Wyzant Insights

Welcome to term 3! We’ll share Insights three times yearly, since Wyzant’s business operates according to four-month terms. This T3, we offer the latest news about improvements to lesson recordings, upgrades to the online tool, and a new ability to set a higher max hourly rate. Read more about our newest initiative, Wyzant for Higher Ed, get to know two tutors who chatted recently with Wyzant about their methods and success, then finish by meeting an important member of our Product team.

First: feedback

We’re always paying close attention to consistencies in the feedback you share with us. Whether recommendations to improve the platform, requests for tools to make you a more effective tutor, or just giving us a heads-up about issues that affect your experience, feedback is crucial in helping shape Wyzant into the top-tier tutoring marketplace that it is.

We’ve been monitoring a common piece of feedback regarding the stability of lesson recordings; namely, recurring situations where tutors or students do not receive a recording at the end of their sessions. We take this very seriously - there are many students who need their lesson recordings, due to their unique learning needs or to reinforce what they learn. Many tutors utilize them as essential supplementary teaching tools between sessions.

We’ve made changes to the way lesson recordings are processed and stored in order to resolve this issue, and are happy to say that users on both sides of the whiteboard will now receive recordings consistently.

How do you measure student progress?

It’s as important to us as it is to you to make sure that students are experiencing the impact of tutoring and getting the results they want. No one knows the students using Wyzant better than you; you work with them every day! If we can understand how students are progressing, we can help tutors make sure they’re maximizing their time and seeing growth in their businesses. We’d love your thoughts below:

Product Updates

A tutor-student partnership that begins in the fall, when learning moves again to the forefront, can be a powerfully motivating force. Students are returning to classes and the focus becomes scoring well and tackling concepts before they get too big to handle. Fall is a busy season for Wyzant too, and this year, one in which we make important improvements to our platform. Here are some of the features and highlights coming in fall 2019.

Wyzant for Higher Ed

We recently announced a new initiative that partners Wyzant with universities and other organizations to provide streamlined access to online tutoring for their students. This program offers you a chance to reach more online students and help them achieve their educational goals, while their partnered university covers the cost of the lessons.

Increased maximum rate per-hour

Whether you’re tutoring for professional test prep or operating your business in a busy metropolis where tutoring rates are simply higher than average, there are opportunities where the standard price for a single lesson may be justifiably higher than Wyzant’s current $500 cap. We recognize that no one wants to leave opportunity on the table, so now you don’t have to: tutors can set their max rate per-hour up to $1,000.

Post and answer questions on Ask an Expert

Ask An Expert gives tutors the ability to create relevant profile content that helps convert student views into lessons. To help you make a lasting impression on more students by creating compelling, conversion-ready “Examples of Expertise”, we’ve added a brand-new feature. Learn more here.

Larger files on the whiteboard

We’ve upgraded whiteboard file size limits - now you can upload files up to 10mb!

What we’re working on

There are a number of exciting developments in the works to help make running your business easier and allow you to stay focused on the important task of helping your students.

Maximizing Higher Ed student traffic

Wyzant is already the online tutoring solution at a dozen institutions, and we’re working alongside faculty and advisors every day to bring more students through our Higher Ed partnership program and onto your profile. We’re committed to always finding more opportunities to help you expand your business reach, and welcome your feedback.

More aggressive spam filtering

Spam is a persistent and bothersome issue for any web-based platform, and we know it’s difficult to navigate around illegitimate requests and messages. Our data science and engineering teams are currently working on new methodology to head off and reduce the amount of spam that reaches you.

Tutor Spotlight

We reached out to chat with two tutors who’ve leveraged Wyzant to grow sustainable, successful tutoring businesses. Read below to hear how they do it.

Michelle Patania

I only had a few sessions with Michelle, and in just a few hours she taught me a semester’s worth of statistics.

Boasting both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toledo, Michelle has helped thousands of students master math, and it’s easy to see why they so often achieve success: they describe her as knowledgeable, thorough, and patient, often telling Wyzant, “Five stars isn’t enough!” in their lesson reviews. To date, Michelle has tutored more than 960 hours on Wyzant, earning perfect five-star ratings for more than 880 sessions in subjects from prealgebra all the way to graduate-level statistics.

To what do you attribute your success as a tutor on Wyzant?

There are certain guidelines that have helped me to succeed as a tutor on Wyzant. First, I focus on the individual goals of each of my students. During sessions, I take note of which areas students seem to need the most help with, and I focus on those areas. For recurring students, I keep track of their strengths and weaknesses, and I structure lessons around their needs. During sessions, I give students follow-up example problems to monitor their progress.

Additionally, I keep parents informed about their student’s progress. I often send follow-up messages to parents after lessons, giving them an overview of how their student is doing. Also, I try to accommodate students and be available as much as possible, especially weeknights during the school year when students tend to need the most help.

