It was the second time in a row that Andy Teo’s tutee had cancelled on him. This – and another student cancelling lessons for two weeks due to a stay-home notice – got Andy thinking about how he could best teach online.
On 3 April 2020, it was announced that schools would move to full home-based learning (HBL) for a month. and this had Andy worrying further. What about other students who, like his tutees, struggled to keep up in class?
Then an idea struck: What if he rallied fellow tutors to volunteer their time for free?
Andy’s idea was simple: Tutors, in any subject from the primary to tertiary school level, would first register via a Google form. They could indicate how much time they wanted to offer – even if it were just 30 minutes.
Students who needed help would be able to browse the list of registered tutors, and contact their desired ones by email. The tutor would decide how to conduct the lesson remotely, be it using video conferencing tools like Zoom or text messaging.
The Temporary Academic Assistance initiative is meant to be a resource platform that runs itself, explained Andy, 25, a final-year business and accounting student at Nanyang Technological University.
It took him barely a day to swing into action. On 4 April, he began putting out a call for tutors on his social media pages, and friends helped to spread the word. In just over a week, 250 volunteers were ready to serve.
For students in polytechnic, ITE or university, there was help available in engineering, computer science and mass communication. One volunteer even specialised in teaching primary school children with autism.
Another similar initiative, COVID-19 Tutoring Support for Students (CTSS), has also sprung up.
Upon registration, students can indicate and rank the subjects they need help with. On their part, volunteer tutors choose what to teach from a list of examinable subjects in Singapore, and indicate their experience level.
The students and tutors will then be matched by the CTSS team, led by Quek Hui Ying, 20. Tutors are encouraged to conduct lessons via the online tutoring platform Bramble, which has been made free with the COVID-19 outbreak.
A week into the initiative, more than 1,400 volunteers have signed up, and more than 180 students matched with tutors.
Read more here.
Source: Channel News Asia, 15 April 2020