Talk:Online tutoring

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Hello Antoine . The links to online tutoring services is a useful part of this article that would add value to someone searching for this content. This list does not exist anywhere so I could not link to it. In future, a separate content may be created providing this info but for now I believe it should be included. In addition, other Wiki articles have such links when they are of "encyclopedic" value. A list to educational institutions already exists on Wikipedia so this is not new info. If you have an idea how to ensure this is not spam or commercialization or to inject transparency into it please feel free to edit it. Let me know your thoughts.

As for the rest of the article, I will add more pedagogical info to interested tutors as soon as I complete my completeness research on this (more like gathering from info sources I have come to know over time).

I do not think it is a good idea to add links to website. This article is a magnet for all sort of spam and link should be added only if to provide verifiability. See also Wikipedia:External_links#Restrictions_on_linking. Tony 21:45, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I added an entry in the Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration. All parties should go there and discuss. Tony 20:41, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

• No they shouldn't. Requests for arbitration is a final step in resolving disputes, not the first. --jpgordon^∇∆∇∆ 07:47, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

How about linking to legitimate news stories that mention tutoring services in one particular paragraph, and using that as a source to list some significant known online tutoring companies? Queerwiki (talk) 00:41, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

An encyclopedia is not a web directory. I don't see encyclopedic value in adding these links -- and their grade of commercialness doesn't even matter. --Pjacobi 13:43, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Pjacobi,

Any quality encyclopedia will have references, including directory references. That is a basic function of encyclopedias.

The content of publicly edited encyclopedias like Wikipedia is often dubious. The content of such encyclopedias also simply reiterates what can be found in other primary and secondary sources. That makes their utility minimal.

The value of an online, publicly edited encyclopedia is, in fact, some of the directory references that are provided. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.183.73.36 (talk) 13:53, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

Unsigned user 131.1883.73.36, it's true that Wikipedia has serious defects, but then so does the Britannica. I did a paper comparing some 1811 version's articles with the current version. What I found was surprising, alarming, even. I didn't have to look far to find articles whose content had largely changed, in places directly contradicting. A number of reasonable, informative topics in the 1811 edition were gone, and, taking the space they freed, apparently, ones pandering to potential buyers -- uninformative blurbs about film stars, musicians etc. I find, in fact that there are certain topics, e.g., those whose public presentation is largely controlled by vested interests or sensational journalism, where Wiki is the simplest way to get a balanced picture without extensive research.

Regards

Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (talk) 15:04, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] POV

Perhaps this Wiki page isn't written by an online tutoring company, but the language reads like an advertisement. The vocabulary is manicured in ways of online educational professionals. (Not parents, students, professional credentialed classroom teachers, etc.) Phrases such as "with increased bandwidth students and tutors can now engage" and "a good online tutoring strategy may incorporate" are old, but academically PC chestnuts.

To be even-handed, shouldn't the Wiki page point out all the disadvantages of on-line tutoring, too? The lack of interchange with fellow students to solve problems? The great cost to parents? The outsourcing of teacher's jobs? The lack of commitment to a student's ongoing welfare (friends as long as the money lasts)?