Online Tuitions: First-hand experiences of teaching online during Covid-19

By: Hem Kumar

Date Published: July 8, 2020

Last Updated: July 8, 2020

I am a professional IB Online tutor. I stay in Delhi and travel to Gurgaon everyday. I have been taking IB tuitions for the last 12 years. Most of the assignments that I get is of home tuitions. Every year I have around 7-8 students whom I teach individually by visiting their home. Most of my students are from IB schools in Gurugram. Some of my students take classes of one-hour duration, four times a week while others just need it twice a week. The frequency and the intensity of my visits for home tuitions with respective students depend on the academic objectives, examination season, etc.

Online Tuitions due to COVID-19

However, things started changing in mid-March this year. A complete lockdown was announced in India. I traveled to Gurugram by Metro to take my classes. Due to lockdown, there was no metro service. Traveling to my student's residences was nearly impossible as residential societies too had put up restrictions for outsiders to visit their societies due to COVID-19. I and my family like hundreds of millions of other families worldwide were just praying at our respective homes to be safe. The outing was just once every two-three days, and that too for buying essential groceries, vegetables and milk.

Online classes using video calls

One of my students, Yuvraj who is in IBPYP was having difficulties in completing his academic work. Initially, he called me three-four times over the phone and sought out clarifications to his doubts. Most of his doubts were in English and Maths. With just two months left for him to graduate his IB PYP and he was not having his private tutor (me) visiting him due to the lockdown. His mother suggested to me that why not start teaching him online using Skype. The idea appeared interesting to me. Although I was not very sure of different aspects of online tuitions as compared to face-to-face home tuitions, I was worried about data speed, voice clarity over skype and was also not very sure how I would be able to make a personal connection with my student, Yuvraj, as we both will be interacting virtually. I wondered if I will be able to keep the attention of Yuvraj for a full 60 minutes or not.

Effectiveness of online tuitions

Despite these apprehensions, I thought it to give it a try for 5 sessions. The first online class was scheduled for 4 pm, the next day. By 2 pm next, I was ready. Although I was supposed to be at home, I had worn one of my favorite shirts that I ironed myself in the morning. I prepared a 3-page worksheet for Yuvraj on my laptop. The worksheet contained 15 questions in Maths and a guided story writing based on a picture in Eglish. At 4 pm the online class with Yuvraj started. I sent him the worksheet that I had prepared earlier to him over email. Yuvraj was quick to take a printout of the worksheet and the class started. I asked him to solve the first question in the maths worksheet and he was able to solve the question. However, he did a silly mistake so his final answer was not correct. I pointed him his silly mistake and he was quick to correct it. One by one, Yuvraj solved all 15 questions. He fumbled in understanding 4 questions and I guided him in those 4 questions. Yuvraj had some doubts in the probability and bar graph that he learned in school last week. He clicked pictures of those 3 questions and sent me over my WhatsApp number using his mother's mobile. I downloaded these 3 questions on my laptop and helped Yuvraj understand and solve those three questions. Last 15 minutes of the class, we focussed on creative writing. Yuvraj was able to write a very good paragraph based on the photograph that I had included in the English worksheet. I made him learn 3 new words that he used in the paragraph he wrote.

Beforehand Preparations

This way, the online classes using Skype proved to be an effective way of giving private online tuitions to students. I had to plan and prepare my lesson with respective students beforehand and send them the worksheet as per the study plan over email. It is advantageous for a student to print those worksheets and complete them under the guidance and supervision of the online tutor during the online class. The completed worksheet can be sent back to the tutor for necessary evaluation or review over WhatsApp. The tutor can review the work of the student and can send feedbacks and can also ensure necessary concepts to be taught in subsequent online classes. A digital writing pad with a digital pen can be attached to the laptop and the tutor can draw and write on the digital notebook and the student can see simultaneously what the online tutor is writing and explaining. I look forward to my next online class with Yuvraj that he himself has happily confirmed. Few more of my students have also asked me for tuition schedules and I am already planning online classes for those students as well.