7 Reasons Why You Need Tutoring Software
Whether you’re completely new to online tutoring or you’ve been doing it for years, it’s essential to invest in purpose-built tutoring software if you’re going to get the best results for your students.
While you may have managed “just fine” without it, tutoring software for professional tutors – like Pearl – can be extremely beneficial to use because not only will it make your life as a tutor easier, it will also help improve your student outcomes and make it easy for parents to play a part in their children’s academic journey.
Here are 7 key reasons why professional tutors and tutoring agencies need purpose-built tutoring software to take their business to the next level:
1. It Improves Student Engagement
Thankfully the days of sitting in a classroom writing lines out of a book are long gone, and that’s a big positive for both tutors and students.
Tutoring software makes it easy for the student to engage in their studies, and allows for you to be more accessible via a virtual classroom. Virtual classroom features like screen sharing and interactive whiteboards allow students to actively participate in lessons, rather than feel like they’re just being spoken at.
Another key feature of tutoring software that can engage students is the ability to send messages and reminders within the platform. The messages allow for frictionless communication between tutors, parents, students, and admins, while the reminders help drive attendance for the sessions.
2. It’s More Effective for Students, Which Leads to Better Results
Having students who are more engaged with their learning will lead to better outcomes, and using tutoring software can be a far more effective way of teaching them, which again leads to them achieving better results.
While face-to-face learning is still a very useful method of educating students, there are some downsides compared with online tutoring. For example, it can be more difficult to keep track of a student’s progress when all of their work is written by hand, and there are also likely to be more distractions for them when they’re learning in person.
Perhaps the biggest reason why tutoring software is often more effective for students is the fact that lessons can be recorded. Traditionally, a student would sit in a classroom being taught something once, only to then finish the lesson perhaps not having fully understood it, or wishing there were materials they could recap but can’t.
However, by recording a lesson, your students will be able to go back and re-listen if there’s any points they missed or didn’t understand during the live lesson.
3. It Helps With Effective Time Management
Rather than having to manually flick through your diary to see when you’re free, or booking an appointment with a student and forgetting to write it down, you can have your entire tutoring schedule in one place with the right tutoring software.
This is a particularly useful feature if you’re not a naturally organized person, or if you have to manage large groups of instructors that have different schedules.
It’s beneficial for students too, as it will allow them to see the times when you’re available if they need to schedule a 1-1 call or some extra tutoring, and it will allow you to block time out in your calendar to show that you’re busy or taking a vacation. Your tutoring software may also have a calendar that allows for students to add in their day-to-day events like a soccer game or math test.
And, with tutoring software like Pearl, there’s the added benefit of being able to send reminders to students, parents and instructors at the click of a button. This helps drive a consistent attendance, which leads to a stronger relationship between the tutor and student.
4. It Helps You Scale Your Tutoring Business Faster and More Easily
As your tutoring business grows and you start accepting more students and bigger groups, it can be difficult to keep on top of everything from a business standpoint, especially if you’re an educator first, and an entrepreneur second.
However, with tutoring software, it doesn’t matter if you have one student, or 100. You’ll be able to track their progress, manage payments, reconcile tutoring packages and manage your schedule effectively while your business scales up.
The biggest benefit of good tutoring software is that you’ll free up more time to do what you’re good at – teaching. Instead of having endless mountains of paperwork to file away, and manual records to keep updated, you’ll be able to keep on top of your business far more easily, which means less admin and more teaching.
5. All the Tools You Need Are in One Place
While this was touched on in the previous point from an organizational perspective, it also applies from an educational perspective too, which benefits both you and your students.
Instead of having multiple programs open – such as Zoom, PowerPoint, Google Drive, etc. – everything you need to teach effectively is contained within the tutoring platform so you’ll be more organized and better able to create an engaging tutoring lesson.
And, of course, there are the benefits previously mentioned too, such as the ability to manage your schedule and your student’s progress all in one place.
6. It’s Built by Educators Who Understand Your Needs as an Educator
The best tutoring software is designed by people with an in-depth understanding of tutoring, who have the experience of being an educator themselves.
Pearl is a great example of a tutoring software company that was built by tutors, for other tutors.
As educators, we know what works and what doesn’t, and we understand that building relationships between students and tutors is the most effective way of delivering the best student outcomes.
7. It Looks More Professional
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a worldwide shift in teaching methods, with thousands of tutors being forced to adapt to more online-based learning, and more people setting themselves up as online educators.
Therefore, to build and grow a successful tutoring business it’s important that you stand out from your competitors, and an all-in-one, purpose-built tutoring platform is a great place to start.
While many of your competitors may try to do things on the cheap and run their tutoring business chaotically using several different tools, you can gain a significant advantage over them by investing in a single tutoring software that’s far more professional and elegant.
And best of all, you’re able to customize your software with your own logo and URL, which highlights your professionalism to potential clients.
At this point, you’re probably wondering how much tutoring software’s going to cost because surely a product this useful and versatile must come with a hefty price tag?
While there are many pricey tutoring platforms out there, the one we’ve built at Pearl is extremely affordable. With Pearl, you get one fixed monthly price, so instead of having variable costs every month from numerous suppliers, you’ll have just one payment to consider, making your budgeting far easier.
On top of that, you’ll have technical support included in the price too, so if you have any questions or issues with Pearl, you’ll be able to get help quickly.
If you’re interested in learning more about Pearl and scheduling a demo of our best-in-class tutoring software, get in touch with us today.