For online tutoring, students want on-demand help. Frankly, why else would they choose to be tutored online? As the online tutoring industry evolves into a larger market, it is interesting to note the lengths to which companies will go to to promise on-demand assistance. For instance, Tutor.com claims on-demand tutoring on its web site and in various corporate blogs. However, their service is only available from 11 AM - 10 PM (PT). Perhaps a more accurate claim would be "on-demand tutoring except for 13 hours per day." Worse, TutorVista (and many other small tutoring companies) claim 24/7 tutoring. In practice, this means that a student can schedule a tutor at any time for any time with sufficient notice. It does not mean that a student can get help exactly when they want it. At SMARTHINKING, we offer true on-demand math tutoring for the fall and spring semesters. During the summer, drop-in tutoring is available for 16 hours per day because there is not a sufficient volume of students to support full 24/7 access.
Why would companies spin these little white marketing lies? Because true on-demand tutoring -- 24/7, drop-in, live service -- is more expensive, requires greater scale, requires greater expertise, and requires greater data than pre-scheduled tutoring. These companies are trying to attract customers without investing in the tutoring force and management expertise necessary to offer on-demand service.
To understand why on-demand tutoring is more expensive and more complex, it helps to think of on-demand tutoring like a customer service center. When you call a company or utility, you expect to talk to someone on the other end. Running such a center is very similar to running an on-demand tutoring service. A critical operational variable in a call-center is "utilization capacity." This is the percentage of time that tutors spend tutoring students. It utilization capacity is too high then students have to wait a long time for tutors. If utilization capacity is too low, then the company is losing money. For instance, if a tutor is being paid $12 per hour and utilization capacity is 50%, the cost per hour tutored is $24. But, because one or more tutors are almost always available, there are no wait times. So, utilization capacity and wait times are inter-related variables. To do it right, a company needs to set a service level target and then determine the target utilization capacity to meet that target.
So, utilization capacity and service levels are mutually dependent variables. However, achieving a target service level also depends on the average length of a tutoring session. For instance, if a typical session in a call center is 2 minutes long, then a customer service center doesn't need to staff as many people to achieve a low wait time because customer service representatives are frequently available. However, for online tutoring, the average session length is around 30 minutes. This means that, with a small number of students per hour, an online tutoring company must have a very low utilization capacity to meet minimum desired service levels. As the number of students per hour rises, utilization capacity can rise while keeping service levels constant. Because utilization capacity can rise, it costs less to offer on-demand tutoring with a large number of students than with a small number of students.
Lastly, to manage all of this efficiently, an online tutoring company needs management sufficiently skilled to schedule tutors appropriately and sufficient data to know when the peaks and valleys of demand are likely to be.
So, to sum up, true on-demand tutoring generates higher labor costs because a portion of a tutor's time will not be used, requires scale to keep the unused portion of time as small as possible, requires management expertise, and good data systems. This is a significant investment that all small online tutoring companies are unwilling to make. The expense of true on-demand tutoring combined with its attraction to customers is the impetus behind the false advertising cropping up in the online tutoring industry.
Showing posts with label homework. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homework. Show all posts
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Defining Online Tutoring Quality
What is quality education? What is quality teaching? How can one measure it? These are some of the thorniest questions in education today. No single system or metric can determine it. For instance, standardized tests suffer from the fact that students may not test well, may have been trained on the wrong material, or may be having a bad day. Student survey data may reflect student opinions of the teacher rather than opinions of the learning. For instance, numerous studies in post-secondary education show a positive correlation between lenient grading and student satisfaction. Longitudinal data from schools, such as job placement rates or lifetime earnings of students, cannot be easily compared to each other because students at different schools enter and exit with different skill levels. Lastly, portfolio analysis -- the compilation and examination of a given student's work over a period of time -- suffers from the subjectivity of the teacher. Due to the flaws of any single metric, those that need to measure educational quality -- such as schools, accrediting agencies and parents -- are forced to rely on a meta-analysis of all of the metrics listed above, input analysis (credentials of instructors, training processes, and others), and reputation.
So what does this mean for online tutoring? A quick search of the Internet will demonstrate that every online tutoring company claims to have "high quality" tutors. Most will claim that their tutors are extensively trained. All list fabulous quotes from users. All show terrific survey results. All claim grade increases. So, how does a parent or a school determine who really is better? Using the above framework, they need to look at inputs, metrics, and reputation. Of these three, inputs are the least manipulable because inputs impact the cost structure of a business. They are also the least advertised, because they are a proxy for educational quality. However, they probably provide the best indication of the educational value of a service.
