dedicated they are to their mission of honoring and empowering wounded veterans. From participating in the Annual Bataan Memorial Death March in New Mexico, to honoring a wounded warrior and his family in Hawaii, the team goes full force in everything they do. We are proud that one of our own team members, Military Families Client Services Manager Meg Sauvé, is an active and integral part of this certified awesome group. And this year, to show their support,  fellow Tutor.com members Pamela Brehm and Ty Woolfolk joined Meg and Team X-T.R.E.M.E. to distribute Christmas packs to Wounded Warriors at Walter Reed.

Movember
Charity can come in many forms. You can make a monetary donation, you can organize an event, but sometimes the best option might be to grow a mustache. Movember started in Australia in 2004 to foster discussions and raise funds towards prostate and testicular cancer research initiatives. When our Creative Services Director, Duane Romanell, took the initiative to create the Tutor.comb group we were excited. And when three more Tutor.com team members joined, we were thrilled. Together they were able to raise over $800 and grow four fantastic ‘staches.

Gifts for the Homeless
Sometimes the people who need the most help are the ones within your own community. Our SVP & General Manager, Bart Epstein, lends his expertise and giving spirit to the Washington D.C. based organization Gifts for the Homeless. A wholly volunteer-run organization, GFTH brings together over 300 volunteers every year to help out during their annual clothing drive. Each year they are able to donate clothing to over 70 shelters, soup kitchens and transitional homes. The great work they are doing is making waves as they’ve recently been featured on NBC 4’s 12 Days of Giving segment. Check it out below!

What’s your favorite way to give back?

Twenty seven of our library clients have been partners for ten years! To celebrate, we’re featuring their unique stories and how Tutor.com has impacted their diverse communities.  

Clinton-Macomb Public Library (CMPL) has a special connection to its Michigan community. Formed in 1992, the library was spear-headed by citizens who were deeply concerned about dwindling resources for children in the community when the county library decided to focus strictly on research. Little more than five years later a tax referendum for funding was passed and the library was able to officially open its doors. We caught up with CMPL to discuss their history and the success they’ve had with their community programs.

Clinton-Macomb Public Library had such an interesting start! Tell us a little more about that.

Our small but tenacious library built a solid base of support in the community after the initial action taken in 1992. The library board realized that the goal of creating a good first class library system for the citizens of Macomb and Clinton Townships could not be achieved without a strong base of sustained adequate financing.  A vigorous campaign for a one mill tax in perpetuity was mounted and with its passage, the “new” Clinton-Macomb Public Library began. A new hired staff managed the ambitious goal of opening three new library buildings. We like to say that the library board’s “promises made” were indeed “promises kept.” The new CMPL system of a Main Library, South Branch and North Branch was all completed in a remarkable five years.

Wow! We love that the community realized the importance of having resources for the children. How large is the community you serve?

CMPL directly serves residents of Macomb Township and most of Clinton Township. We have 86,000 resident library card-holders and serve an additional 30,000 card-holders through reciprocal borrowing agreements.

What is one of the most popular events the library has hosted?

We have been very committed to the idea of promoting reading over the summer months as a way to maintain skills gained during the school year. Back in June, we hosted our first ever Summer Reading Kick-off Carnival with much success. We had magicians, a bounce-house, face-painting, free ice-cream, balloon-animals, and a concert by a local band. It was very well attended and as a result it was a great opportunity for our staff to promote our summer reading initiatives.

We’re excited to be celebrating our 10 year partnership with CMPL this year! What tactics have you used over the years to make it such a successful program?

We do the traditional means of advertising the service through our quarterly newsletter and on our website. But one of the more effective things we have done is contact local schools, specifically the high schools, and asked them to put a link to the service on their website. When they did, usage increased. In fact, we first introduced Tutor.com in 2002 and usage has increased every year since then.

That is a great idea to encourage schools to help get the word out to students. What words of advice would you have for other libraries looking to bring in an online tutoring program?

Don’t be afraid of success – we marketed ourselves to schools and as a result our numbers increased!

Lastly, do you have any student comments that stand out about the Tutor.com service?

Some of our favorites include:

“I had a really great tutor! She helped me brainstorm ideas and I finally was able to start my essay!:)”

“Very clear and helped me out so now I know how to do it now. I have receive 100 on my test thanks fuys for making it possible”

“it’s great iv only use it for a couple of minutes and I’m already hooked ”

We’ll be featuring one of our ten-year library clients each month.  To learn more about our homework, career and reference support services for libraries go to www.tutor.com/libraries

If you’re working on a “big data” project or just trying to better understand your students, you’ll want to learn more about Predictive Insights™ Data Analysis Service from Tutor.com.  Our new, enhanced reporting program complements early alert systems and student support programs.

