@Tina – Yes, I think that would be a good idea. However, the approach that we’ve tried to take is to build the platform and allow our amazingly talented tutors and students to fill it in. So in this case, my thought is that we might build a tool upon which teachers could create their own diagnostic exams, share those exams with others, etc. Allowing for tutor creativity and ingenuity here I think would be the best way to go. Thoughts?

I think that a teacher should be allowed to offer what he feels is good for the student, 30 mns of free trial or 1 hour… or whatever…
this will depend on his own personality and on how he wants to organise his lessons.
From my experience, I can say that since student and teacher are not physically in presence as in a one to one tuition, the teacher must make his student feel at ease and convince him of his real desire to help with the language. He must create an ambiance of confidence to arouse his learning interest.
Personally, I always offer a free lesson of 1 hour because I believe in this motto " Before you think about receiving…. think first to give to others “…
On a first meeting, a teacher is most of the time relaxed and happy because he has one more student to take care of…. :-)) !
but at the same time the student can feel some kind of legitimate apprehension …. :-{
I agree with Jon about the absolute necessity to limit "freeriding” from unscrupulous people trying teachers one after the other.
So the idea to display their number of free trials is excellent.

@Laura Smith: I like your idea of promoting to your prosperity students off of your faculty page. I’ve been noticing more and more tutors reaching out of eduFire to market themselves and bring more students into the community. It helps to have the pros do some inviting along with the marketing efforts from the eduFire team :)

@everyone: A lot of tutors are now starting to creat youtube videos to help show their personalities and catch the eyes of prospective students. I think this can help with introductions.

(Laura R: Thanks for reopening this thread about intro and free sessions.)

• In live face-to-face tutoring, I charge for the sessions I do.

• As an introduction, before the first paid session, I lay the groundwork for the session’s success by spending time on the phone or email with the new client/student. I’m trained to analyze and develop written and oral communication projects, and so I ask a prospective client/student (who might be an author, university student, college-prep student, or businessperson) to describe his or her project goal or needs briefly. This way, I can figure out a plan that meets the individual’s needs.

• Whenever I do an “hourlong” session, I tend to be generous about what constitutes an “hour.”

• After sessions, I’m generous about doing follow-up. I send the client/student resource lists and help files, and I make myself available for post-session questions.

As a new student I thought I would ring in on free lessons.

Firstly it wouldn’t make for a new user to attempt to actually learn anything through a series of free sessions.. there aren’t enough tutors to really be able to do that.

It should be completely up to the specific tutor if they want to offer a free lesson. The goal of free lessons is more about getting someone hooked on the idea of edufire and not a specific tutor.

Perhaps a better feature would be a free language assessment by an edufire tutor. The student would receive feedback from the tutor and a baseline could be used for future tutors. The assessment could be regulated but always free (students would receive one for each language once every 6 months). This way they’re getting used to the idea of edufire and a tutor but not “gaming” the system.

On a side note you could even offer incentives to edufire tutors to do the assessments as well as create standardized tests.

Ok I think I’ve rambled on enough.

Has the idea of “How long may a session last?” been finalized? Personally, I’d like to be able to offer a ninety-minute session as well as a one-hour session, simply for flexibility. This ties in to a question I just posted on “How do I set up a 1:m class?”

Thanks!

Hi Tony! Here’s the link to set up 1:m classes.
http://edufire.com/classes/new

Tony, if you’d like to run a 1:M class let me know as I will run through some things with you. :)

Hi Tony! As for the ninety-minute question, what you can do is edit your profile, add a new subject and call it something like ‘creative writing 90 mins’ and set a new price.

An example of this can be viewed here :) click here

If you need any help, please let me know either here or you can message me. :)

Hi. I wanted to know if anything was decided on “giving free introductory lesson to new student”.

I’ve given 30 minutes free lesson in the past, and I find the first free lesson helps me assess the student’s level. Its also a great way for the students to experience what the class will be like.

