Should schools allow students to seek homework help from online tutors?

Source:teachaway.com

Homework all over the world is frowned upon by students. Of course, there are those students who like homework, but the majority would live happier lives if it did not exist. Since homework is here to stay, students have devised ways to help ease the ‘burden’ off their shoulder by going online for some help. Online is where they find answers to most of their questions if not all. Some even hire online tutors to help them out. Now all this sound innocent but put yourself in the shoes of the teacher. Do you really think that your students should seek online help from tutors? I have a couple of reasons that could convince you why an online tutor should be allowed in school especially when students are doing their homework.

Source:christiegolden.com
  1. Assistant teacher

Instead of thinking of online tutors as encouraging laziness, think of them as your assistant teachers. Students are very diverse in a classroom ranging from fast learners to slow learners. Think of the slow learners in your class. They may not have grasped the concept in class, but if they went online, their online tutors would be able to help them catch up to speed so that on your next lesson, you are all on the same page. You as a teacher may not even have enough time to individually deal with the student problem, so online tutors come in handy to help your students learn better.

  1. Time-saver

In a forty minute class, it is almost impossible to explain all the concepts and ensure that each student has understood. Sometimes the teacher just scans through the topic and lets the student figure out on their own the rest through their homework. Whereas some may be able to do this, a number is guaranteed to have some difficulties. It is here that the online schoolwork help tutor comes in handy, steps in and helps the learner with their problematic area. The online tutor definitely has more time for the student compared to the teacher. The student chooses how long they want their lesson to be and can raise as money questions as they want. All this is done during their own time, therefore, saving the teacher the one-on-one time-consuming method of attending to students individually.

  1. Self-independence
Source:learningscientists.org

The online tutor teaches the student on how to become self-independent when doing their own homework. If the teacher were to teach every little thing in the book, the student would become lazy. The student has to sweat a little and look for information themselves. Conducting research, collecting data, analysing it and presenting it in a meaningful manner teaches them to be self-reliant and not to over-depend on their teacher. The online tutor simply acts as a guide in directing them to areas where they should search for information.

  1. Visual examples

The online tutor is also very useful when doing homework as they present a more visual and realistic set of examples that the student is likely to relate more with. Giving vivid examples enables the concept being taught to stick and last longer. The student is also able to understand their homework since there is an array of examples compared to those given by their teacher which may not be practical.