LEARN Tutoring has gone through a major transformation in the last year and a half. Several substantial changes were made, all with the goals of improving, and having more students/families take advantage of, our service – one-on-one or small group tutoring sessions provided by certified qualified and experienced teachers, available to students in English schools in Quebec at no charge.
The upgrades made to LEARN Tutoring (formerly known as SOS LEARN) include: easier registration process, one-click access to online class sessions, scheduled appointments instead of drop-in sessions, e-mail reminders of sessions, and, the focus for my post, feedback! After each individual appointment or group session, our tutors provide feedback related to who attended, what was covered, and comments on identified strengths and next steps.
Every Friday, I review all of the feedback from the 100+ appointments (over 50 hours of tutoring) offered that week by our group of 16 wonderful tutors, all Quebec teachers. (This school year, we hired 5 new tutors, and increased hours to other tutors’ contracts to meet demand!)
As you can imagine, sending out all of this information on a weekly basis is time-consuming, however, I feel that it has added tremendous value to our service. By sharing feedback, we open up a conversation, initiate a connection, with schools and parents.
I send feedback from the tutoring sessions to every tutored student’s school and invite the school principal to share with the appropriate teacher(s), thereby including LEARN tutors in the student success loop.
When schools receive my weekly e-mails, principals and looped-in teachers can see that students in their school are using the service, and they can reply with information to help LEARN tutors better support specific student needs. Some teachers even send our tutors specific topics to focus on with students that week. Schools can also share strategies that have helped their students. Teachers know what students reviewed with the tutor that week, and can see the results in assignments or evaluations.
Over 90% of our requests for tutoring come from parents so, of course, they receive the weekly e-mails too. Feedback to parents has been extremely well-received. Most elementary parents and many secondary parents sit right beside their children during tutoring appointments, listening, supporting, and often speaking directly to the tutors.
After receiving our Feedback Friday e-mails, parents often tell us what this service has meant for them and their children. My favourite part of working with LEARN Tutoring is receiving feedback from families!
When we hear from parents, we know that we have achieved our goal of supporting students by offering our high quality LEARN Tutoring service at no cost to families. I think that the select testimonials from parents below, sent to us in response to our feedback e-mails, speak volumes:
“Thank-you so much for your feedback. (My son) is benefiting and enjoying the individualized tutoring sessions he receives on Thursdays. The teachers are great and (he) is always eager for his sessions.”
“I would like to thank you for helping (my son) with his math. The weekly review helps him build confidence. He did super well on his mid term 95%.”
“Thank you for the feedback! My daughter really enjoyed both her sessions last week. The teachers were very attentive to her needs and helpful. Her online experience was pleasant! She will continue her online tutoring…!”
“Thanks so much!! He seems hooked! He’s been so closed up to the idea of learning French as he thinks it’s overwhelming. I think you are breaking tremendous grounds with him!”
“I was hesitant in the beginning when I came across online tutoring. However kids love it and learn better than a live tutor who comes over to our house. We come from a generation who started computers and not everyone had cell phones growing up. Kids learn much better with a voice on the other side. They have less pressures than with a stranger sitting in your home. All tutors are very polite, friendly voices and use cool ways to teach. I totally suggest online tutoring and appreciate greatly your services.”
“I cannot say enough good things about this entire service. The registration process is simple. I get emailed reminders of sessions as well as weekly feedback. And the teachers who do the tutoring have been just great! As a single mom, I can’t afford to pay for tutoring. This service has definitely helped improve his grades. Again, cannot thank you guys enough!”
Our spring tutoring session resumes on Monday, March 27. To make a request or to learn more about our service, visit: http://www.learnquebec.ca/tutoring
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