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I am not affiliated with the company named in the story below but I
have included this article to show that "E-Tutoring" is a very viable
alternative to traditional tutoring.
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E-Tutoring Broadens Bounds of Outsourcing By NIRMALA GEORGE and MARTHA
IRVINE, Associated Press Writers
Sat Oct 22, 5:59 PM ET
A few stars are still twinkling in the inky pre-dawn sky when
Koyampurath
Namitha arrives for work in a quiet suburb of this south Indian city.
It's
barely 4:30 a.m. when she grabs a cup of coffee and joins more than
two
dozen colleagues, each settling into a cubicle with a computer and
earphones.
More than 7,000 miles away, in Glenview, Ill., outside Chicago, it's
the
evening of the previous day and 14-year-old Princeton John sits at his
computer, barefoot and ready for his hourlong geometry lesson. The
high
school freshman puts on a headset with a microphone and clicks on
computer
software that will link him through the Internet to his tutor,
Namitha, many
time zones away.
It's called e-tutoring _ yet another example of how modern
communications,
and an abundance of educated, low-wage Asians, are broadening the
boundaries
of outsourcing and working their way into the minutiae of American
life,
from replacing your lost credit card through reading your CAT scan to
helping you revive your crashed computer.
Princeton is one of thousands of U.S. high school students turning to
tutors
in India.
"Hello Princeton, how are you? How was your test?" Namitha asks.
"Hello, yeah ... I'm good," Princeton replies. "It was good."
Namitha works for a company called Growing Stars, based in Cochin and
Fremont, Calif. Princeton and his 12-year-old sister Priscilla each
meet
with their online math teacher twice a week.
The chitchat ends quickly and a geometry worksheet pops up on
Princeton's
computer screen.
Teacher and pupil speak to one another, type messages and use digital
"pencils" to work on problems, highlight graphs and erase mistakes.
Princeton scrawls on something that looks like a hyped-up mouse pad
and it
shows up on Namitha's screen. He can also use a scanner to send copies
of
assignments or textbook pages that he needs help understanding.
"Here we go," Princeton says, as they begin a lesson on such concepts
as
parallel lines and complementary angles in the quiet coziness of the
family's suburban home. Above him, on the desk, sit plastic figurines
of
Mickey and Minnie Mouse and the Statue of Liberty. On the walls are
framed
photos of his family, including his grandparents who _ by coincidence
_ live
in southern India.
His mom, Bessy, brings him orange juice and cookies.
"India has very good teachers, especially in math and science. Also,
these
subjects are culture-free so it is comparatively easy for Indian
teachers to
teach them," says Kiran Karnik, who heads India's National Association
of
Software and Service Companies. "Online tutoring is an area which
shows
enormous potential for growth."
Most companies are reluctant to talk about earnings. But Shantanu
Prakash,
chief executive of India-based Educomp Datamatics, estimates that
Indian
online tutoring companies earned about $10 million last year, 80
percent of
it from the United States.
That's small change in the Indian information technology industry _ a
business built largely on the outsourcing that is shifting jobs from
the
West to cheaper, foreign locations. Annual export revenue from
offshore
outsourcing last fiscal year totaled $17.2 billion.
But about a dozen Indian software firms are banking that online
tutoring
will flourish in America, where falling standards are causing concern.
The first e-tutoring businesses started less than three years ago, and
already thousands of Indian teachers coach U.S. students in math,
science or
English for about $15-$20 an hour, a fraction of the $40-$100 that
private
tutoring costs in the United States.
The Indian firms have benefited from the growing U.S.
government-financed
tutoring industry _ which had revenues last year of nearly $2 billion.
That
growth is partly due to the No Child Left Behind law, which requires
schools
to test students in math and reading every year from third grade
through
eighth grade.
While the outsourced tutoring companies are competition for their
U.S.-based
counterparts, the National Education Association _ a professional
organization that represents millions of American teachers _
"enthusiastically supports the continued and expanded use of distance
education," according to a statement and its guidelines for promoting
quality teaching in class and online.
However, not every child has Internet access at home, said Denise
Cardinal,
an NEA spokeswoman.
"We think that good tutoring and good public schools should be
available to
every student, regardless of the family's income," she said.
Princeton's family, like others with college-bound students, pays its
own
tutoring bills, seeing online tutoring as a way to get high-quality
instruction at a lower cost.
Most full-time teachers at Growing Stars earn about $230 monthly.
But while the money is good by Indian standards, what's missing is
one-on-one contact.
"This is a bit like teaching in a void," says Priya Shah, who helps
high
school students improve their English writing skills. "The lack of eye
contact is a disadvantage, but it's a gap which one overcomes with
time."
But the work is much less stressful than teaching a class of 40 kids
or
more, and the tutor can adapt to the individual student's learning
pace.
That was evident during Princeton's class.
"Princeton, let's go over that again," Namitha says a couple times
when he
didn't understand, patiently redrawing a diagram on the screen.
When he gets answers correct, Namitha flashes a smiley face on his
screen.
"Oh, I am smart," Princeton half-jokes.
The system isn't perfect. Sometimes Princeton has to repeat himself so
Namitha can hear him. Or his computer freezes up.
"It's so old," he says. "That's why I'm asking my dad to get a new
one."
But despite the glitches, Princeton's mother, Bessy Piusten, is
pleased with
the results, saying her children have been getting all A's and B's
since
they started online tutoring about two years ago.
Daughter Priscilla, who takes online algebra lessons, wants to be a
neonatal
physician. Princeton wants to be a pharmacist. Their mother is a
respiratory
therapist at a Chicago hospital, and her husband is a radiology
technician.
At the end of the session, Namitha assigns Princeton problems for
their next
meeting.
"Homework! C'mon!" Princeton protests. "Fine, fine. But without
homework,
life would be wonderful," he says. His little sister, who is watching,
giggles.
Princeton acknowledges that because of his tutor "math is now easy for
me."
Maybe some day, he adds, he'll be able to chat with his tutor via
video
screen. But either way, he prefers an online tutor over an in-person
one.
"If I talk back to that person, they won't do anything to me," he
says,
laughing. "This way is much better."
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