Yeah…. I heard that results aren’t great either! :P …. and I am not referring to the “Rock concert” obviously!

Too bad many of those teachers have their own platforms specifically for their own business. If only we could lure some of them!

Sean, I heard you’re looking for some French classes…. ;) Question: do you think you’d learn how to speak French in a class with 100 people and more? I’m curious to know…

I don’t think there’s any debate that 1-on-1 or 1-on-3 etc is better for learning, but of course, the cost to do that is higher. For language learning, I’m the first to admit that.

But…. the internet makes it possible to spend less money to take a larger class (while the teacher’s pocket doesn’t suffer). I’d argue that there are some teachers who do lectures really really well, and you learn a whole lot. Then there’s teachers that don’t pull it off well, and those teachers aren’t the ones with thousands of followers. I’m really excited for those really amazing teachers to finally be able to reach more people, and affect the world like they’ve never been able to before.

It’s like going to a U2 concert (if you’re into that sort of thing). Sure, a 1-on-1 concert with Bono would be pretty cool (and pretty expensive), but I’m also happy joining the crowd and paying a lot less for the experience. You do lose something by doing the crowd thing, but heck, it’s a U2 concert! Someday I hope celebrity teachers (like the ones in Korea) make their way to the rest of the world – not only does it bring awareness around education (and makes people excited to learn, which is so cool), but it also gives millions of people access to the best teachers in the world. Even if you dilute the attention of the best teachers in the world by having a lot of people in a class, it’s still an amazing (and educational) experience!

In regards to class size and teaching a different language: I’m certain there are some aspects of teaching someone a different language that can be addressed in larger class sizes. How ‘large’ these classes are in actual numbers is entirely up to the individual teacher. But I want to point out something that is very important now but will become even more so in the near future due to SuperPass. Your students will always look for value! And as I have said before, the true value of the services you offer is not always defined by lower price. But value will always be defined by the most economical way possible your student can learn subjects that he or she is working towards learning.

Now as I have stated, this doesn’t mean you open up conversational classes to groups of 50 – 100. This would be an hour of anarchy to say the least! But you can teach some larger classes that require less interaction between tutor and student. Now it may be that you as the tutor do not feel that the student learns as much or as quickly under such settings. However your student, if given the choice of learning the same subject matter in a less expensive setting, will choose the less expensive route the majority of the time. So in reality, it can benefit even established language tutors to try and find ways to incorporate larger class sizes offered at less expensive rates into their curriculum. Just make sure, as I stated before, that you plug your conversational and 1:1 classes as you teach your larger classes.

And if you think this amounts to way too much work for the tutor, rest assured that one of your competitors will be more than willing to put in the extra time.

I think that very large ‘classes’ or lectures could work for ancient languages if you did something like explaining particular points of grammar and then went through examples from ancient texts. These lectures could lead into smaller groups doing a collaborative translations to practice those grammar points and then into individual tuition to resolve any problems or go though a text of interest to a particular individual …… so the very large class could be part of a menu of options on offer from a tutor.

For Maths, it would certainly be possible to do a lecture demonstrating a technique to a large audience and from that to generate smaller groups to go through exercises together and individual sessions to clear up any problems …..

And ….. if a particular tutor preferred or was better at one of two of these types of teaching, while another preferred the other, they could team up and pass students round between them …..

Just thinking aloud …..

I agree totally with you Mair. The main thing I am trying to get across here is that tutors really do need to look at everything they do from the true value point-of-view. And this will be determined by the students in most cases.

I am a firm believer that tutors who can deliver quality for their students at the lowest possible price point will eventually become very successful regarding online learning. This doesn’t mean teachers should go broke as they chase students who always want things just a bit cheaper. It simply means that tutors should do research and find ways to increase value in everything they offer.

And by the way…. I really like the idea of teachers forming ‘partnerships’. I think eventually we will see this more and more.

Not only that, but there seems to be the concern that large classes will not allow for the interaction needed in some subjects. But just because interaction is sometimes needed doesn’t mean it always is.

Interesting posts above. Love this polite passion about topics.

