If you’re new to taking on online tutoring jobs, then you may be preoccupied with the content of the subjects you’re tutoring, and with how best to deliver your tutoring service online. There’s a third thing that you really need to get a grip on: time. Get your time management wrong and your online tutoring jobs can become a real headache.
If your online tutoring jobs consist of five students, each having a one hour tutorial per week, then that makes five hours work, right? Wrong! Underestimating the amount of time you will be spending outside of the actual contact with students is a common error. Here are some tips on realistic time estimation and scheduling.
There’s a saying that if something can go wrong, it will. That may sound pessimistic, but you need to build in time for unpredictable scenarios. Here are some that will probably hit you at some point or another.
Someone’s computer is playing up or the broadband is down.
A student misses a tutorial for whatever reason and has to make it up at another time.
A student has a test, is panicking and needs extra input.
It’s a good idea to leave your timetable open for crisis management. If you over-fill your schedule you won’t have time to be flexible. And, when dealing with learners, of whatever type or age, flexibility is the key to making a success of your online tutoring jobs.
Administration is a time-gobbler. Online tutoring jobs inevitably involve admin, and there’s usually more of it than you expect. It’s more than just doing your invoicing and balancing your books. Unless you have a full client list, you can expect to spend a good deal of time advertising your services and recruiting students. If you’re teaching school age learners, you may have to spend non-teaching time liasing with parents. This all adds up.
Resource gathering is something else that will probably take up time outside of the hours that you actually spend with students in your online tutoring jobs. You may know your subject inside out, but you will need to spend time finding or creating materials to keep your students engaged. This is a big issue with online tutoring jobs, which have a higher drop-out rate than face-to-face tuition in a conventional classroom situation.
Knowing the context is also important. If your online tutoring jobs center on helping learners who have an exam to deal with down the line, then subject knowledge is not enough. You will need to know the curriculum in the student’s school, or country, and you will need to know what kinds of questions they may be facing when tested. This ‘background’ work can also be time-consuming.
If you’re really serious about offering the best possible service in your online tutoring jobs, you won’t want to work in a vacuum. If you can set time aside to network with other online tutors and keep up with the latest developments in this fast-evolving field, it will be to your benefit – and that of your students.
This all adds up to many more hours work a week than is usually apparent to people starting out in online tutoring jobs. Getting a handle on the time involved is important so that you don’t undercharge and so that you can offer the best possible service to the people who sign up with you.
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