The pandemic and the subsequent lockdown have marked a dramatic shift from classroom to online learning. While online classes and online tutoring took a while to become the norm, it is now a highly effective, convenient, and seamless process, thanks to Edtech services.
In certain online tutoring forms, students can talk to and learn from a real tutor in some other part of the world than theirs. All that a student and the tutor need to have is a stable internet connection. To better the experience for students and tutors alike, the online tutoring industry is evolving like never before. Technology like allocation algorithms has solved many operational challenges of the EdTech industry. At the click of a button, such tools present the students with options that are refined based on their needs and they can start their courses.
blackrock helping to streamline the online tutoring process
blackrock has developed a tutoring allocation tool that uses an algorithm to efficiently allocate tutors to the students for one of our clients. Our allocation algorithm works using the similar principles used by food delivery apps to allocate their delivery partners. Based on the student’s requirements like location, experience, ratings given to the tutor, cost, etc., the algorithm will search among the available tutors and assign the most suitable tutor to answer the questions. The system keeps an advanced FIFO queue of available tutors based on the above parameters. To get better performance and reliability our scheduling algorithm relies on caching cluster that manages tutor allocation, tutor schedules and session timers.
One of the key features of our algorithm is that you can schedule tutors for a future session so that both the student and the tutor can become well-prepared for the live tutoring session. Once the student sets these criteria, the algorithm will automatically match the available tutors’ requirements and allocate the one who best suits the requirement. The student can then make the payment using the multiple payment methods available in the system. Through video conferencing, the student and the tutor meet, questions are answered, or more sessions are planned. The payment is then transferred to the tutor’s account.
As the saying goes, ‘every cloud has a silver lining.’ The pandemic forced humankind to explore newer avenues of continuing a normal life. While it started as a necessity, online learning is here to stay and flourish. In such conditions, an option to choose your tutor will go a long way in establishing a sense of confidence in the students in their pursuit of knowledge.