Indian Talent, Global Content
|
Indian Talent, Global Content |
January 2009: What's in the breeze |
Online Tutoring- Indians Teaching American Kids: A New Trend?
There are times when a child is stuck at a math problem and needs assistance. There are students with different learning capabilities and some need to have more of a teacher’s time than the rest. Such children need tutors to help them with their homework and solve their queries. Also, every student needs guidance with certain concepts. This is where the home tutor comes in with his magic wand and whisks away the dilemmas. However, he unfortunately departs all too soon and however hard you rub the lamp for the genie (genius) to appear again, it’s not likely that he’ll show up before the appointed time. The student has no other option but to wait until he re-appears. But now, this wait is almost over. The solution, in the form of “Online tutoring”, frees students from their dependency on home tutors. Neither will they have to go for group tuitions and spend their precious time commuting. Introduced in the USA in the late 90’s, the concept of online tutoring has become increasingly popular. Since the last 3-4 years, it has been outsourced to other countries including India. These online tutors help students in the comfort of their own homes. They are available anytime the student is in dire need of support. The key factors that support online tutoring are 24X7 availability and affordability. This comes as a welcome relief to parents who cannot afford home tutors and do not want to opt for public group tutoring, where the child does not enjoy one-on-one freedom and cannot ask questions without hesitation. Online tutoring is as good as home tutoring as the student can talk to the tutor using Voice over internet technology. The students and teachers share a common white board through which concepts can be easily demonstrated. This makes the model popular in USA, where it has grabbed a chunk of the tutoring market share. Slowly, it is penetrating other parts of the world. The size of the US tutoring market is $2.2 billion and online tutoring accounts for 6 percent of that market. While other countries are switching to online tutoring, USA is outsourcing tutoring to India among other countries. It is particularly beneficial for college students who do their lessons around 3-4 a.m. in the morning while it is around 2 p.m. in India, a time when most tutors are available. An important reason behind the success of outsourcing online tutoring is the enormous talent pool in India with specialized tutors available in every field. Moreover, it does not require much infrastructure. Anyone who owns a PC and has a high-speed internet connection, plus the essential qualifications can be hired as an online tutor. Most tutoring firms allow for flexible working hours. It can be pursued as a part-time job by students doing their doctorate or other higher studies. Apart from that, outsourcing of tutoring brings down the cost to a considerable extent. Whereas one pays $40-$100 per hour to American tutoring companies, Indian companies charge around $20-$30 per hour. Indians are well-versed in English, yet another advantage. However, technology comes with its own side-effects. The online tutor is not personally known, and sometimes, it is possible that he/she is not properly qualified to teach a particular subject. Some companies hire online tutors without proper verification. This not only results in these companies losing their clients, but it also reduces the credibility of the entire industry. This could result in India losing valuable outsourcing opportunities. So, it is mandatory that tutoring companies make stringent checks before hiring a tutor and deliver the best quality they can, so that India can take advantage of this new trend. Sources: www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2005-08-29-overseas-tutors_x.htm Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. Out of 5 “chilies”, our editorial team gave this article...
>> Read more articles written by our chillibreeze staff and writers network:1. Chillibreeze Top Rated Articles
|
Services Content Development FAQ Expat eBooks India Centric Reports e-publishing
|
Copyright 2004 - 2009 Chillibreeze Solutions Pvt. Ltd. |
.gif)
Developing India-centric content for a new web portal targeted at NRIs
