What is Hybrid Tutoring and How does it work?

Assuming you want to learn something, or you want your child to learn something, you have many choices to do so. For instance, attend a physical school (which is probably the most frequently chosen route), or learn by observation and practice, such as in an apprenticeship, or learn through reading books, or (nowadays easily available) go online.

Online, of course, has many advantages, such as doing your studies on your time, from your location, without having to get dressed for the occasion, nor prepared in any other way or form.  Not to mention online education can be low cost or even no cost at all to a student. Yet it is provided by the world’s best teachers with the most up to date resources.

So, assuming you want to do your learning online, but the whole approach and discipline being applied are strange and foreign to you, this maybe something to learn in itself and get used to. If so, maybe start by using a tutor. Yes, an extremely knowledgeable and helpful flesh-and-blood tutor, someone who may not necessarily be someone you are familiar with or who lives next door to you. He/she can easily be available to you online. The best and probably most effective, way to start is via “Hybrid Tutoring.”

The simplest definition of "Hybrid Tutoring" is merely:

• in-person tutoring mixed with online tutoring sessions.

Hybrid Tutoring can be an effective tool in the hands of experienced tutors, tutors who know:

• which elements of a student's learning process should be carefully guided in-person and which parts can be overseen online

• which elements of a subject should be carefully taught in-person and which parts can be taught online

Thus expertly used, the tool can increase both efficiency and effectiveness:

• the student can learn more deeply without investing more time

• the tutoring can be less expensive without sacrificing the student's learning

In Math & Science, expert use of Hybrid Tutoring is as follows:

Scheduled weekly in-person tutoring sessions are supplemented by unscheduled online mini-sessions. The online mini-sessions are almost immediately (ie, w/i hours) available during the intervening week between sessions.

These online mini-sessions provide the student real-time help as needed while he or she is studying.

SAT/ACT Prep expert use of Hybrid Tutoring is as follows:

Scheduled in-person tutoring sessions for Reading & Science, and scheduled online tutoring sessions for Multiple Choice Writing & Essay Writing.

For Math, whether sessions would be in-person or online, or a mix of the two, depends on the student's proficiency.

There are some online platforms offering free assistance. For example, Khan Academy is providing free assistance to those preparing for the SATs. However, to make best use of free online resources, a qualified and experienced tutor will still be required. Such a tutor could help navigate students through the various online resources, and can advise students of a mistake in an online resource. Such mistakes are rare, but they do occur and can be a cause of great frustration to students and their families. Tutors can also lead students to other platforms if one platform has a weakness. Students may not have any way of knowing there is a weakness. e.g., a platform that has excellent coverage of numerous sections of the curriculum but does not make good coverage of the other sections.

Lastly, the in-person tutor needn't be the same person as the online tutor. They need only to coordinate as a team. Thus, only the in-person tutor must be limited by location.

By Daniel Jetter