Online Tutoring Still In Its Infancy: Sylvan Learning CEO Jeff Cohen (Part 6)

SM: How many students have you worked with online?

JC: Thousands. What is really important is that we have created an online experience built on best practices we learned from our in-person tutoring sessions. From our standpoint, and from all the years we have studied students, teaching, and learning, we believe that the interaction between students and teachers is important. It can be supplemented with asynchronous material. Certainly students can benefit from spending time on the computer by themselves in self-paced environments, but that is not a substitute for real teacher-led instruction.

We believe the environment we created really does differentiate us from what others are trying to do online. The other thing that is really important is that we have been able to replicate our diagnostic-prescriptive approach to tutoring. It is the notion of assessing a student’s needs and building a relationship around teaching that student according to these needs versus all the other folks, who are trying to teach online with their quick-hit, in-and-out approach. They are targeting students who are struggling with their homework and need an answer to something. While that may be momentarily helpful, it is not a sustainable way to address a student’s educational needs.

SM: How do you see the offshore tutoring services that use in-person tutors?

JC: We have watched a number of them and have not seen any of them get the type of traction that we have been fortunate enough to experience in our relationship with families. I believe the reason for this is that those businesses start with an emphasis on the technology. They are using technology and trying to figure out where they can apply that technology to a business opportunity. That is very different than our approach, where we recognize an educational need on the part of students and we leverage technology to extend our ability to serve those kids and families.

The reason that is so different is at the core of what we deliver is a customer service. It is a relationship. We get to know a student, their family, and their difficulties. The technology allows us to reach them when they want to be reached. In today’s world people expect to be able to access your service and we are able to use technology to make that happen. However, we start with the teaching and learning perspective.

SM: In general, adoption is pretty low for online tutoring.

JC: Yes. The adoption is low today but growing steadily. I think it is growing unyieldingly. We are seeing greater demand and a likely shift to using online as a way to deliver tutoring. Our point of presence in a thousand communities across America allows us to offer something unique that pure online providers cannot offer.

SM: Even with your presence in a thousand communities, you are still only tutoring thousands of students online versus millions. I imagine that there are millions of students in America who need tutoring.

JC: You’re right. We are at the beginning of this. We are at the beginning of an evolution in the tutoring industry. We have been watching it from the very beginning — we built our platform in 2001, when I don’t think anybody was doing it. It is definitely very early. I am proposing that we are just starting to see its initial growth.

Under No Child Left Behind, we are an approved provider in the supplemental educational services program. We are serving over 50,000 students in that program alone. Those programs are typically where a student has a choice. They can choose a provider at their school or a provider that tutors online. Our growth in that program, which did not exist before the 2004 school year, is evidence of interest in and demand for online tutoring.

This segment is part 6 in the series : Online Tutoring Still In Its Infancy: Sylvan Learning CEO Jeff Cohen
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