Predictive Insights gives you actionable data about the students using Tutor.com online tutoring services.  You’ll receive both individual student reports and aggregate trend data about cohorts of students.  This real-time analysis is available when you need it to help you allocate resources, support staff and students.

For individual students, Predictive Insights provides a detailed student report that shares the subject(s) the student has sought help in and if the student has been flagged by a tutor as not having the prerequisite knowledge needed. These immediate and regular reports empower you to provide support to the right students at the right time.

Predictive Insights also tracks and reports trends across groups of students. In this example, we can see that 23% of students needed a tutor’s help to understand multiplying, dividing and factoring expressions while only 1% needed help with patterns. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of student cohorts gives faculty and administrators a powerful tool for change.

Contact us to see additional sample report charts and learn more about Predictive Insights.  We’d love to hear how we can help you put your data to work!

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 #2:   Why does Hot Chocolate freeze in the air when thrown in -40 degree weather? [Physics & Chemistry]

Answer:  -40 degrees is significantly lower than the freezing temperature of water.  At this temperature water molecules freeze very quickly – unless they are close together.  When the hot chocolate is in a glass, the molecules are close together and have less contact with freezing temperatures. When it is thrown into the air, however, the molecules separate causing them to be in contact with the cold Alaskan air.  When this happens, the molecules freeze quickly – before they even reach the ground!

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 #1: Why are the days so short in Alaska this time of year? [7th-8th Grade Science]

Answer: The days are shorter in Alaska because the tilt of the earth’s axis and its location near the North Pole points it away from the sun during the winter months. Because of this, the light from the sun (which causes it to be day) doesn’t reach Alaska during a longer period of the day.

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.

HOMEWORK!  HELP! is a blog series for parents written by Tutor.com’s Vice President of Instruction, Joan Rooney. Follow the posts and stay tuned for more tips on surviving the homework wars with your kids this school year!

Have you ever noticed how naturally curious young children are?  They want to know what snow is and where cheese comes from. They go through that “why” phase:  “Why is the sky blue?  Why doesn’t the moon fall out of the sky?  Why are your keys in the refrigerator?”  They love being able to count and name things.   They want to reach and grab and try new things.  How can we nurture that spirit and encourage our children of all ages to become lifelong learners?

School sometimes has the unintended consequence of making students think that learning is short term or temporary.  “ I need to complete this assignment to get a good grade.”   “I need to learn algebra to pass the state test or the SAT’s.”   Of course these are important goals, but parents play a unique role in encouraging students to continue learning outside of assignments and class work as well as in reinforcing and enhancing that learning.

Here’s a few ideas parents can try to instill a lifelong love of learning in their children:

Provide new experiences.  Parents and communities often introduce children to sports.  Consider also introducing them to art of all kinds, musical performances, science museums, parks and farms.  Explore together the resources of your community.

Discuss your interests with your children or develop new interests together. Are you interested in the organic or locally grown food movement?   Do you love the theatre?  Are you a history buff?   Seek out farmers’ markets, local galleries, open studios, high school or college theatrical performances, historic homes or buildings, or botanical gardens with your children.

Attend to your child’s interests and strengths.   Budding scientists, engineers, musicians, artists, teachers and astronauts start at home.  Parents can help nurture a child’s interests and create a lifelong passion.

Tutor.com has a network of 2,500 tutors spread across North America, and about 10% of our tutors are affiliated with the military. Since our tutors are remote, we rarely get a chance to meet them face-to-face. That’s why our Tutor.com for U.S. Military Team was thrilled to meet Lara P., a tutor and military spouse, at the 63^rd Army Reserve Support Command (RSC) Yellow Ribbon Reintegration event in Los Angeles. Our team was there to introduce Army Reserve families to Tutor.com’s one-to-one, online tutoring service, which  military families have access to 24/7 at no cost thanks to funding by the Department of Defense.

Lara is a busy Army Reserve spouse, mother of two and an English and essay writing expert for Tutor.com. A former middle school teacher in both public and private schools, Lara wanted to find an education position that would match her mobile lifestyle due to her husband’s military position and allow her to spend more time with her young son. Lara found out about Tutor.com from a friend. Now her commute is up her home staircase, to an office where she works one-to-one with students online.  Lara’s older son, a college freshman, used Tutor.com to get help with high school geometry and chemistry. Lara spoke to us about the challenges she had encouraging her teen son to use the program and why Tutor.com is a great service for adults too.

Tutor.com: After spending 14 years teaching in a classroom setting, why did you decide to become an online tutor?

