eAgeTutor offers a Different Type of Online Tutoring

April 8, 2011 - PRLog -- Most online tutoring services offer a pretty standard routine.  You log in, ask the tutor your homework question, get the answer and leave.  eAgeTutor.Com stands out among online providers in that its focus isn't on homework answers, but skill mastery and learning.  Using a model more typical of traditional brick and mortar tutoring centers, eAgeTutor's flagship offering, its eAge Excellence Programs, are diagnostic-based skill gap tutoring—a proven approach but one largely absent from the online market.

“Homework help is simply a stop-gap solution to what is a much larger problem—that the student hasn't learned how to solve these problems on their own,” said Chander Madan, founder and CEO of eAgeTutor.Com.

Instead, eAgeTutor's online tutoring follows a very different approach.  After students or parents register on the Web site, they are asked to select and complete a comprehensive diagnostic test.  These tests, created by American school teachers, content developers and online learning experts, identify students' particular areas of strengths and weaknesses on an atomic level.  Based on students' areas of needs, an individualized learning program is then developed by academic counselors.  Students who complete the full learning program are guaranteed to demonstrate at least a grade level improvement.

Kevin Ward, former professor of education and language arts instructional expert, explained why this type of approach works.

“Learning builds on itself,” Ward explained.  “You have to learn the alphabet before you learn how to spell.  If students still haven't mastered one of these prerequisite skills, then they can't move on to master the more complex skills.  What that means practically is that if the student didn't learn what was taught three weeks ago, then he or she isn't going to understand what is being taught today.  One-on-one tutoring provides what a classroom cannot—individual instruction that directly addresses what the student does not know.”

After completing their diagnostic test and meeting with their academic counselor, students and parents or guardians embark on the journey of learning together with a tutor.  The student and tutor meet several times a week in a multimedia, online environment, speaking over their computer's microphone, working problems on a shared whiteboard or viewing lesson materials as diverse as problem sets to videos.  Parents have full access to view students' diagnostic tests, progress reports, and can even view all the tutoring sessions, each of which is recorded and saved within both the parents' and students' accounts.  These recorded sessions offer a valuable learning tool as well as providing an additional layer of security for students and tutors alike.

And while eAgeTutor does offer homework help, it does so with the same mind towards ethical, responsible tutoring.  “It is learning-driven, not answer driven.  It can frustrate students a little bit who are looking for easy answers, but it ensures come test time they can do the work themselves without someone feeding them the answers,”  explains Madan.  

eAgeTutor also isn't just for remediation.

Many of eAgeTutor's students are not using its services to catch up but rather to get ahead.  With the diagnostic tests, students can still identify the areas that they do not yet know and tutors can focus on those areas, helping students who might already be ahead of their classes and ensuring they stay engaged and challenged.

“Classes tend to move at the speed of the middle students, meaning too fast for some and too slow for others,” admits Ward.  “One-on-one instruction is really the only way to meet students where they are.”

For more information, visit http://www.eagetutor.com.

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Using materials developed by highly qualified educators and leading content developers, top-notch software experts, and a group of passionate educators, eAgeTutor provides individualized educational attention to students in a safe online environment.