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NetTutor is a Web-based online tutoring service, founded in 1995, in Tampa, Florida. All NetTutor operations are conducted at Link-Systems International’s main office in Tampa, Florida.[1]

History

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The NetTutor website, trademark, and interface technology are owned by Link-Systems International (LSI), a privately held distance-learning software corporation in Tampa, Florida launched in 1995 with the goal of making academic resources available on the Web. The company was incorporated in the State of Florida on February 27, 1996. NetTutor was the firm's first product and went live later that year,[2] making it possibly the first private online tutoring service to provide tutoring in which the learner could choose tutoring that is either synchronous, with tutor and learner simultaneously online, or asynchronous, where the learner submits questions and receives a tutor's response via direct messaging. LSI began to lease the technology supporting NetTutor (also under the NetTutor name) in the following year.[3]

LSI also develops, maintains, and leases hosted access to the proprietary Java-based whiteboard-style interface (WorldWideWhiteboard) with which NetTutor conducts tutoring.[citation needed]

Textbook publishers

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NetTutor was apparently [according to whom?] the first online tutoring service to integrate with textbooks. Access to NetTutor, for instance, has been packaged with certain McGraw-Hill math, science, and accounting books since approximately 1997.[4] Over the subsequent years, NetTutor has been packaged with higher education textbooks published by John Wiley and Sons, Pearson, Cengage Learning,[5] and Bedford, Freeman and Worth.

Research on the NetTutor interface

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Early research into NetTutor was conducted by educators eager to employ technology in their own teaching. Consequently, it focuses on technical issues such as usability and robustness, but also on the ability of participants to express themselves in effective online discussion of specialized subjects, especially mathematics. A study at Hampton University in 1999 concluded that NetTutor could effectively support activities such as online office hours.[6]

The whiteboard-like nature of the NetTutor interface (today marketed separately by LSI as the WorldWideWhiteboard) offered tools to support subject-specific online chat and to illustrate concepts. In 2004, researchers at Stony Brook University found that “despite some flaws, according to our research NetTutor remains the only workable math-friendly e-learning communication system."[7]

Similar results were found using NetTutor technology and tutors at Utah Valley State College (in a study describing the use of NetTutor as "one of the earliest synchronous models for math tutoring"[8]) and at the University of Idaho, in a study beginning in 2005—showing increasing acceptance of Web-based online tutoring in the university setting.[9]

Usage

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By 2007, LSI claimed that its NetTutor tutors had conducted over one million online tutorial sessions[10] and by 2016, NetTutor had conducted more than three million tutorial sessions.[11]

The service has expanded from its initial ties with the textbook publishing industry and now directly reaches learners in a variety of environments, such as at college-track high school programs,[12] for-profit schools, programs associated with the labor movement,[13] public universities, and community colleges.

Features

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Learners acquire access to NetTutor by directly purchasing tutoring time from the NetTutor website,[14] purchasing a textbook which has a NetTutor support package, or through their school. The NetTutor service is typically integrated into an existing virtual learning environment such as a publisher Web portal; a learning management system like Blackboard,[15] Moodle, or Sakai; or a specific campus tutoring website.

NetTutor assistance is of the "academic-assistance" type.[16] Conversations take place in a shared virtual whiteboard environment equipped with a toolbar for inserting math, chemistry, accounting, or English proofing symbols. Learners may submit their writing or questions for tutor review, or may choose an available live tutor and engage synchronous discussion. Learners may save or print out their live tutorial sessions, but live tutoring is exclusively one-on-one, so that the possible benefits of a discussion involving a group of peers are not directly available.