Lara:  I love teaching, but as a military spouse I need a flexible career.  My family has moved twice in the past five years due to my husband’s military career.  My husband, an Army Reservist, was deployed for the past year and I wanted to be home with our two sons.  Now, my husband is back from deployment, but we live on a pretty remote military base. A friend told me about tutoring online with Tutor.com and I loved the idea of working with students from my home. I set my own hours and just go upstairs and log on my computer when I’m ready to tutor. It is a great fit for me and my family.

Tutor.com:  Besides the flexibility, what else do you like about being a Tutor.com tutor?

Lara: In a classroom setting it’s hard to reach everyone on an individual level.  When I tutor online, I have the opportunity to reach a student right when they need help and to work with him or her directly with no distractions.  I feel very successful when I’m able to connect with a student and help them. It’s a great feeling!  And I especially enjoy knowing I’m helping other military members and families.  (Note: Tutor.com is an anonymous service.)

Tutor.com:  What types of students do you help?

Lara:  I’d say that about half of the students I work with are in college.  Some are adults who are going back to school.  People think that Tutor.com is just for middle school or high school kids, but it’s really for everyone.

Tutor.com:  Why did your son start using Tutor.com?

Lara: My son was always a good student and any help he needed I or my husband could provide.  That all changed in high school. When he started taking tougher math and science courses, I realized he needed extra help, and it wasn’t going to come from me!  At first, he was resistant to trying Tutor.com. I think he was a bit intimidated by the idea of tutoring. That all changed after his first session with a tutor.  He loved it!  Soon he was using Tutor.com regularly to get help with geometry and chemistry.  He liked being able to select his favorite tutors so he could see which tutors were online and plan his schedule around them.

Tutor.com: What advice would you give other parents whose children are wary about trying online tutoring?

Lara:  I’d encourage parents to help their child log-in the first time, even if they are a teenager!  Once your child uses the program and understands how the tutors can help him or her, they will love it and probably not ask for your help again. You just need to get them to try it that first time.  It is also a great tool for military families who are often moving and need a resource that is available 24/7 and all around the world.

If you are a member of a military family, please go to www.tutor.com/military to find out if you are eligible for the program.  The Tutor.com for U.S. Military Families program is funded by the Department of Defense MWR Library Program, Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, Navy General Library Program and Army General Library Program. Tutor.com is proud to be a member of the Military Spouse Employment Program.  Approximately 10% of Tutor.com tutors are military spouses or military affiliated.

MOOCs or massive open online courses are taking the higher education world by storm! George Cigale, Tutor.com’s founder and CEO is taking a course this semester and wrote more about what will make MOOCs successful on his blog, CEOTutor.  Check out George’s post and our top reads from the last few months that cover this hot topic.

MOOC Brigade: Will Massive, Open Online Courses Revolutionize Higher Education? via Time MOOC may be a silly-sounding acronym, but this new breed of online classes is shaking up the higher education world in ways that could be good for cash-strapped students and terrible for cash-strapped colleges.

The Year of the MOOC via New York Times Massive open online courses are the educational happening of the moment. Everyone wants in. No one is quite sure what they’re getting into.

What we’re learning from online education via TED Daphne Koller, co-founder of Coursera, is enticing top universities to put their most intriguing courses online for free – not just as a service, but as a way to research how people learn.

Did we miss any of the top MOOC articles? Let us know in the comments section below!

HOMEWORK!  HELP! is a blog series for parents written by Tutor.com’s Vice President of Instruction, Joan Rooney. Follow the posts and stay tuned for more tips on surviving the homework wars with your kids this school year!

We all lead busy lives.  It’s hard to squeeze in the learning our children are supposed to do such as homework and studying, never mind additional activities that challenge our young learners.  Sometimes assignments can be more fun when the entire family participates.  Here are a few tips to motivate your kids to keep learning even when the school day is over. 

Word Play

Does your younger child have sight words to learn? Is an older child working on vocabulary?  Try posting words on colorful post-it notes around the house for younger children.  Post vocabulary words for older children and for the family.  Older children love to challenge their younger siblings. Can you stump each other with a new vocabulary word a week?  Who can use that word in the funniest sentence?

 Tell me what you are reading?

Is that a good book?  I’ve always wanted to read that book, do you like it?  Showing an interest in what your children are reading and doing so in a genuinely curious way communicates that you value reading and you value your children’s opinions.   There is an added benefit too.  Discussing books or articles encourages us all to think critically and analytically about the work which reinforces learning and understanding.

Math problem of the Month

Word problems are often challenging for students of all ages.  Post a math problem on the refrigerator and let the entire family figure it out. At a minimum it may be encouraging for younger students to see their older siblings and parents grappling with how long it takes those trains that are leaving and arriving at various stations at different times to finally get to their destinations!   If you want to challenge your children, check out Bedtime Math.  This is a free service that will email you a math challenge every day.  They even break it down for younger and older students.

We’d love to hear from you.  What do you do with your family to make learning more fun?