How do you make lessons fun or enjoyable for your students?

The most effective lessons happen when the student is very involved in the session. For example, I encourage students to do as much of the work as they can, so that they are fully engaged in the session. Students seem to learn better when they are actively discussing the material with me. I use a guided approach, and I adapt my methods if one method does not seem to be working. I try to present the material in the most straightforward way, and I tailor my approach to each individual student’s learning style.

I also spend a few minutes before each lesson reviewing the student’s materials and preparing problems to work on. I try to incorporate real-world examples as much as possible, to make the content more enjoyable and relatable for my students. Additionally, I try to help each student feel comfortable, especially if it is their first time using the online learning tool. I give new students an overview of the tools they can use during a session, such as drawing on the whiteboard, for example, so that they feel comfortable with the technology.

What advice do you give to new tutors?

Respond to students quickly when they contact you. Be flexible and willing to accommodate your students. Ask students for their materials ahead of time to get an idea of what they are working on. Stay current on content by periodically reviewing the subjects you tutor.

I would also advise new tutors to adapt their tutoring approach during the session, based on a student’s current level of understanding. Every student has a different set of goals and plans for a tutoring session. I suggest assessing where the student is currently at within the first few minutes of the lesson, and adapting your approach based on the student’s starting point. Try to determine each student’s goals, and work with the student to help achieve them. The more you tutor, the more you will see what does and doesn’t work well, and you will find your optimal tutoring style.

Joshua Markowitz

Smart, clear, direct, honest. Good.

Joshua was The George Washington University’s official Latin and ancient Greek tutor while earning his Bachelor’s degree in Classical studies, and earned his MA in Latin and Greek from The Catholic University of America. His reputation on Wyzant as a consistent and adept online language tutor is evident in a recent review (one of his astounding 1,508 5-star reviews): “I cannot say enough good things about Joshua. He is simply amazing. He has turned our son around, made him love Latin, is courteous and kind and supportive and understanding and smart and gifted and terrific all around.” Joshua has guided students of all ages and proficiency levels to comprehension - even fluency - in these difficult-to-learn languages, in over 3,800 lessons.

To what do you attribute your success as a tutor on Wyzant?

I believe the single greatest factor to my success on Wyzant has been treating tutoring at Wyzant as a full-time job. Over the last four years, scheduling lessons has been my top professional priority, and all other elements of my schedule have revolved around that. Unless I had an unavoidable prior commitment or had so many lessons in a week I simply could not fit more in my schedule, I did not take time off or turn down work for the sake of vacation or relaxation. When you are a private tutor, you are your own boss. That means that once your business has grown substantially and has become a reliable source of income, you can give yourself some time to rest, but to get to that point, you have to grow it first. It’s a cliche, but the best way to do that is to work hard.

How do you make lessons fun or enjoyable for your students?

When you tutor ancient languages, you generally get one of two reactions from students: they already have a passion for the material, or they are feeling overwhelmed and frustrated at a subject in which they may not even see value, let alone actually enjoy. For the former students, keeping them engaged is easy. For the latter, you need to be creative. Sometimes making lessons fun means taking periodic breaks from the dry grammar lessons with other related topics the student might find more engaging, such as ancient politics, military history, archaeology, or mythology. Sometimes, making lessons fun is as simple as finding a new way to explain an old topic that a student has struggled with in the past, either using mnemonic devices or simply by showing the student a new way to think about the material. The relief that a student feels at finally understanding a concept that has been a problem for them in the past can get them just as engaged with the lesson as anything else.

What advice do you give to new tutors?

My advice to new tutors is simple: if you want to grow your tutoring from a side-job to a full-time business, treat it like it’s already your full-time job, and then be patient. It wasn’t until my second year using Wyzant that it became clear to me that tutoring was a viable, long-term career option. In fact, I was on the verge of taking a full-time job offer when I realized that if my tutoring business kept growing the way I expected, I was going to make more money as a tutor than at this position I was considering taking, and for fewer work hours. I now typically make almost twice as much as that company initially offered me, without a boss, without a commute, and with the freedom to make my own work hours.

Meet the Wyzant Team

Ryan Batten, Wyzant Product Manager

“As a product manager, my main job is to make sure Wyzant’s business - and yours - can grow. We are constantly looking for ways to make sure the most students are able to find and connect with a tutor that can help them with their learning needs and that you, as tutors, have the tools and support you need to help your students see success. My day-to-day involves weighing tradeoffs and making decisions about what next steps have the most impact on achieving that mission. And that’s something that is close to my heart. As a previous college instructor, fostering education is my passion, not just a part of my job. I’ve seen first-hand just how positive an effect tutoring can have on a student’s ability to achieve success in their education and beyond. If I can help you help your students, I feel I’m doing just as much, if not more, to educate the world than I could ever do in the classroom.”