INPUTS
By looking at what goes into the tutoring process, one can get a sense of what should come out. The inputs that are relevant to online tutoring are tutor credentials, tutor training, tutor oversight, tutoring philosophy, service availability, service levels, breadth of service, and ease-of-use.
So what does this mean for online tutoring? A quick search of the Internet will demonstrate that every online tutoring company claims to have "high quality" tutors. Most will claim that their tutors are extensively trained. All list fabulous quotes from users. All show terrific survey results. All claim grade increases. So, how does a parent or a school determine who really is better? Using the above framework, they need to look at inputs, metrics, and reputation. Of these three, inputs are the least manipulable because inputs impact the cost structure of a business. They are also the least advertised, because they are a proxy for educational quality. However, they probably provide the best indication of the educational value of a service.
INPUTS
By looking at what goes into the tutoring process, one can get a sense of what should come out. The inputs that are relevant to online tutoring are tutor credentials, tutor training, tutor oversight, tutoring philosophy, service availability, service levels, breadth of service, and ease-of-use.
- Tutor Credentials: Generally, tutors with advanced degrees in their discipline have a better understanding of the material than those that don't. This is particularly relevant in math and science. Companies that don't indicate the degree levels of their tutors are typically relying on current college students or graduates as opposed to masters level and PhD tutors.
- Tutor Training: Just about everyone has been taught by someone who is brilliant in their discipline, but doesn't know how to teach. Tutor training on how to tutor is just as, if not more, important than subject level expertise. When students need help, they are typically frustrated and lack confidence. An effective tutor not only helps them with the subject matter, but encourages them as well. At SMARTHINKING, we call this the "affective" element of tutoring. Again, every company will claim to do this. However, if a company is serious about tutor training, its tutors will be part-time employees as opposed to independent contractors. Though hiring tutors as independent contractors is simpler and cheaper, IRS regulations require that any position that requires significant training as a job requirement must be filled by an employee.
- Tutor Oversight: Tutoring is a one-to-one social experience that combines the delivery of subject knowledge with, hopefully, the social cues necessary to encourage the learner. However, as with any human interaction, there can be miscommunication between student and tutor, mistakes made in the provision of information, and differences in communication styles. Identifying and addressing these sorts of issues requires the subjective perspective of experienced educators. At SMARTHINKING, we have former college professors that oversee each of our disciplines. Further, they contribute to the scholarship surrounding online tutoring.
- Tutoring Philosophy: An online tutoring service can be a learning service or an answer service. While not mutually exclusive, they are certainly not the same. Frequently, students want an answer, not a lesson. Tutoring companies that evaluate their tutors solely on student satisfaction ratings give tutors the incentive to do the work for the students. While this might make good business sense for a company trying to sell its services to consumers, it's not good education.
- Service Availability, Breadth and Levels: All of these inputs are for naught if an online tutoring service doesn't provide service at the moment and in a subject that the student needs it and without an onerous wait time.
- Ease-of-Use: Again, all of these inputs are for naught if the online tutoring technology is not user-friendly and capable of supporting educational interactions. For instance, Voice over the Internet (VOIP) is a feature that is frequently requested, but seldom used. This is because the set-up and performance for VOIP -- microphones, speakers, soundcards, volume settings, bandwidth, archiving, non-duplex service, voice lagtimes, and others -- make it more cumbersome than helpful. Also, math notation is notoriously difficult to do on the Internet. Technology that enables easy superscripts, subscripts, fractions, graphing, and other mathematical symbols enables effective online tutoring.
METRICS
Every tutoring company, SMARTHINKING included, touts its student survey results, quotes from satisfied customers, and sample tutoring interactions. Frankly, all of these are easily manipulated for marketing purposes. The only outcome metric that is more objective than the others are independent studies conducted by clients or others. While these will certainly have their share of methodological flaws, the bias of the company is removed.
REPUTATION
Because outcome data is so manipulable and input data is hard to discern, reputation and, by extension, brand, plays a role in determining educational quality. In large part, reputation is created by quality service over time. It is also reflected by a company's client base. For instance, to determine educational quality, one might look at the tutoring services chosen by other schools and educators. Presumably, other educators will vet a tutoring company on its educational features more fully than a parent, student or library might.
Despite the emphasis on testing in No Child Left Behind, the pressure being put on college accrediting agencies to measure school quality, and the growing demand for consumer educational services, the question of what is educational quality is not likely to be solved soon. In the meantime, those who need to look at quality are best served by evaluating an education provider holistically on inputs, metrics, and reputation, with an emphasis on inputs.
