Covid-19 has thrown up all sorts of challenges for everyone. In the world of tutoring, we've quickly had to learn to adapt, so that students can still be supported in their learning.
Nearly all of us have been affected by the everyday changes we've had to make, following the outbreak of Covid-19 across the world. Never before have we experienced a pandemic, leading us to change how we interact, how we work and how we live.
Does Covid-19 mean a temporary end to tutoring? You might think so; but for us, it was a signal to change how we work, look for solutions and keep things as normal as possible for our students.
Change doesn't have to be negative
When you have a way of working, it's very easy to get stuck in that routine and not look for ways in which you might be able to change things. Covid-19 has made us all rethink how we work, whether we really need to travel and if it's absolutely necessary to meet face-to-face.
In tutoring, we've always just assumed that it's necessary to be in the same room as the students and, in all honesty, it is hard to imagine there is anything better than meeting and working with young people. But Covid-19 has forced us to rethink, forced us to adapt and forced us to be positive, so that our students feel calm, reassured and supported.
We've looked at a number of solutions and asked ourselves lots of questions over the last few days: Can we offer anything at all or are we best to temporarily shut down? Can we tutor by email? Do we need to be able to see each other to have a meaningful tutoring session?
At the heart of all our thinking was one thing - the students. We had to come up with a solution that would maintain the value of the tutoring, but also make it an enjoyable, positive interaction. With many of us seeing very few people throughout the day, it was vital that the students could see, hear and interact with us.
Ultimately, we came up with a solution - An online whiteboard, accessible to both us and the students; alongside a video call, so we can see and talk with the student as we work. We've been trialling that this week and, after a few hiccups and tweaks, believe we have found a way of tutoring that will continue to add value to children's education.
We will, of course, look to adapt as we go along. Some things will work; some things won't. But at its centre, we will maintain our core values of support and care for the students; which we believe are vital now, more than ever.
If you are interested in talking to us about our online services, particularly while schools are closed, then please do contact us to discuss it further.
Most of all, stay safe and look after each other. Nothing is more important than that.
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