This mode of access opens NetTutor to several criticisms, such as the accusation that tutors have an interest in exhausting the tutoring hours paid for, in order to get them to purchase more; that the tutor may rush the tutorial session by providing an answer to do more sessions and enable the learner to engage in academic dishonesty; or that the tutor may not be committed to the learner’s goals.[17] NetTutor claims to have elaborate tutor vetting and training programs and to make all learning resources available to tutors. LSI also agrees upon detailed tutoring guidelines with representatives of its institutional clients. [citation needed] It also provides support for learners who struggle to use the interface. It focuses on helping students find answers on their own rather than simply providing correct answers. [citation needed]

LSI, apparently in response to several controversies[18][19][20] that surround the use of distance education and online tutoring, has taken some measures to assure users of the academic value of NetTutor.[citation needed] Recent research published about NetTutor suggests that offering students the use of online tutoring as a resource in a traditional "brick-and-mortar" setting leads to an increase in student persistence and achievement.[16]

Notes

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  1. ^ "Link-Systems International Inc - Company Profile and News". Archived from the original on 11 October 2012.
  2. ^ "Online Tutoring". Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 20 September 2023.
  3. ^ "TechEd Digest". Archived from the original on 2 May 1999.
  4. ^ http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/classware/ala.do?isbn=0073534978&alaid=ala_1650212 [dead link‍]
  5. ^ "Cengage Learning - Enterprise". Archived from the original on 13 September 2010. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  6. ^ Verma, A. K., "Using 'NetTutor' for Conducting Online Interactive Office Hours." Proceedings of the International Conference on Technology in Collegiate Mathematics. 12(017). Retrieved March 7, 2011 from http://archives.math.utk.edu/ICTCM/VOL12/C017/paper.pdf
  7. ^ Smith, G. and Klein, W. (2004), "Diagrams and math notation in e-learning." International Journal of Mathematics Education in Science and Technology. 35(5) pp. 681-695.
  8. ^ Turrentine, P. and MacDonald, L. (2006) "Tutoring Online: Increasing Effectiveness with Best Practices." National Association for Developmental Education Digest. 2(2), Fall 2006. Retrieved March 15, 2011 from http://lacmsig.pbworks.com/f/tutoring%20online.pdf, p. 4
  9. ^ Thomas, D., Li, Q., Knott, L., and Li, Z., (2006) "The Structure of Student Dialogue in Web-Assisted Mathematics Courses." Journal of Educational Technology Systems, (2007-2008). 36(4). pp. 415-431. Retrieved March 1, 2011 from http://academic.research.microsoft.com/Paper/13612573.
  10. ^ http://www.link-systems.com/pdfs/2nettutor1millionsessionspressrelease20070710.pdf[permanent dead link‍], Retrieved February 22, 2011.
  11. ^ "Online Tutoring Service Reaches Industry Milestone - The Edvocate". 26 July 2016. Retrieved 27 July 2016.
  12. ^ "GEAR UP - Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs | Fairmont State University".
  13. ^ "无法访问此网站".
  14. ^ "Home". nettutor.com.
  15. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  16. ^ a b Kersaint, G., Barber, J., Dogbey, J. and Kephart, D. (2011) "The Effect of Access to an Online Tutorial Service on College Algebra Student Outcomes." Mentoring and Tutoring: Partnership in Learning. 19(1), February, 2011.
  17. ^ Neville, Alan J. (1999) "The problem-based learning tutor: Teacher? Facilitator? Evaluator?" Medical Teacher, (1999). 21(4). pp. 393-401.
  18. ^ "Blog for Scholarship Money or Tutor Online". ABC News.
  19. ^ Patrick, Pamela K. S. (2005) "Online Counseling Education: Pedagogy Controversies and Delivery Issues." VISTAS2005. 5(52). pp. 239-242. Retrieved April 15, 2011 from http://www.counseling.org/Resources/Library/VISTAS/vistas05/Vistas05.art52.pdf.
  20. ^ "Accreditor Eyes Course Outsourcing," April 10, 2009, Insider Higher Education. Retrieved April 15, 2011 from http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/04/10/accredit.

References

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  • Collison, G., Elbaum, B., Haavind, S. & Tinker, R. (2000). Facilitating online learning: Effective strategies for moderators. Atwood Publishing, Madison.
  • Hewitt, Beth L. (2010). The online writing conference: a guide for teachers and tutors. Boynton/Cook Heinemann, Portsmouth, NJ.
  • Jacques, D., and Salmon, G (2007) Learning in Groups: A Handbook for on and off line environments, Routledge, London and New York.
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