A very interesting question and something I had asked myself as a teacher. "Can I ensure that a student learns just as well online as face to face?"
I really wanted to know the answer to this before committing to a service like classgap.
Online learning
When we think of online learning we think of distance education. You sign up, are given course materials and then are left alone!
This was not the way I wanted to go, after all the most important part of learning a language is to interact with another person, that is your teacher.
I had tried using skype to do lessons and found that sometimes it worked well, but most of the time it was not that comfortable. You had to send the exercises you would use for the student ahead of time, then you would need to make sure they had it on screen as well as you and man it was a mess.
ClassGap
I don't recall how I actually found classgap, but guess it was via tusclassesparticulares (after all they are the same company).
I was hesitant about using it as it was something new, I had, as I said, my experiences with skype but I was willing to give it a try.
Here is my summary of how I find class gap:
The good
Payments - They look after all payments for you, so you don't need to be giving students your bank account details and worrying about getting paid.
Teaching packs - You can offer discounts for class packs. This is attractive to students as well but also ensures you get more classes as it works out better to buy a pack of 5 classes than just one (well for the student it is cheaper)
Workspace - the interface that you use to teach is great, and has now got even better. You have audio and video conversations with your students, but you can also share a virtual whiteboard that allows you to share and annotate documents. But now you can watch videos etc
The bad ;)
There always has to be something bad right? Well there are some little things you need to beware of:
Internet connection - both the teacher and student need to have a good internet connection so that the video and audio are smooth - not something that classgap can control but worth mentioning.
Students not turning up - this happens on and off line. Currently there is no penalty if they don't show, but what I normally do is tell them, "well I waited 15 minutes for you, so the next class is 45 minutes in duration." Normally works!
Commissions - when you start out classgap take 20% of each class which can be quite a lot, so you need to adjust your prices accordingly. However, once you reach 50 hours of teaching you get a pay rise as the percentage classgap take is just 13%.
And that is it with the bad!
Conclusion
I think classgap is a great platform which has saved me a lot of time going from one part of Barcelona to the other. So much so that I am now focusing all my attention on classgap and prefer to do classes there.
From a student perspectiveyou also save time and money. No more do you need to go to a cafe, have someone in your house, go to the teacher's house etc. You log in, do the class and that's it. No traveling, no hassle - it just works!
And to the original question - in my experience students learn just as well online as face to face!
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If you could like to book a free 15 minute class with me, just pop over to classgap and let's talk!
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