What Does Every Online Tutor Need?
More and more people are using the internet to learn—and lots of those people are tutors. These tutors offer their premium service to students across the globe.
They can give students assistance on a wide variety of subjects: math, science, art, and foreign languages, to name a few. But what do you need to become a tutor?
Every online tutor directory needs a site where they can advertise their services, a place where clients can find them, and a way to communicate with them.
All these things can be accomplished using Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. When choosing the best social media platform or preferred teaching platform for Perfect Tutor, consider your audience and how they interact with each other.
Many others decide to tutor because they really want to help others and they realise it is a great way to spend their free time.
Regardless of the reason behind it, online tutoring jobs can be a very profitable means of earning some extra income or gaining valuable experience.
In this article, we’re going to talk more about the basic requirements that all tutors should fulfil.
So, let’s start!
What are the Materials Needed to Tutor Online?
To tutor online, you first need to know what you need to tutor and also what you don’t need to tutor. Next you need to know the different tutoring, and what you can make from it.
Everyone is different. There are people who only want to tutor with students who live nearby, and people who want to tutor with students from all over the world.
You need to know what kind of academic tutoring you want to do.
Below are common materials needed for you to tutor online:
- Computer
Tutors must have access to a computer so they can connect to their client’s computers at home during
consultation lesson. This allows them to show them examples from different websites and even play games if necessary.
- Web camera
A web camera is also recommended since many clients like to see themselves interacting with their teacher.
This will use as a video conferencing services and video chat services as a teaching style.
- Headset microphone
The next thing required by any good tutor is a headset microphone for better communication when talking to his/her student. A webcam may work but only if there is enough space between both parties’ face.
- Internet Connection
If you will use Skype, then you don’t need to pay monthly fees. However, if you prefer another program, then check out whether it provides unlimited usage plan.
- A Good Portfolio
When searching for an online tutor, parents mostly find someone who has a portfolio that shows examples of his/her previous work.
The portfolio should include samples of written assignments, videos of teaching sessions with students, photos of students and even a bio.
- A website
One last requirement before starting your aspects of tutoring business is having a website. Many schools require teachers to register their teaching credentials with local education agencies.
Your job here is to provide proof of your qualifications via your website. If you want to make sure that prospective customers get through the registration process smoothly, try making your page look similar to one used by the school system.
When building your own website, keep in mind that most parents already search for educational materials online; therefore, you need to ensure that yours stands out among the rest.
What are the Qualifications to be an Online Tutor?
Before getting started, it’s important to know exactly what qualifications make up for being a professional online tutor.
While most teachers will tell you that teaching is purely based on experience, research shows otherwise.
In fact, academic studies show that having at least two years’ working experience in the field makes one significantly more likely to succeed when trying to get into higher-paying jobs later down the road.
With this in mind, here are eight qualities which make up successful online person tutor:
1. Experience
It doesn’t matter if you’ve only been doing this for six months or twenty years. What matters is whether you have enough experience to effectively implement new concepts and methods.
The longer you work in a particular subject area, the easier it becomes to understand the nuances of its workings. This means that the older you are, the greater your chances are of succeeding as a person tutoring
2. Knowledge
Just like any other profession, knowledge plays a significant role in becoming a successful online teacher.
As mentioned earlier, experience alone won’t do much good unless you also possess solid training in the subject you want to teach.
3. Communication Skills
Your ability to communicate clearly and concisely to both students and parents alike is essential for success as an online educator.
Since you’re dealing with many types of individuals, the better equipped you are to handle multiple situations and personalities, the more effective you’ll become.
4. Flexibility
Being flexible helps you adapt quickly to changes within the classroom environment. Not everyone learns the same way, nor does every situation require the same lesson plan.
Understanding these differences enables you to tailor online lesson structure accordingly, helping keep class activities fun while ensuring all students receive adequate exposure to each topic.
Flexibility allows you to respond appropriately to unexpected issues such as illness or emergency phone calls.
5. Time Management
With over 50 million students currently enrolled in distance education programs, there really is no shortage of potential clients out there.
By managing your schedule well, you’re able to distribute workloads evenly among classes, reducing stress levels even further.
Besides that, being organised means you always know where things stand, which makes it easier than ever to stay on track.
6. Creativity and Innovation
When teaching lesson online, creativity and innovation play a crucial part in successfully reaching students around the world.
The Internet empowers teachers to share ideas and content in new and innovative ways, allowing for constant improvement of existing curriculum.
7. Leadership Skills
One of the greatest benefits to becoming an online instructor has little to do with subject matter expertise; rather, it comes down to leadership qualities such as confidence, motivation, and professionalism.
Being a leader allows you to bring order to chaos by setting clear expectations, motivating teams, providing support to staff members, and establishing goals for yourself and others with organisation skills.
8. Ability to Work Independently
Another perk of being an online teacher is that there aren’t any bosses breathing down your neck every minute of every day.
You’re free to spend your days researching topics related to education, reading books about pedagogy, attending conferences, taking classes at local universities, etc. However, this independence can come back to bite you if you neglect professional development.
If you want to grow as a person and educator, then you need to make sure you continue to learn and stay abreast of recent developments within the field. With today’s advanced technological advances, it becomes even easier than ever before to keep up.
Conclusion
The most important thing when teaching someone else though is patience. You will probably encounter many challenges when first starting out, but eventually you’ll get there and teach just like any teacher would.
When learning something new yourself, try not to compare yourself too much against other teachers. We all face our own unique set of problems and struggles along the way but don’t let them discourage you.
Just keep trying until you succeed!
A Wife, a mum and a Tutor! I am the Lead Editor at TheTutor.Link & also the Head Tutor there. I love teaching seeing young minds flourish. I also love blogging and sharing my experience on the world wide web.