User:Seanapplegate/Online Tutoring

Legend:

Regular Type: Wiki Article

Bold Type: My Writing

Current developments
Online tutoring environments are moving beyond those offered by synchronous and asynchronous discussion technology, as often offered by VLEs. New opportunities for online tutoring are offered by Web 2.0 systems and multi-user virtual environments.

COVID-19
The COVID-19 crisis of 2020 and the ensuing lock downs in many countries have led to increased online tutoring by both established online tutoring agencies as well as traditional schools adapting to the new environment. This has led to challenges on the technological site, but also for teachers not used to teaching online and parents not used to working from home with their children around.

For those who do have access to the right technology, there is evidence that learning online can be more effective in a number of ways. Some research shows that on average, students retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom. The increased dependence on digital forms of learning has prompted research to suggest online tutoring as a necessary form of alleviating lost learning. Some research has shown tutoring support to produce about 5 additional months of learning for students experiencing learning loss.

Present examples of governments creating large scale tutoring initiatives include the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

While online tutoring is likely a means of reducing social inequalities, research shows that online learning still sets students back. On average, remote learning in the time of COVID-19 has led to a loss of 3-4 months of learning for K-12 students in the United States. Still, research suggests the provisioning of tutoring as a feasible approach to address the achievement gap, which is being widened by the digital divide in academia. A proposed approach is to employ paraprofessionals as tutors.

Research has also suggested online tutoring to be a step towards achieving a more multimodal approach to public education, as per interaction with technology.