Kids Today
Kids Today – Where are They? – Online!
Kids today. What are we gonna do? They spend hours on their computers and cell phones, trapped in headsets with their thumbs gaining greater dexterity from text messaging than ever before. A new Olympic sport – teen thumb wrestling. Old school, non-qwerty phone cell users will be disqualified.
"What's happening with this new generation?", asks a befuddled thirty-five year old who thinks she’s cool because she got her DVD player to work.
What's happening is amazing and cool and called progress. Instead of lamenting that today's teens are hard to understand and relate to, why not meet them where they're at - online. Instead of parents groaning that they can't pull their kids away from their instant messaging and computer screens, (good luck with that), why not embrace it?
Teens may have greater thumb dexterity, but adults have greater brain dexterity-so let's use it! If kids want to message and chat and use the latest cool technology, there is no reason to not join in the fun and meet them in their own world.
And that's exactly what the brand new online tutoring company, Tutorzilla, is doing. They're meeting kids where they're at - online - and they're teaching in creative and brain compatible ways that get information to stick! What's even cooler, is that Voice Over IP (computer phone calls for those of you over 40), instant messaging, and whiteboard technologies are the tools used to provide the best online geometry tutoring, algebra tutoring, and calculus tutoring. Utilizing today’s trendiest technology, with expert educators, Tutorzilla is enhancing education around the globe but mainly in your own family room!
Like many other technology trends, the price of online tutoring is coming down. For less than twenty-five dollars a session, a student in kindergarten through twelfth grade can experience exceptional online tutoring with a Ph.D. or Master's accredited instructor that has also been instructionally "certified" in Learning Styles, Differential Instruction and much more.
"Just because you have a Ph.D. doesn't mean you can actually teach," says AmyK Hutchens, who serves on Tutorzilla's Board of Directors. "Every Tutorzilla instructor goes through comprehensive educational training. They learn about the brain, and how to teach to the brain using effective instructional and learning techniques for the online experience. They also learn about age appropriate educational activities, planning a lesson based on the learning cycle and how to get the most out of an hour long session while increasing retention and problem solving skills."
Tutorzilla is adamant abut teaching problem solving skills. "We're not an answer provider," states Cody Maher, Founder and CEO of Tutorzilla. "You can go online and find companies that actually say on their site, 'Send us your homework, we'll get it back to you in 24 hours.' That's not us! We're here to teach. We want kids to learn how to solve problems, how to think for themselves, and how to transfer that knowledge to the next problem."
The company, founded in the Spring of 2007 in San Diego, California is already gaining ground. With over 100 students actively involved in their beta program, and with over 2000 hits on their website from such places as London, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Washington, D.C. they are very quickly becoming the go-to source for online tutoring.
Tutorzilla's President, Christopher Bush, and Maher are leading the charge of building a company in an industry that gets lots of criticism and not a lot of solutions. "We're passionate about changing education," says Bush. "We know that our school teachers are working hard, that resources are limited, and that students today need places to go where they can get help. Irrespective of their background. It's why we're here. We need more and better education solutions."
And of course, as any good technology company knows, the kids are online, and they're not getting off. The days of the brick and mortar resource centers and tutoring facilities are over.
While tutorzilla.com might be in the baby zilla stages today, get ready to hear this online tutoring monster roar!