Friday, April 6, 2007
The Online Tutoring Landscape
In a previous post I noted that there are 2 kinds of online tutoring: Prescriptive tutoring and Drop-In tutoring. SMARTHINKING focuses on the Drop-In model. Within the drop-in market, there are 2 established companies -- SMARTHINKING and Tutor.com -- and at least one well-funded new company who may offer drop-in tutoring (TutorVista). Tutor.com has built its business by selling to public libraries who target middle school students. SMARTHINKING has built its business by selling to colleges, some high schools, and bundling with textbook providers. SMARTHINKING has tried selling to public libraries with limited success. Tutor.com has tried selling to colleges with limited success. Each company has tailored its service and pricing to fit its market.
Though SMARTHINKING has little or no competition in the higher education market, I have always thought that some company would emerge to compete with us. However, 2 dynamics have emerged over the past six months that will make it very difficult for new entrants to compete successfully in the college market.
The first dynamic is the growth of our partnerships with publishers. Starting in June, 4 of the 6 largest college textbook publishers representing over 70% of the college textbook market will bundle SMARTHINKING's services with selected products. These publisher partnerships will allow the 300+ schools who contract directly with SMARTHINKING to offer more tutoring services without incurring extra costs. For publishers, the addition of SMARTHINKING helps sell more books because schools want to extend their existing SMARTHINKING services. Schools have an incentive to contract with SMARTHINKING because publisers offer ways to defray costs. SMARTHINKING can now offer a school a complete solution on a single platform that can integrate SMARTHINKING tutoring, a school's own tutors, and tutoring provided by publishers. In addition to all of this, the branding that results from the marketing efforts of these publishers cannot be underestimated.
The second dynamic is the dramatic service level improvements that come with scale. Running a drop-in tutoring service is like running a call center without the call and without the center. The biggest difference is that session lengths -- the time spent on a call -- in most call centers is short. For online tutoring, the session lengths are long. This means that, to achieve consistently low wait times without signficant overstaffing, a drop-in tutoring center must have a lot of users. Our models indicate that a center needs about 35 sessions per hour to achieve average wait times under 4 minutes with an efficient staffing model. In the past year, SMARTHINKING has grown such that we meet these service levels across almost all of our available hours. Competitively, this means that any new entrant will need to signficantly over-staff prior to achieving student volume if the new entrant plans to compete on service levels. For SMARTHINKING, we will begin to integrate service levels as a marketing message to our current and future clients.
These 2 dynamics -- the interdependence of our schools and publishers and the predictability of service levels -- makes me increasingly confident in SMARTHINKING's ability to grow within and defend the college market from new competitors. These dynamics, plus the college focused service elements that we already offer such as 24/7 drop-in math tutoring and the world's largest online writing lab, make us the only choice in the college market.
Though SMARTHINKING has little or no competition in the higher education market, I have always thought that some company would emerge to compete with us. However, 2 dynamics have emerged over the past six months that will make it very difficult for new entrants to compete successfully in the college market.
The first dynamic is the growth of our partnerships with publishers. Starting in June, 4 of the 6 largest college textbook publishers representing over 70% of the college textbook market will bundle SMARTHINKING's services with selected products. These publisher partnerships will allow the 300+ schools who contract directly with SMARTHINKING to offer more tutoring services without incurring extra costs. For publishers, the addition of SMARTHINKING helps sell more books because schools want to extend their existing SMARTHINKING services. Schools have an incentive to contract with SMARTHINKING because publisers offer ways to defray costs. SMARTHINKING can now offer a school a complete solution on a single platform that can integrate SMARTHINKING tutoring, a school's own tutors, and tutoring provided by publishers. In addition to all of this, the branding that results from the marketing efforts of these publishers cannot be underestimated.
The second dynamic is the dramatic service level improvements that come with scale. Running a drop-in tutoring service is like running a call center without the call and without the center. The biggest difference is that session lengths -- the time spent on a call -- in most call centers is short. For online tutoring, the session lengths are long. This means that, to achieve consistently low wait times without signficant overstaffing, a drop-in tutoring center must have a lot of users. Our models indicate that a center needs about 35 sessions per hour to achieve average wait times under 4 minutes with an efficient staffing model. In the past year, SMARTHINKING has grown such that we meet these service levels across almost all of our available hours. Competitively, this means that any new entrant will need to signficantly over-staff prior to achieving student volume if the new entrant plans to compete on service levels. For SMARTHINKING, we will begin to integrate service levels as a marketing message to our current and future clients.
