Online Tutoring vs In-Person Tutoring

[annaking009]

Hi all,

I'm currently in the process of looking for a maths gcse tutor for daughter. We're looking at online and in-person tutoring options and was wondering what others have thought about either option? Do you prefer one over the other? Any downsides to one vs the other?

We're split between the two right now and any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

I'm a tutor and I do both. The sessions do not vary that much to be honest and all my students who have experienced both habe said the same.

I've just signed my daughter up with an online tutor for Maths and Physics because it fits in with our lifestyle and working week do much better than having to take her somewhere. There are some tutors in my area who travel but they seem to be few and far between.

Hi,
I had a mixed experience with both, online and in-person tutoring. I can say they're virtually the same and will both offer the support you are looking for.

The only downside to online tutoring is I had to ensure there were no distractions for Rosie (tv, sisters etc)., however I really liked the convenience of online tutoring as it was more time flexible, i.e. we had lessons at 9pm.

I have used a few tutor agencies for both online and in-person tuition, the most recent being Mentor Education based in London, for my daughters online Maths tuition who were great! Call around, but I definetly recommend to use real agencies for best quality of tutors.

Hope this helps !

@annaking009 I really think in person is best unless there is a reason why it isn't convenient (such as the current situation!). Definitely think there isn't the same interaction with an online tutor but needs must!

Would also agree with @SouthLondonMum75 about going with an agency. It's just so much easier! I've heard good things about www.educationinternational.co.uk and www.athenatuition.co.uk

Best of luck to you!

As with rosesinmygarden, I'm also a tutor and do both.

I started online to provide ongoing service for students I was seeing face to face when I was away on holiday(?!) and also when I was tutoring a friend's son who lived at the other end of the country. Interestingly I found that online seemed to benefit by face to face students as they had to focus really hard on expressing themselves more clearly and precisely since it was less easy for me to fill in the gaps and also they seemed to focus better on the shared documents we were looking at than when we were face to face. I'm not sure why this was, I think maybe in the same space they might have been distracted by trying to track my expression for any reaction to what they were doing or saying.

At present I'm conducting all my tutorials online with a browser interactive whiteboard and speaking either by phone or via skype/zoom. For most of my students I'd say this is working well and both they and I are happy with it. I have one student who thinks it's more efficient when we work face to face and we'll return to that when we're able to and another student who I think it will work better for face to face and I'm planning to meet with them very soon to start implementing that although all our work to date has been online.

I very rarely travel to students as I just don't have time - since working hours are generally constrained to outside school if I'm travelling between students I'm not earning... From the student's side, if they're travelling to me, they're not doing other things... With students at local schools they can walk to me fairly easily on their way home, so the travel time can be a little be of exercise and a break. For some students having a lift with their parents is actually some quality parent/child chat time which they don't seem able to fit in otherwise... it's different for different people...

I’m a tutor and there is no difference at all between online or face to face tuition. I haven’t done face to face tuition since March though, I don’t feel it’s safe for me or the parents and students considering the number of households I would have to visit.

I have done both face- to - face and online tutoring.
Online tutoring can work really well if the child has a quiet environment to work in and is old enough to understand how to for example, work the whiteboard in a zoom lesson so you can both write/ annotate/ interact - but I have done Zoom lessons with Year 1 children successfully. It can be done and you sometimes find that children concentrate more if they are focused on the computer screen.
If you are teaching areas where you have to use practical ( e.g counters in maths, especially for early years) then online tutoring can be tricky , but it is not impossible with a 2 Nd camera where you demonstrate any concepts.
In the current climate online lessons seems to be a / only option with the restrictions in most parts of the UK . Hope it goes well

My son prefers a RL tutor but ATM you will only get online ones. He likes to do the science experiments in RL. He has an online Maths tutor who is good as she is qualified in additional needs which he has.