I think an improvement would be to show a demonstration of the online classroom. I think I have figured out a way to add one to my website so that students could see what to expect. This would be an improvement to the website as it offers information in a non-text format and could show the power of the online classroom.
I have updated my website. I added another demonstration, changed the text somewhat and added a letter of recommendation. I have described my teaching method and updated the pricing tab to include the new charges for offline work.
I made several improvements to the web site. I took a look around at what the other companies were doing and used a common sense approach. I improved the blog as much as I could making it better organized and making it easier for people to leave comments. I took feedback from a few people. I think I’m set up okay now for feedback, which I find really helpful to improve things.
I think now I can leave the site the way it is. It will need to be managed, but I don’t think I have to concentrate on it anymore.
I think I will turn my attention to advertising.
Thinking about all the possible things I could do next, I realized that improving the web site was where I should be putting my efforts. For, if I advertise locally or globally the potential student still has to go to the site to decide if they want to contact me about the service.
I’ve improved the tutoring system to where it is now. Any further improvements will come through feedback from my students.
I just added the recording of the class I did with my new student to my webpage. I think I only need one good demonstration so that the potential students can see how the teaching process works. It replaces the demo I did with my Dad. It fits really well on my services page and I think this will help me attract more students. I think it is a good improvement to the website. It shows exactly what the student would be going through while being taught.
I just recorded, edited and posted a new demonstration on the website. I think I’m going to stick to the old software I was using before, but use the whiteboard feature of the new software that I found recently. I have to do one more run through with my dad to see if I can set it up as good as possible for my next student.
Then I think that will be it for improving the interactivity. I think I’ve got it about as good as I can get it. The further improvements will come as I’m moving along with students.
I just added the whiteboard demonstration to my services page. The demonstration is not bad, but I will replace it with a better one once I have one. I have to see how the student will write back to me yet. I’m hoping to see that soon.
I just purchased some new software which should really improve the interactivity. It has a whiteboard which contains all kinds of writing tools like drawing lines, an eraser, drawing circles, drawing rectangles. You can add text or mathematical symbols. It has a pointer feature and a highlighter. As well I can screen capture also, so I can still use my graphing program to display graphs and I can still display the contents of electronic books. It captures and displays the video of both teacher and student in a much easier fashion than I had previously. Additionally, both student and teacher can write in the same area.
I tried it out with my Dad before buying it and I will make a demo with him which I can display through the website in a couple of days.
I’m thinking of asking for a 50 dollar refundable deposit on the tablets. Once I get the tablet back, I will send back the cheque. I think that is reasonable to ask for. They are worth about that much.
I just finished doing an online demo with my Dad. It worked out great! The back and forth writing process works quite well. There is a little delay, but it is quite manageable. The conference call feature worked really well, I’ll use that when I try to make a recording with students.(after I get their permission). But this recording with my Dad shows pretty much everything I’m doing. I’ll edit it and put it up on my website today(hopefully). But there should be no problem to do that. Then potential students and parents will be able to see more clearly what I’m trying to do.
Now I think I should turn my attention to advertising.
I took the new tablet over to my Dad’s and hooked it up okay to his xp system. Tommorrow at 10 I’ll try to make a demonstration that I can post to the website so that the potential students can see how the process of writing back and forth works.
I am impressed with this little tablet. It works really well on both my vista and my Dad’s xp. The smaller writing area does not seem to handicap it for what my purpose is and getting one with less area saved me about 25 dollars on the purchase price. I’m glad I found this place in Markham that stocks these tablets.