Online Tutors Can Lend a Hand

There are many times students need a little extra help in a particular class. Perhaps you are a business major struggling in an English class. Or you’d like to make sure you’re really grasping the fundamentals of your major. Maybe you just need some tips for note-taking, participating in online discussions, or reading quickly and effectively.

Tutors can help bridge the gap between your professor, the course material, and your personal learning style. Fortunately, there are many resources available for you:

1. First check with your college or university. Often, there are prescreened tutors available for free or a discounted fee.
2. See if any of your classmates or a former student would be willing to help in order to earn some extra money.
3. Investigate local tutoring centers. The advantage of these centers is that you know the tutors have been qualified to teach in your subject area and have some experience in teaching.
4. The newest trend in tutoring is online tutoring. You can have the advantage of working with qualified tutors along with the flexibility of being online. The hours are generally much more flexible and you don’t have to drive anywhere to meet your tutor.

Online Tutors

There are many online tutoring websites out there, but here are a few to start with:

http://www.smarthinking.com

Over 300 colleges and universities have outsourced their tutoring services to Smarthinking. You may be able to access these tutors for free or a discounted fee, so check to see if your school contracts with them. If you are in the military, you might also get a break on fees.There are live tutors available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the site also offers a writing lab where you can submit an essay and have it returned with critiques within 24 hours.

There are several billing plans available, including per-hour charges for live tutoring and per-essay charges, depending on the length of the paper.

http://www.tutor.com

This site has 24-7, one-on-one live tutors who can interact with you via an online “whiteboard” and chat in real time. You purchase minutes that are redeemable in any subject, any time, and unused minutes roll over from month to month.

Tutor.com also has an area dedicated specifically to adult learners, offering services for going back to school, preparing for the GED and citizenship tests, and even help with careers. Their tutors can help you revise your resume, cover letters, and even business proposals.

http://www.brainmass.com

Brainmass uses crowdsourcing to provide help on specific problems and essays. There is a pre-screened community of graduate students, teachers and professionals (“The Online TA”) available to answer students’ questions. You post your problem online and TA’s from the area of study provide detailed solutions to the question. You receive an email notification and then “pick up” your answer online. You can post reviews of your response and the entire community can view ratings of various TA’s, which serves to weed out those who are confusing or unhelpful. You can also submit your essay for review and receive proofreading and suggestions for improvement.

You pay on a per-problem basis for posting questions or retrieving questions/answers from an archive called the Solution Library. Essays are billed on a per-page (double-spaced) basis.