I think the languages profs. on Edufire need not worry about having to teach to 1000+ student classes. If you look at the most profitable education markets in Asia, two of the most interesting businesses are cram schools (for test takers, huge classes) and conversation schools (small classes, personalized attention). They’re everywhere and both types of institutes coexist quite peacefully. However, at least in Asia, it’s quite rare to see both types of programs in one institute, but that seems to be what Edufire is aiming for with its platform. Anyway, for the language profs. out there, if history is any cue, huge Rock Star classes of 1000+ test-takers will generate more business for you—those same students will want to take your classes to actually learn the language.

Thanks for that perspective Andy, those are great insights. I do think that over time eduFire will likely divide into smaller classes and larger classes. Smaller classes (e.g., language conversation classes) will probably be conducted outside of SuperPass and the students will be charged higher amounts (e.g., $10/class). Larger classes will mostly be SuperPass and while teachers may only make a few dollars per student if they have 50-100 students per class they won’t mind much. :)

It’ll be fun to see how this plays out. The beauty (and challenge!) of an open platform like eduFire is that you really can’t predict where things will head.

There are courses that can be taught in a group but if we, teachers aim to make our teaching effective then i disagree to teach more than 20students online even face to face classes. The reason why i put up my own tutorial center here in the Philippines is for me to see my individual student , learning…. I am not perfect and i have limitations but I am proud to know that my students learn from me.
Yes interactive is needed in the class though not always.
My point is, 20 students in online class is too much. This is just my opinion……

Aubrey…. I do agree that, with a large number of students, it’s quite impossible to see their progress (for me, as a SL teacher, it’s imperative) and this is why I do favour one-on-one or very small groups…. this way I can give attention to each of my students.

SuperPass is indeed a good formula for lecture style classes in which a large number of students can attend. My concern though is that, if overtime eduFire will divide into smaller classes and larger classes (having the smaller ones conducted outside of SuperPass), there will be less and less students enrolling in small classes precisely because they won’t be able to use their SuperPass subscription…. c’est une lame à deux tranchants ….

Hey Lyne. That very well might be what happens (larger classes being SuperPass and smaller classes not being). However, I’m not sure why that’s a concern since it’s really no worse of a situation than what existed before SuperPass. In fact, I actually think SuperPass will lead to more people taking one-on-one and small a la carte classes because there’s a natural tendency for many people to, once they’ve been exposed to a great teacher, want to spend more time with that person in a smaller setting.

My inclination (and admittedly I’m biased) is that SuperPass will benefit all teachers regardless of the types of classes you teach.

Hi Jon…. Hopefully you’re right! I know there are some people who prefer to attend small classes…. :D I guess we shall see how things evolve soon….

Jon. You’re biased in favor of the huge classes with a zillion people. Admit it.

Enrique…. I suspect Jon of liking to be under the spotlight! :D And only huge classes with a zillion of people attending can fulfill this liking ! ;)

Can we keep this professional and informative? This isn’t the time or place, and you’re not serving your business nor your prospective students.

Thank you.

Enrique, I’m biased in favor of what works best for our teachers and students. Large classes tend to work great with SuperPass. Small classes with continue to work great even if many of them happen outside of SuperPass.

Jon! You have your view. I have mine. If I set my classes outside of Superpass, nobody will join. I GET REQUESTS EVERY DAY TO MAKE MY CLASSES SUPERPASS. And to have 6 students at $3+ is not good business for me.

Its your business Jon. There’s nothing I can do about it. Its your call. I’m just telling you….its affecting the small classes…..and teachers who hold these classes.

I HAVE NOTHING MORE TO SAY!!!

I hope Jon realized that not all tutors here sees the SuperPass as the demise of profitable tutoring here.

To those who feel the existence of SuperPass will hurt their other classes, we can’t know now. Maybe it will enhance the image of the 1×1 classes to the point that the many of the mass of students here covet smaller classes and are more willing to take them when they are monetarily ready. Just one possibility.

I sometimes cannot enter the registered superpass classroom,
How long (/how many hours) should I have to let myself enter the classroom after the registration?

Hi Suzu,

First of all do make sure that you’re time zone is set correctly in your profile. Once set all times you see on eduFire are in your local time.

Then after you have registered for a class go to your ‘My eduFire’ page and you’ll see a ‘Join Now’ link up to 30 minutes before the class is due to start.