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Online learning rapidly overtaking traditional classroom borders !
Added: (Sat Jul 18 2009)
It's 5.00 in the evening in Middlesex, UK. Jerome, an ACCA student, works online through voice and video conferencing with a remote tutor from his bedroom, to receive personal tuition for ACCA F5 paper, Performance Management (PM).
Thanks to technology, many students in the US and the UK are now receiving online tutoring from many tutors based in remote places. The information age has made the possibility of linking students with qualified tutors, no matter where they live.
Jerome is no longer restricted to the tuition colleges in and around his area, or is not forced to receive tuition from tutors live in his area whom he may think are not qualified or tutors who charge higher prices. Jerome and similar students now have the luxury of choosing their preferred tuition provider and the tutor and have the flexibility of receiving tuition from their own places. The tutor works through online by voice and video conferencing and a web based electronic whiteboard which allows them to share the screen to work collaboratively. The electronic whiteboard, which replaces the traditional chalkboard found in classrooms, enables the tutor and the student to write, draw, type, share visual aids and browse multimedia content in real time.
In addition to the numerous benefits associated with online tutoring, such as, not having to travel to classroom courses, receiving personalized attention from real tutors etc. the sessions have normally priced at highly affordable prices. Jerome, who works with INSAF Business school (www. insafglobal.com) charges GBP 11 per hour (ie, USD 18/hr), which approximately 1/3rd of the price charged by a home visiting tutor.
ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) and CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) are some of the highly competitive UK exams leading to strategic financial management positions. Qualified members work in many prestigious organizations like the NASA, the BBC, Microsoft, Unilever etc. Many institutes across the world conduct tuition programmes for these exams, such as BPP, Kaplan, LSBF, INSAF (www. insafglobal. com).
Many students face with difficulties in receiving personal tuition as it is not affordable for them. A typical personal tutor in the UK would cost anywhere between GBP 20-50 an hour. And this makes students to select online tutoring for a reduced fee with its natural advantages.
Students who were unsuccessful with their previous tuition provider also select personalized tuition realizing that they need personal tuition in order to get through the exams. The higher cost is the big deterrent in having a home tutor and the problem has now been eliminated by firms like INSAF, which claims it has highly qualified tutors including exam prize winners.
Firms who act as agents for these tutoring firms in various countries in the continental Europe and in Australia, Newzealand also earn a good return for their effort. "As the quality of tuition is much better than classroom tuition, many students select our services and online tutoring makes no holes to their pockets" says a tuition agent. "As many school level tuition services go online, why not professional courses like ACCA and CIMA ?" asks Uneiz, the founder of INSAF. "It is a great way of learning. Students should experience this, rather than explanations" says Robert, the sales director at RealTimeTutors.
As many things go online, the future of education also gets online and is growing rapidly.