What's Different With Online Tutoring (My writing sample for tutor.com)

I forget the prompt, but it has to do with three differences between in-person and online tutoring, and what I will modify in my tutoring style to make certain the student learns effectively. Leaving it here, because it seems somewhat important for me to revisit later.

Both online tutoring and in-person tutoring require the tutor to be knowledgeable, empathetic, and perceptive. However, online tutoring has distinctive properties and challenges. A proficient tutor will be aware of these differences and adapt his or her methods in order to rectify these challenges.

Online tutoring that is chat or voice based lacks the visual feedback that would be available if the tutor were in the same room as the student. Behavioral psychology teaches us that over half of the emotional cues and feedback between two individuals in ordinary conversation are visual. Body language, facial expressions, and gestures provide important information. The situation is even worse with text-based tutoring, as over a third of feedback comes from vocal tone, quality, and speed. 

Additionally, online tutoring can be limited by the available software platform used to convey information. Ideally, the platform will provide an opportunity for both the tutor and the student to be able to enter in equations, draw, diagram, and convey other visual information effectively. Even if these requirements are met, this requiers both the tutor and the student to be sufficiently skilled with the interface to be able to communicate effectively.

Finally, online tutoring is potentially vulnerable to a decreased level of commitment for both the tutor and the student. Although we are now more wired than ever, it is still more difficult to establish commitment and emotional connection remotely than with a person that is seen in person. This can make it challenging to initially develop trust. It could even lead to a higher chance that appointments might be missed -- because the other person isn't met directly, they may "feel" less real to the other party, and subconsciously might not be accroded the same level of courtesy and commitment someone in person would experience.

Due to the issues listed above, I am particularly aware of the need to modify my own methods of tutoring. Because I can not depend upon nonverbal clues from my online students, I have to spend a bit more time and effort explicitly asking them for feedback and probing their knowledge with related questions. The innoncent but destructive lie of "I get it" when the student doesn't actually understand is more difficult to detect, meaning that I have to more actively require the student to explain concepts back to me, or demonstrate his or her knowledge by solving additional problems that I might generate on the spot. 

On the software issue, the only solution is to become intimately familiar with the software interface provided by Tutor.com. I also have additional resources online, whther it is the Online Latex Equation Editor, WolframAlpha (for graphs), or another tool that I've discovered in my years of tutoring.

Finally, to address the commitment issue (both for the student and to adjust for any subconscious bias on my part), I make certain to convey my thoughts, expectations, and my empathy through text. Like any writer worth his or her salt, I have developed an ability to convey emotion as effectively as I can through typed words. I'm not a professional writer. However, I am fortunate enough to have plenty of expereince, training, and interest in writing in order to develop some skill in it. My ability to type relatively quickly will also help the sentiments expressed in the tutoring session seem more geninue. (They are, in fact, genuine, but a delay can make it seem a non-technical missive less spontanous and less trustworthy.)