美國網絡家教網站蓬勃發展

It's a nightly dilemma in many households: A student hits a wall doing homework, and parents are too tired, too busy -- or too mystified -- to help.
許多家庭每天晚上都會遭遇這樣的困境：孩子做作業時有道題不會，這時家長要麼太累，要麼太忙──要麼也不會──總之幫不上忙。

Ordering up a tutor is becoming as easy for kids as grabbing a late-night snack. Amid rapid growth in companies offering online, on-demand tutoring, students can use a credit card to connect, sometimes in less than a minute, with a live tutor. Such 24/7, no-appointment-needed services can be especially helpful to students with tight budgets or tight time frames or those in remote areas.
而如今對孩子們來說，在線訂購輔導服務正變得和拿點兒零食當宵夜一樣容易。隨着越來越多的公司提供按需定製的在線輔導，學生們用一張信用卡便可快速地接通一位在線家教，有時1分鐘都不到就能連上。這類服務每週每天不間斷運營，且無需進行預約，尤其對手頭緊、時間急、住得遠的學生來說很有幫助。

'All of a sudden, the world opens up to them,' says Michael Horn, executive director of education for the Clayton Christensen Institute, a San Mateo, Calif., education and health-care think tank.
加州聖馬特奧教育健康智囊團Clayton Christensen Institute的執行董事邁克爾·霍恩(Michael Horn)如此評價：一瞬間，知識的海洋就向他們敞開了懷抱。

That said, the quality of on-demand scholastic support can be uneven, and the catch-as-catch-can approach to enlisting a tutor may not be best for struggling students who need sustained help. Sessions can bog down on technical glitches, and language barriers can cause problems on sites that rely on tutors from abroad.
話雖如此，這類按需定製的教學支持的質量卻可能參差不齊，而且這些網站“招到一個是一個”的招聘老師的方式，對於需要長期輔導的學生來說也談不上有多好。輔導課程還會因技術故障而中斷，而在那些提供外教網站上，語言溝通方面的障礙也是一個問題。

Prices, ranging from about $24 to $45 an hour (and often prorated to the minute), are cheaper than what many skilled tutors charge in a student's home. And parents and students say the quick homework fix can ease stress and make evenings at home more peaceful.
這類服務的價格在每小時24美元到45美元之間（並通常按分鐘計價），和許多有經驗的上門家教相比要便宜。家長和學生也反映說，這種快速幫忙解題的服務減輕了不少壓力，讓晚上家裏的氛圍融洽多了。

Whenever Peggy Bennett of Dallas tried to help her 13-year-old daughter, Chloe Friedman, with her eighth-grade physics and algebra homework, 'we'd always end up bickering,' Ms. Bennett says, with Chloe often objecting that the teacher did it differently. 'It was a lose-lose situation.'
每當達拉斯的佩姬·本內特(Peggy Bennett)要幫她13歲的女兒克洛艾·弗裏德曼(Chloe Friedman)做八年級物理和代數作業，到了最後倆人都會吵起來，克洛艾每次都說那不是老師講的解法。本內特稱這是個雙輸的局面。

Chloe says she was skeptical when her mom helped her sign up last month on , a New York City-based provider of on-demand tutoring. But after she logged on one evening for algebra help, a tutor, identified only by a first name and last initial, responded within a minute. Chloe says she was guided to figure out the answers, using text chat and an interactive 'whiteboard' that displayed their writing and calculations on a shared screen. After hearing nothing but typing for about 10 minutes, Ms. Bennett says she heard Chloe yell from the other room, 'They told me I did a good job!' Ms. Bennett adds, 'That was all that she needed.'
克洛艾說，一開始當她媽媽幫她在──一個紐約市的定製輔導網站上註冊帳戶的時候，她很懷疑這個網站能否幫上忙。但有一天晚上，她登上網站尋求一道代數題的解法，一個標註了姓氏縮寫和名字的輔導老師不到一分鐘就回覆了她。克洛艾說，她使用文本交談，並在一塊共享屏幕的白色書寫板上寫出運算過程，通過這種方式，她在指導下解出了答案。本內特說，只聽敲擊鍵盤的聲音持續了十多分鐘，接着克洛艾的房間裏便傳來一聲歡呼：他們說我做對了！本內特補充道，這正是我女兒所需要的。

Chloe, who takes classes in dance, acting and singing, also uses on her smartphone at the dance studio between classes. She says she recently got help solving a math problem in less than 10 minutes.
克洛艾還學習舞蹈、表演和唱歌，課間休息時，她會在舞蹈教室裏用手機登陸。她說她最近在網站的幫助下，不用十分鐘就解出了一道數學題。