These 2 dynamics -- the interdependence of our schools and publishers and the predictability of service levels -- makes me increasingly confident in SMARTHINKING's ability to grow within and defend the college market from new competitors. These dynamics, plus the college focused service elements that we already offer such as 24/7 drop-in math tutoring and the world's largest online writing lab, make us the only choice in the college market.
Monday, April 2, 2007
Colleges (and High Schools) Will Compete On Academic Service Levels
Recently, I have given several presentations to higher education administrators about how call center theory can be applied to educational services. An online, drop-in tutoring service, like SMARTHINKING, is essentially a call center, but without the "call" and without the "center." To create this presentation, we developed a fairly complex model to analyze the interaction between the following variables:
Others didn't. Perhaps I need to polish my presentation skills, but when I was explaining the model and the results I saw a lot of vacant stares and more than a few nodding heads. However, rather than ascribe the lackluster response to my own performance, I'll use it as a pretext to draw some generalizations about education. At a minimum, this will rationalize away my disappointment. Perhaps it will even be insightful!
As I thought about my presentation, I think the real reason that listeners were unmoved is that the presentation correlated with almost nothing in their daily work lives. In fact, at the beginning of the presentation, I asked how many schools had defined service level goals for faculty members to meet. For instance, were faculty required to return a paper or an e-mail in X amount of time? Only 1 school out of 150 indicated they had such service levels. It occurred to me that these basic principles of service are simply not considered when schools deliver education. This, I think, will change dramatically in the next 10 years.
As more classes are taken online, higher education increasingly becomes a commodity. Online, geographic barriers to student choice are gone. The remaining differentiators -- price and quality -- remain. In my opinion, the traditional pricing structure of higher education will soon crumble as well. If students can take an english 101 course at a community college for 1/3 of the price of the 4 year college, and the credit is comparable AND the student can take it online, pricing will eventually become more rational. With these changes, the only element left that an institution controls is its academic quality. Within academic quality, the content of general education subjects rarely change. So, for those schools not competing on student selectivity or brand, all that's left is the level of service that they provide to the student.
This is a lesson that has already been learned by higher education administrators in admissions and technology. Colleges understand the impact of service levels when recruiting students and the impact of service levels as it relates to tech support. It is ironic that the real product of education, student learning from courses and services, hasn't incorporated any of these lessons. For most schools -- particularly public institutions -- this is a result of the traditional higher education governance structure. Traditionally, academic decisions and business decisions are made by the faculty and the administators respectively. For schools that want to compete successfully online, academic and administrators will need to work together to focus on the services that provide the greatest benefit to their customers -- the students.
- The number of tutors staffed;
- The average number of students expected;
- The length of a tutoring session;
- The desired average wait time for a student (the service level);
- And the variance embedded within all of these variables.
Others didn't. Perhaps I need to polish my presentation skills, but when I was explaining the model and the results I saw a lot of vacant stares and more than a few nodding heads. However, rather than ascribe the lackluster response to my own performance, I'll use it as a pretext to draw some generalizations about education. At a minimum, this will rationalize away my disappointment. Perhaps it will even be insightful!
As I thought about my presentation, I think the real reason that listeners were unmoved is that the presentation correlated with almost nothing in their daily work lives. In fact, at the beginning of the presentation, I asked how many schools had defined service level goals for faculty members to meet. For instance, were faculty required to return a paper or an e-mail in X amount of time? Only 1 school out of 150 indicated they had such service levels. It occurred to me that these basic principles of service are simply not considered when schools deliver education. This, I think, will change dramatically in the next 10 years.
As more classes are taken online, higher education increasingly becomes a commodity. Online, geographic barriers to student choice are gone. The remaining differentiators -- price and quality -- remain. In my opinion, the traditional pricing structure of higher education will soon crumble as well. If students can take an english 101 course at a community college for 1/3 of the price of the 4 year college, and the credit is comparable AND the student can take it online, pricing will eventually become more rational. With these changes, the only element left that an institution controls is its academic quality. Within academic quality, the content of general education subjects rarely change. So, for those schools not competing on student selectivity or brand, all that's left is the level of service that they provide to the student.
This is a lesson that has already been learned by higher education administrators in admissions and technology. Colleges understand the impact of service levels when recruiting students and the impact of service levels as it relates to tech support. It is ironic that the real product of education, student learning from courses and services, hasn't incorporated any of these lessons. For most schools -- particularly public institutions -- this is a result of the traditional higher education governance structure. Traditionally, academic decisions and business decisions are made by the faculty and the administators respectively. For schools that want to compete successfully online, academic and administrators will need to work together to focus on the services that provide the greatest benefit to their customers -- the students.
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