美国网络家教网站蓬勃发展

The drawback, she says, is that communicating via text chat 'takes a lot of time.' Mr. Swaminathan says TutorVista can provide audio-chat sessions if scheduled in advance.
她说，缺点是用文本聊天来沟通“很费时间”。斯瓦米纳坦说用户可在TutorVista上预约视频辅导课程。

As with in-person tutors, knowledge levels and teaching skills can be uneven. Stephanie Dobbs of Los Angeles says one InstaEDU tutor who responded to her daughter Sarah's request for calculus help 'didn't know the material at all.' But Sarah, who uses the site two to three times a week, says it has so many tutors that switching is easy, and the convenience outweighs any drawbacks.
然而，那些辅导老师的知识水平和教育技能常常良莠不齐。洛杉矶的斯蒂芬妮·多布斯(Stephanie Dobbs)说她女儿萨拉(Sarah)在InstaEDU上找到的微积分家教“根本不了解这块知识”。然而Sarah每周却要上这个网站两三次，她说更换老师很容易，使用这个网站利大于弊。

An InstaEDU spokeswoman says on occasion, tutors can halt billing while they figure out the material, or students can be given refunds or a different tutor.
一位InstaEDU的发言人称，辅导老师有时会在审题时暂停计费，或者学生也可以要求退款或更换家教。

James Nickerson agrees that on-demand tutors need winnowing. When he turned to InstaEDU recently to help his 16-year-old daughter Emma with an advanced-Latin class (they couldn't find a skilled Latin tutor in their hometown of Stevens Point, Wis.), he didn't turn Emma loose online. Instead, he sat beside her while she chose a tutor, urging her to bypass a math major who claimed a sideline expertise in Latin in favor of a New York University grad student majoring in classics. He also helped her schedule sessions, to provide continuity with the same tutor.

 

詹姆斯·尼克森(James Nickerson)也认为这些家教需要经过一定的筛选。最近，他登入InstaEDU来帮她16岁的女儿艾玛(Emma)挑选高级拉丁语课程，他没有立刻放手不管，而是坐在一旁陪她一起挑选老师，要她别去选以拉丁文为副业的数学专业毕业生，而是选择纽约大学(New York University)古罗马文学专业的硕士毕业生。他还帮助女儿制定课程表，以便她能一直上同一个老师的课。

On-demand tutoring is just one of a growing array of online homework-help options. Khan Academy, one prominent example, offers interactive tutorials in addition to educational videos. Chegg.com provides answers to homework questions, while crowdsourcing sites such as studyBlue enable students to share study guides, notes and flashcards.
按需定制的辅导只不过是正在发展的在线作业辅导产品的一小部分。举个例子，Khan Academy在提供教学视频的同时也提供交互式辅导课程。Chegg.com提供作业答案，而studyBlue这样的众包网站则让学生可以分享讲义、笔记和学习卡片。

Some school districts pay New York City-based TutaPoint and other online-tutoring sites to provide free access to students; about 2,000 libraries let students use Tutor.com without cost. Free access to tutoring sites can help level the playing field for students from all income groups -- if they provide trained, qualified tutors, conduct background checks and safeguard users' security, says Nora Carr, president of the National School Public Relations Association, a professional group.
一些学区向总部位于纽约的TutaPoint和其他在线辅导网站支付费用，以便其学生能免费登录这些网站。约2,000家图书馆也供学生免费使用Tutor.com。专业组织全国学校公共关系协会(National School Public Relations Association)的主席诺拉·卡尔(Nora Carr)认为，这些举措可以帮助不同收入阶层的学生享受到更加平等的教育机会──前提是这些网站的辅导老师经过训练、具有职业资格，职业操守经过审查，并且网站能确保用户信息安全。

But the sites can also tilt the playing field in favor of kids with plenty of money for tutoring help, creating pressure for other students to have a tutor too. Parents should monitor kids' use of the sites and track fees, which 'can get very expensive very quickly,' says Ms. Carr, who is chief of staff of the Guilford County Schools in Greensboro, N.C.
卡尔说，然而富裕家庭的孩子登入网站寻求帮助，也会迫使其他学生寻找辅导老师，进而或也将加剧教育不平等。家长应当监督孩子对这些网站的使用，记录他们支出的费用，因为这些网站很贵，费钱速度也很快。卡尔也是格林斯博罗市吉尔福德郡学校(Guilford County Schools)的教员主任。

Yamini Naidu says online tutoring last year through InstaEDU helped her earn As in advanced-placement classes at her Beaverton, Ore., high school. Now a freshman at Yale University, Ms. Naidu works eight hours a week as an InstaEDU tutor.
俄勒冈州比佛顿高中(Beaverton High School)毕业生Yamini Naidu说，去年在IstaEDU在线辅导的帮助下，她在大学先修课上拿到了一串A的优异成绩。如今，她已是耶鲁大学(Yale University)的大一新生，并每周花8个小时在InstaEDU上提供在线辅导。

She says that students who come to sessions with a list of questions or assignments to work on -- and who block out time to concentrate -- benefit most. Text chats occasionally stall, though, if students are distracted or start multitasking; Ms. Naidu tries to re-engage students by asking questions to spark their interest, she says.
她说，最能从这些课程汲取知识的，是那些带着一串问题和作业题的学生，还有能够专心听课不顾时间的学生。然而如果学生分神或者做起别的事情，那么文字聊天就会拖延时间；她说她试图通过询问学生问题、激发兴趣来让他们重新专注于课程。

Bharathy Chummar of Plantation, Fla., turned to the online tutoring site Eduboard last summer to help her 15-year-old son Prajwal research possible science-fair topics. Prajwal had a 45-minute audio and text chat with a tutor, who is also a physician, about an idea involving bacteria. The doctor later sent him a research summary with links to more studies.
去年夏天，佛罗里达州普兰泰申的丘玛尔(Bharathy Chummar)登入了Eduboard在线辅导网站，来帮助她15岁的儿子普拉杰瓦尔(Prajwal)就科学展览会上的主题进行调研。普拉杰瓦尔与一位同为外科医生的兼职家教进行了45分钟的视频课程，并用文字进行对话，探讨了一个有关细菌的想法。之后，这位医生发给了他一份研究综述，内容包含了更多相关研究的链接。

Online tutors 'fill a huge gap that can never be filled by parents,' Ms. Chummar says.
丘玛尔说，在线家教“担起了一项家长永远无法担当的职能”。