The Challenges of Running an Online Tutoring Agency

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In a short time since its inception, the online tutoring or e-learning trend has seen tremendous success across the board, with academics and business in particular; it has also monumentally modified the means of transmission for one of the world’s oldest professions. Isaac Asimov’s notable science fiction story “The Fun They Had” may have already predicted this shift. Though the industry is relatively young and still has a long way to go to dominate the traditional in-person classroom experience, it is already worth $5.61 billion globally and is expected to run at a compound annual growth rate of 15.6% from 2021 to 2028.

Given how much of our social and business lives run online, e-learning only makes supreme sense for the current generation of students called digital natives. However, one should also consider the challenges of online tutoring for its vast scope and opportunities. If private tutors and established businesses want to efficiently utilize modern-day technology and get the best returns from their services, they’ll need to overcome a plethora of roadblocks that prevent faster adoption rates of online tutoring and even more rapid growth of the industry as a whole than we’re already seeing.

Here are some of the biggest challenges that online tutoring companies face (in no particular order) and some insights on how to overcome them:

Access limitations to good teaching faculty

There’s a shortage of good subject experts with excellent pedagogical skills to compete with the industry’s rising demand for the same. A great starting point would be reaching out to companies with an existing base or network of teachers that satisfies your needs.


Quality content development

The processes of creating, analyzing, and developing academic content for multiple students of different needs alongside teaching is both complicated and time-consuming for the teacher, but if they can easily find services that provide question banks, storyboards, and other related content for the multiple needs of students, in such a case, it becomes easier for the tutor to focus on the learning or give all to what matters the most.

Connectivity with global audiences 

Tutors find it challenging to reach learners from different parts of the world as it’s nearly impossible to connect people searching for the exact services that [tutors] offer directly, so online tutoring businesses can look for companies to whom they can outsource this task. Many platforms are into live teaching sessions and are constantly looking for teachers who are willing to teach students. This not only brings you closer to your audience but, in some cases, gives you a platform to make good use of your skills on a global level.

Lack of commitment

This is a particular concern about freelance teachers who collaborate merely on commission with these agencies; this can lead to inconsistencies in homework and progressive syllabi coverage. Sometimes these teachers don’t turn up at the last moment or give an excuse for internet problems/other tech issues, which lead to a bad name and embarrassing situation for these online tutoring companies in front of both – parents and the learner. However, it can be resolved through companies employing full-time teachers with proper backup plans, helping Online Tutoring Companies with solutions to no turn-up situations or technical issues, and committing 24x7 delivery with a 100% uptime guarantee.

Technical issues 

Even though video conferencing software and cloud-based collaboration applications have come a very long way as of late, technical issues still seem to be hindering the online tutoring market. Those tutors regularly using online tutoring solutions revealed that they solve tech problems by having a technology backup plan. In contrast, offline-only tutors cited unreliable connections or lack of access to equipment as their primary technical concerns.


Marketing

Tutors aren’t marketers, so finding students can be a challenge or even the reason for not leaping to tutor online. This can be resolved in a number of ways, such as investing both their time and money in marketing themselves, from handing out business cards to creating a professional website. Some other ideas for marketing yourself online include:

  1. Getting a professional logo designed

  2. Networking on social media sites

  3. Creating educational content on free-of-cost, video-sharing platforms

 

Lack of personal connection

This is a concern between teachers and students across the board. In truth, though, it’s rooted in the fact that most online teachers fail to use a platform with a suite of tools that allows them to build personal connections with their students. The following features can be found as part of an online tutoring system stack that would certainly allow for a proper personal connection. 

  1. High-quality real-time audio and video between tutor and student for face-to-face conversation (low-quality connections can prevent an online tutoring session from reaching that personal level)

  2. Interactive whiteboard (this is where the magic that lets the student and tutor feel connected through progress and collaboration happens) 

  3. An easy-to-use forum for communication between sessions (the tutor can build rapport for a constantly strengthening personal connection with students)

  4. A scheduling system that makes it painless for the student and tutor to find a time that works (lets them focus on learning the material instead of messaging back and forth about when to schedule the next session.

Contributed by:
Kevin