Introduction

I've been debating whether to start a blog for about a year now. After reading an article about corporate blogging in Wired yesterday, I figured now was the time to try. Doing it because others are doing it is certainly not the best reason to do anything, but there seems to be little harm in sharing my thoughts about my company (SMARTHINKING) and about American education.

I am the CEO and co-founder of SMARTHINKING.com. We are the leading provider of live, on-demand, online tutoring services to schools and publishers. I founded the company in July of '99 to allow high schools and colleges offer tutoring services to their students such that their students would be more likely to pass the general education courses in which they often fail. Our tutoring services are also bundled with a number of college textbooks published by Houghton Mifflin, Bedford Freeman & Worth, and LWW. Starting in June, they will also be bundled with textbooks from Pearson Education and Thomson Higher Education.

The things that differentiate us from other online tutoring providers are:

1. We offer live, drop-in math tutoring 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (in the Fall and Spring).
2. We provide an online writing lab where students submit essays for critique and return within 24 hours.
3. Our services are vetted and selected by educators (like teachers and professors) who must be assured of the academic and pedagogical credentials of our team and our tutors.
4. Our services are also bundled with textbook publishers, allowing our clients to find flexible ways to pay for services.
5. Most of our tutors are part-time employees, as opposed to independent contractors. While it would be cheaper and easier to have independent contractors, IRS regulations forbid signficant training of independent contractors. To do online tutoring well, we find that significant pedagogical training is required.

So, this is my first post. I'll be back shortly...