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The Student side of the system
So you are a student?
If you are reading this then someone has probably sent you the link to this website because you are battling with some kind of subject. Your parents have shouted at you for being lazy. You have been made painfully aware that your future is in deep trouble. You are somewhere on the spectrum of failing every subject to a very good student that just can't crack 95% for math.
I feel your pain as even I, as a middle aged engineer, went through these problems with a low-low 35% math mark in my second last of school. I saw my future floating away in the wind but my parents booked extra classes for me ... and I made it.
The problems (plural) are that things are not what they used to be, like for us older people. I must firstly say that many of you young ones don't have a backbone. You are lazy, expect everything on a platter and if you cannot Google it then it is impossible. That said we also do understand that the tempo of life has increased tremendously. You might be in a school or tertiary institution where the teacher/lecturer confuses you. You might be one of the unlucky ones where your teacher was part of the test group that got 5% for math (the subject they are giving).
Whatever your reason for needing help you are at the right place. Here we bring willing teacher/tutors and willing students together.
If you want extra classes then going to a conventional classroom setup might not be the best choice. Unless you have a bad teacher you are just going from a 30 student class to a 10 to 12 student class. You might not like sitting still. Maybe sitting at 45 degrees works better for you, but not the teacher? Maybe the social nature of a populated class is distracting? Maybe you need soft music in the background or a tall glass of coldrink and large pack of chips? Maybe your teacher never gets to you when you have a problem? You might be called disruptive. So how can you be alone, as so many of you young ones want to be, but still need the leadership of a teacher?
Then there is matter of cost. You now need those extra classes but they are expensive, need extra time and fuel to get there, sometimes at night or weekends plus you need enroll very early in the year and commit for 11 months at least. Up to this point I have just pointed out problems, so lets look at the solution.
What does EduMaster offer you?
- You can find a teacher/tutor to help you with your problem subject.
- The teacher does not need to be close to you as they will be online.
- The teacher will still teach via a whiteboard, but that whiteboard is either on your smartphone or Windows PC.
- The lessons can be cheaper (depending on demand or experience of teacher/tutor) than normal physical classrooms as there is less costs involved.
- Teachers
are now not limited anymore with afternoon time slots of between 14h30
and 20h00. You might be able to find classes early in the morning, over
weekends and even holidays.
- You can enrol at more than one teacher, if you really need the diversity.
- If you have enough mobile data and the signal is good enough you can attend your class anywhere.
- Your entire online lesson is recorded so that you can play it back later for review.
- No more travelling to classes.
- You can literally attend class naked (as long as you promise to switch off the webcam feature).
- You only pay for the classes you want to take and stop at any time.
- You pay via Snapscan. The whole procedure is explained when buying credits.
- At minimum you only need a smartphone and broadband internet connection.
How does it work?
- Firstly you must go to the top of this page and register. This is free. It is a secure connection and you need to fill in quite a few fields and then activate via email. We will check out your profile and if we find anything suspect we will suspend it until all the requirements are met.
- Next
you will find teachers/tutors that give lessons for your particular
grade and academic level. You will apply to them. When you do they will
receive all your details with your particular needs. We have no control
over the teachers. If they don't like what they see, cannot help you at
your level or are fully booked then you need to move on to someone
else. Keep in mind that the more students become available the more
teachers will be recruited. We have people that find people who know
people to load more people onto the system. Also, you need to pick
teachers that will fit into your budget. There are the really genius
teachers out there that specialize in 90% students who want to qualify
for medicine. Then there are the teachers who try and keep students
from failing. There is a premium to be paid for the former. Also, make
sure that you are booked in a class of a language of your choice.
- Once a teacher has responded with an opening it is first-come-first-serve. You must then book that slot. A teacher won't just give you a single day but rather a slot in each week for the year. Holidays and other non-class days will be included in this planning. Once you book it you will given a deadline to pay for the next lesson. You don't need to pay ahead but the teacher will give you a deadline to "Pay by". This might be 2 days in advance. This is important to the teacher because if you cannot make it then that single slot can be sold to another student. The system allows you to make an excuse for that date. If you keep on missing dates the teacher has the right to cancel all your classes.
- While attending classes you are expected to behave yourself. Teachers are in short supply, not students. If you break the rules of conduct the teacher can cut you off and cancel all your lessons. When this happens you will get your credits/money back but will receive a strike against you. This will make it more difficult to find the next teacher. This includes anything that irritates the teacher, like nagging on the text chat, using foul language, taking and sending questionable photos or being rude over the voice channel. The teacher has several options available ranging from warning you to behave, suspending you for one ot more sessions or expelling you. Generally we will side with the teacher.
- The
teacher can run the classes in various ways. The first is an informal
session. You attend, ask questions, and generally observe as the
teacher handles the requests. The second is when something specific is
required from you. The teacher will send out "homework" to be completed
"pretty please" and you have to submit written answers (via camera). To
get the homework you needed to pay before the deadline. To not get
kicked out you need to submit the homework before another deadline,
example a day before the class. The third is the same as the previous
scenario, where you will receive homework after payment, but you need
to log in, example 1 hour before the class. During this time you will
be presented with a multiple answer test. The teacher will state the
pass rate. If you fail the test you won't be able to attend the class.
In that case the teacher can, if possible, reschedule another class to
recap the work you obviously still don't understand. You want better
marks and the teacher will drive you to get there.
- The teachers may ask certain things from you, used to measure and adjust their ratings. When you write a test at school the teacher may ask you for your marks which they will use to report back about general improvements for their students. Although these figures can be "fudged" on both sides it will make the teacher feel more appreciative if the student's marks go up with the extra classes.
- The teacher is the master. Using either your smartphone, PC or both at the same time the teacher is in full control. Whatever the teacher write in the whiteboard will display on your device. You can no control over the whiteboard.
- You can write text messages only to the teacher (and the other way around). You cannot directly communicate with other students over the same application. If you become disruptive the teacher can block you.
- If
you want to ask a visual question you take a picture with your
smartphone. You can review the picture before sending it. Once sent it
will appear in the list of pictures of all the students. The teacher
may or may not react on it. The teacher may ask the entire class to do
an exersize, give 5 minutes and then all must submit.
- The
voice channel is half-duplex, meaning that most of the time only the
teacher speaks. You can "raise your hand" requesting that you want ask
something. The teacher can then allow you to speak. The channel will be
opened until you press stop or the teaching takes back control. Any
disruptive behavior (shouting, swearing etc...) and the teacher has the
right to block you.
- The
system also makes provision for webcams (in both direction). These are
very small 64x48 pixel thumbnail videos and more just for an emotional
bonding. You can see faces and hand gestures but not much detail. We
keep these videos small and only running at 3 frames per second to
minimize data bandwidth.
If you feel that this teacher is not up to scratch and that you are wasting your money then you have the option to leave the class within the first 15 minutes. Politely leave the session. On exiting the software will ask you why you left. The questions range from "Personal" to "Unsatisfatory". If you had to leave for personal reasons then you should not have attended in the first place and a decision will be made on how much you can get back. If you state "Unsatisfactory" then you will need to provide a short description. You will get your money/credit back in full and that teacher will get a negative rating. So choose your reasons right.
The aim is to bring the teacher/tutor and student together for mutually beneficial outcomes. The teacher wants to earn a proper living income and you, the student, want to improve academically. As long as you put your best foot forward, try and gain maximum benefit you will improve while paying less, having more time and in the comfort of your own home.
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