Nothing has been ‘decided’ now though we’ve often discussed it. That isn’t to say that it’s been dismissed, nothing gets dismissed on eduFire! :) We’re in the process of rolling out some new features and I think some of them will take care of the ‘free introductory lesson’ need for those that want to do it.

Hi to everyone! I am elated by the discovery of so much energy and intellectual vitality within eduFire; it is really a new planet for me, and I am still exploring it at its basic level, now that I determined that there are real gems here…. Still too new to propose things, so let me just think out loud:
1. at first sight, I find the 10 min. free introduction a bit ‘cheesy’, like a bait. Why not admit a student, with requested permission of all parties, to ‘audit’ a lesson of someone else? …ONLY one lesson, due to the large audiences waiting to sample lessons…; is this technically workable?
I do not like ten minute things, no matter what they are…., I do not like them here or there, I do not like them any….
2. Instead of a free lesson, I would prefer to see a rebate toward the purchase or access to recommanded software that may/should/could accompany the course…. (v.b Quia.com LAB);
3. This proposed bonus could one day partially cover the purchase of manuals/interactive sofware provided by the instructor or by eduFire….
4; Or even better: why not institute a MEET ANOTHER TEACHER OPTION, where we can accept requests of other students for a 15 minute PERSONAL CHAT, where the students describes his/her goals, and the teacher describes his/her teaching philosophy with some practical applications….
Of course, the person talking here has not tried any of the above…..
ciao Silvio

Five days after my initial posting, I am trying to redefine my position, even if I didn’t have one:
1. By the way, great comments and great points of view! The one that stuck with me is Jarrad Anderson’s, a student (thank you Jarrad!): more than individual tutor’s methodology, students may question the whole online thing versus something else; they need to be reassured, or they have preconceived ideas that they put on the table…. This just happened to me in the last week; after corresponding with a businessman for a few days about getting started with eduFire, it turned out he was really looking for a face to face experience in a cafe’. He was also at a loss about his readiness for online work: thus, he can still be a client down the road…For now, I will meet him in a cafe’ (Craigs list contact). Jarrad also points out that the ‘free-riding’ is NOT what’s on the mind of the average beginner, and rightly so! Accepting these two premises, I conclude as follows, for myself, of course, and until otherwise collegially decided:
2. We all accept the principle of an initial discount or free short session. We rightly quibble about its length. Let’s keep it simple, as often requested:
A lesson is $20, and we spend part of the first lesson getting ‘oriented’; therefore a discount is proper and due. At the same time we are for sure ‘worth’ $10 an hour, no matter what; and if a student thinks that we are not worth being listened to for the balance of the hour for the $10, then I assume not to talk to that student. Here we go:
a. Students schelude the first session (1hr) knowing that it is HALF the price (for 1hr) for the reasons stated above;
b. Students are free to decide during the hour whether the program is for them and can ‘walk out’ early expressing politely what the are really looking for. Thus, the student geets a real orientation, and te teacher a real $10 (or whatever ‘half’ is) for the orientation and teaching, and everyone is happy;
c. the above, I think, meets the simplicity test and it’s sensible. The ‘fifteen-minute’ fans lose 15 minutes, the others had accepted 30 minutes; everyone gets paid for 30 minutes, free-riding is minimized, and the student gets both an orientation and a real lesson! ANY TAKERS???
ciao – silvio

I have tried virtual lessons before but find that the students take the free lessons, and keep taking free lessons, as they are under no obligation to do anything but attend, and they can smorgasbord happily away for as long as they wish, and the teacher works very hard to make the free lessons worthwhile for no return.

The idea of posting the free lessons taken by the student on their site, is an excellent way of seeing what the student has taken, and also how many. It is also marketing for the teacher to be listed on the students pages.

Is there a way of building into the system a way of the lesson cutting off after say 15 or 20 minutes for trials? I see Paypal has an option for trials…. have not looked into it, but that would be the way to do it….like the pay movies….cuts off when payment not done after a set period.
Maggi Carstairs