Over the last 6 months I have become increasingly involved in online tutoring. Many people have tried online learnig previously and found it a negative experience so I wanted to ensure that I could make their experience with me as tutor a positive experience as possible. One of the things I do is to establish personal contact with each learner, I don't want to be just a "faceless" tutor.
When a learner enrols on a programme, I send them an e-mail. I attach a picture of myself and tell them about my background and how they can contact me. In the first few weeks I put a lot of effort in building up a rapport and a trust - by regular personal email contact, and ensuring that each learner knows when they will get their submitted work returned to them. Whatever the learner raises as an issue, however trivial it may seem, it is real and of concern to them and so I acknowledge whatever their concern is and work with them to resolve it.
With online tutoring, the learner doesn't have the benefit of seeing the tutor face to face. All we have is the written word. it is therefore essential that as a tutor of this medium, I use language appropriate to the learner - not to me! This means avoiding jargon at all cost. I also encourage the learners to constantly check-out and ask them for feedback on my performance - what could I do that would make this a better experience for them.
By building up a rapport of trust and honesty, the online experience becomes a positive for both the learner and also for me. It's really worth putting in the initial effort - I have found it always pays off.
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