Online tutoring: tips for parents
March 28, 2005

Watch out for Net distractions, faux tutors, experts say

By Debra Melani

Cindy Welsh knows the good and the bad of the Internet. A librarian and mother of an 18-year-old Web junkie, Welsh has watched her daughter use the Internet for homework since elementary school.

"I had my worries when I saw how much we were moving to the Internet for homework help," the Greeley mother said.

"One side of my parent brain says, 'Hmm, sitting in front of a screen? It can be very passive. It certainly doesn't help with the need of getting American children up and moving."

But the way her daughter, a high school senior taking Advanced Placement classes, uses the Web has worked for her. Despite the pull of the Internet for teenage entertainment, it has blessings as well as curses, Welsh said.

She and other experts offered tips for parenting children entering the Internet zone:

• Overreliance on the Internet, particularly for young children, could stifle creative learning because of the data-search mentality that prevails.

"Sure, they've learned how to be gophers, but they haven't learned how to take that information and process it," Welsh said. Parents should monitor their children's homework, make sure they still use books, and limit their Internet time, she said.

• Entertainment aspects of the Internet can distract from homework.

"Go in there once in a while and talk to them," said Welsh, whose daughter, Jacquie, admits to doing homework, messaging a friend and searching for a movie title all at once. "Have them minimize all those screens on the side, and see what game is on the bottom."

• Online homework help connects students with strangers, which can jeopardize a child's safety.

Assure that the programs children use are professional, recognized services that employ upstanding tutors and offer student privacy. For instance, Tutor.com conducts seven-year background checks on employees, requires mentors to monitor all tutoring sessions, and doesn't require students to reveal their names and locations.

"I've always watched over Jacquie's shoulder more than she would like," Welsh said. "I use those parental controls, and I use parental nosiness."

• Online tutoring services might not offer enough help for everyone.

Online tutoring programs, such as Tutor.com, meet a need for good students with occasional troubles, says Thom Redicks, membership chairman and past president of the National Tutoring Association. But Redicks opposes the growing online-tutoring trend because he fears that students who need "real," face-to-face tutoring will suffer.

Students who try online tutoring should know within three to four weeks whether it's working for them, he said. Within six to eight weeks, parents should see a difference in schoolwork.

• Always check credentials and ask for recommendations before working with a tutor.

Many individual "tutors" offering their services online are not qualified, Redicks said.

• Live homework help might not be a good fit for students uncomfortable with computers or who can't type well.

• Many home computers don't meet technical requirements for effective online tutoring.

• Not all homework-help sites are created equal.

Some sites are little more than companies trying to tap the student market with aggressive sales pitches, said Howie Schaffer of the Public Education Network in Washington, D.C. He recommends that students use homework sites set up by their schools or teachers, as they are most relevant to the students' work.