Ms. Bennett now lets Chloe use her credit card to extend her subscription whenever she needs help. So far, Chloe has spent $79.99 for up to two hours of tutoring. subscribers pay once a month for time used; unused minutes can be carried to the next month.
本內特已讓克洛艾用信用卡延長了她在的訂製時間。目前，克洛艾已花費79.99美元購買了兩個小時的輔導時間；未用盡的時間可推到下個月繼續使用。

Most sites enlist moonlighting or retired teachers, college professors or professionals with tutoring experience; most offer scheduled tutoring in addition to on-demand sessions. The most common users are middle- and high-schoolers, and college students taking basic courses.
多數網站都招聘兼職在校教師、退休教師、大學教授或者有家教經驗的專業人士；除了按需定製的輔導之外，大多數網站還會按日程表提供家教課程。最主要的用戶羣爲初、高中生以及接受基礎課程的大學生。

About 95% of the 1,200 tutors available on Bangalore, India-based TutorVista are recruited from India, says C.S. Swaminathan, president of TutorVista, which was recently acquired by the London-based publishing and education company Pearson PLC. Tutoring sessions with its mostly U.S.-based customers are usually held via whiteboard and text chat, to reduce potential language difficulties, Mr. Swaminathan says. Still, students say, language barriers can sometimes slow communication, and grammar glitches can occasionally creep in.
TutorVista是一家位於印度班加羅爾的在線輔導網站，該公司已被倫敦培生教育出版公司(Pearson PLC.)收購。TutorVista總裁斯瓦米納坦(C.S. Swaminathan)稱其95%的員工招募自印度，而主要客戶來自於美國，輔導課程通常會通過白板和文字聊天進行，以試圖減少可能存在的語言溝通障礙。然而學生仍稱語言障礙有時會使溝通過程變慢，偶爾還會有語法上面的問題。

Saira Sultan, an Irvine, Calif., college student, says the TutorVista tutors she taps several times a week for help with her English and math courses are pleasant and knowledgeable. She recently uploaded a business letter she had been assigned to write for her English class, and the tutor marked errors in the text and texted instructions on correcting verb tenses, rearranging paragraphs and rephrasing sentences to read more smoothly, Ms. Sultan says. The one-on-one edits have helped her learn to write more clearly, she says.
來自加州爾灣學院(Irvine College)的學生蘇丹·西良(Saira Sultan)說，她每週都向TutorVista的老師請教好幾次英語和數學課上的問題，而老師們博學而友善。她說，最近她的英語課要求寫一封商業信件，她把作業上傳到網上，輔導老師會標出錯誤、糾正動詞時態，調整段落格式，並將語句梳理通順。這種一對一的編輯幫助她的英文寫作更加清楚明白。The drawback, she says, is that communicating via text chat 'takes a lot of time.' Mr. Swaminathan says TutorVista can provide audio-chat sessions if scheduled in advance.
她說，缺點是用文本聊天來溝通“很費時間”。斯瓦米納坦說用戶可在TutorVista上預約視頻輔導課程。

As with in-person tutors, knowledge levels and teaching skills can be uneven. Stephanie Dobbs of Los Angeles says one InstaEDU tutor who responded to her daughter Sarah's request for calculus help 'didn't know the material at all.' But Sarah, who uses the site two to three times a week, says it has so many tutors that switching is easy, and the convenience outweighs any drawbacks.
然而，那些輔導老師的知識水平和教育技能常常良莠不齊。洛杉磯的斯蒂芬妮·多布斯(Stephanie Dobbs)說她女兒薩拉(Sarah)在InstaEDU上找到的微積分家教“根本不瞭解這塊知識”。然而Sarah每週卻要上這個網站兩三次，她說更換老師很容易，使用這個網站利大於弊。

An InstaEDU spokeswoman says on occasion, tutors can halt billing while they figure out the material, or students can be given refunds or a different tutor.
一位InstaEDU的發言人稱，輔導老師有時會在審題時暫停計費，或者學生也可以要求退款或更換家教。

James Nickerson agrees that on-demand tutors need winnowing. When he turned to InstaEDU recently to help his 16-year-old daughter Emma with an advanced-Latin class (they couldn't find a skilled Latin tutor in their hometown of Stevens Point, Wis.), he didn't turn Emma loose online. Instead, he sat beside her while she chose a tutor, urging her to bypass a math major who claimed a sideline expertise in Latin in favor of a New York University grad student majoring in classics. He also helped her schedule sessions, to provide continuity with the same tutor.

