Why Tutoring Can Turbocharge Education Outcomes
It seems obvious that having the advantage of personalized tutoring gives a student a distinct advantage. What’s better than one-on-one direction by someone who understands the educational materials and has the ability to effectively transmit that knowledge? But the benefits of tutoring actually go way beyond that. There’s a special magic in collaboration that fuels the speed of learning and the ability to retain information for longer periods of time. It’s no secret. Ever since Professor Sugata Mitra conducted his famous learning experiments in India, we’ve had definitive proof that when you introduce technology and collaboration into the learning process, something magical happens. And the reason tutors are so effective isn’t just because they’re academic superstars who relay good information and study techniques to students. Tutors are the most effective when they act in a collaborative fashion with their students. It’s less about pushing knowledge and more about providing friendly and gentle nudges toward an education outcome and then giving students the tools they need to get there.

New Tools for Tutoring
There’s been a recent trend toward online education options, especially in post-secondary education. Although touted as an alternative to traditional classroom models which offers a lot of flexibility, there’s reason to believe online learning environments actually offer a lot more than that. In a study released by the U.S. Department of Education, online learning actually came out ahead of the traditional classroom model in terms of slightly higher education outcomes. “Students in online conditions performed modestly better, on average, than those learning the same material through traditional face-to-face instruction.” But an interesting finding relevant to tutors is the results about blending an online educational aspect with the human element. A mixture of face-to-face interaction and online learning conditions provided the best outcomes of anything the study could measure. And that means that tutors have a new tool at their disposal.

The Technology Factor
Tutors can already capitalize on their unique ability to work collaboratively with students to achieve better learning outcomes than traditional classroom time alone. But what this study highlights, just like Professor Mitra’s experiments did, is that where technology and collaboration collide, magic happens. This gives tutors another valuable tool to work with to accelerate knowledge acquisition as well as long term knowledge retention. Individual students have different needs and strengths, and good tutors who are flexible can adapt strategies to accommodate that. Teachers who use Moodle in the classroom to reinforce knowledge acquisition from materials initially presented in lectures find that the online element helps cement the information in a way that lectures alone can’t accomplish. Introducing an online component to the tutoring process increases the ability to adapt and fine-tune what works best for each student. Collaboration is a huge part of tutoring success. But when good tutors use collaborative tutoring methods and introduce the technology factor inherent in an online learning environment, students will continue to perform better. And reaching true student potential is what tutoring is all about.