詹姆斯·尼克森(James Nickerson)也認爲這些家教需要經過一定的篩選。最近，他登入InstaEDU來幫她16歲的女兒艾瑪(Emma)挑選高級拉丁語課程，他沒有立刻放手不管，而是坐在一旁陪她一起挑選老師，要她別去選以拉丁文爲副業的數學專業畢業生，而是選擇紐約大學(New York University)古羅馬文學專業的碩士畢業生。他還幫助女兒制定課程表，以便她能一直上同一個老師的課。

On-demand tutoring is just one of a growing array of online homework-help options. Khan Academy, one prominent example, offers interactive tutorials in addition to educational videos. provides answers to homework questions, while crowdsourcing sites such as StudyBlue enable students to share study guides, notes and flashcards.
按需定製的輔導只不過是正在發展的在線作業輔導產品的一小部分。舉個例子，Khan Academy在提供教學視頻的同時也提供交互式輔導課程。提供作業答案，而StudyBlue這樣的衆包網站則讓學生可以分享講義、筆記和學習卡片。

Some school districts pay New York City-based TutaPoint and other online-tutoring sites to provide free access to students; about 2,000 libraries let students use without cost. Free access to tutoring sites can help level the playing field for students from all income groups -- if they provide trained, qualified tutors, conduct background checks and safeguard users' security, says Nora Carr, president of the National School Public Relations Association, a professional group.
一些學區向總部位於紐約的TutaPoint和其他在線輔導網站支付費用，以便其學生能免費登錄這些網站。約2,000家圖書館也供學生免費使用。專業組織全國學校公共關係協會(National School Public Relations Association)的主席諾拉·卡爾(Nora Carr)認爲，這些舉措可以幫助不同收入階層的學生享受到更加平等的教育機會──前提是這些網站的輔導老師經過訓練、具有職業資格，職業操守經過審查，並且網站能確保用戶信息安全。

But the sites can also tilt the playing field in favor of kids with plenty of money for tutoring help, creating pressure for other students to have a tutor too. Parents should monitor kids' use of the sites and track fees, which 'can get very expensive very quickly,' says Ms. Carr, who is chief of staff of the Guilford County Schools in Greensboro, N.C.
卡爾說，然而富裕家庭的孩子登入網站尋求幫助，也會迫使其他學生尋找輔導老師，進而或也將加劇教育不平等。家長應當監督孩子對這些網站的使用，記錄他們支出的費用，因爲這些網站很貴，費錢速度也很快。卡爾也是格林斯博羅市吉爾福德郡學校(Guilford County Schools)的教員主任。

Yamini Naidu says online tutoring last year through InstaEDU helped her earn As in advanced-placement classes at her Beaverton, Ore., high school. Now a freshman at Yale University, Ms. Naidu works eight hours a week as an InstaEDU tutor.
俄勒岡州比佛頓高中(Beaverton High School)畢業生Yamini Naidu說，去年在IstaEDU在線輔導的幫助下，她在大學先修課上拿到了一串A的優異成績。如今，她已是耶魯大學(Yale University)的大一新生，並每週花8個小時在InstaEDU上提供在線輔導。

She says that students who come to sessions with a list of questions or assignments to work on -- and who block out time to concentrate -- benefit most. Text chats occasionally stall, though, if students are distracted or start multitasking; Ms. Naidu tries to re-engage students by asking questions to spark their interest, she says.
她說，最能從這些課程汲取知識的，是那些帶着一串問題和作業題的學生，還有能夠專心聽課不顧時間的學生。然而如果學生分神或者做起別的事情，那麼文字聊天就會拖延時間；她說她試圖通過詢問學生問題、激發興趣來讓他們重新專注於課程。

Bharathy Chummar of Plantation, Fla., turned to the online tutoring site Eduboard last summer to help her 15-year-old son Prajwal research possible science-fair topics. Prajwal had a 45-minute audio and text chat with a tutor, who is also a physician, about an idea involving bacteria. The doctor later sent him a research summary with links to more studies.
去年夏天，佛羅里達州普蘭泰申的丘瑪爾(Bharathy Chummar)登入了Eduboard在線輔導網站，來幫助她15歲的兒子普拉傑瓦爾(Prajwal)就科學展覽會上的主題進行調研。普拉傑瓦爾與一位同爲外科醫生的兼職家教進行了45分鐘的視頻課程，並用文字進行對話，探討了一個有關細菌的想法。之後，這位醫生髮給了他一份研究綜述，內容包含了更多相關研究的鏈接。

Online tutors 'fill a huge gap that can never be filled by parents,' Ms. Chummar says.
丘瑪爾說，在線家教“擔起了一項家長永遠無法擔當的職能”。