美国网络家教网站蓬勃发展

It's a nightly dilemma in many households: A student hits a wall doing homework, and parents are too tired, too busy -- or too mystified -- to help.

许多家庭每天晚上都会遭遇这样的困境：孩子做作业时有道题不会，这时家长要么太累，要么太忙──要么也不会──总之帮不上忙。

Ordering up a tutor is becoming as easy for kids as grabbing a late-night snack. Amid rapid growth in companies offering online, on-demand tutoring, students can use a credit card to connect, sometimes in less than a minute, with a live tutor. Such 24/7, no-appointment-needed services can be especially helpful to students with tight budgets or tight time frames or those in remote areas.

而如今对孩子们来说，在线订购辅导服务正变得和拿点儿零食当宵夜一样容易。随着越来越多的公司提供按需定制的在线辅导，学生们用一张信用卡便可快速地接通一位在线家教，有时1分钟都不到就能连上。这类服务每周每天不间断运营，且无需进行预约，尤其对手头紧、时间急、住得远的学生来说很有帮助。

'All of a sudden, the world opens up to them,' says Michael Horn, executive director of education for the Clayton Christensen Institute, a San Mateo, Calif., education and health-care think tank.

加州圣马特奥教育健康智囊团Clayton Christensen Institute的执行董事迈克尔·霍恩(Michael Horn)如此评价：一瞬间，知识的海洋就向他们敞开了怀抱。

That said, the quality of on-demand scholastic support can be uneven, and the catch-as-catch-can approach to enlisting a tutor may not be best for struggling students who need sustained help. Sessions can bog down on technical glitches, and language barriers can cause problems on sites that rely on tutors from abroad.

话虽如此，这类按需定制的教学支持的质量却可能参差不齐，而且这些网站“招到一个是一个”的招聘老师的方式，对于需要长期辅导的学生来说也谈不上有多好。辅导课程还会因技术故障而中断，而在那些提供外教网站上，语言沟通方面的障碍也是一个问题。

Prices, ranging from about $24 to $45 an hour (and often prorated to the minute), are cheaper than what many skilled tutors charge in a student's home. And parents and students say the quick homework fix can ease stress and make evenings at home more peaceful.

这类服务的价格在每小时24美元到45美元之间（并通常按分钟计价），和许多有经验的上门家教相比要便宜。家长和学生也反映说，这种快速帮忙解题的服务减轻了不少压力，让晚上家里的氛围融洽多了。

Whenever Peggy Bennett of Dallas tried to help her 13-year-old daughter, Chloe Friedman, with her eighth-grade physics and algebra homework, 'we'd always end up bickering,' Ms. Bennett says, with Chloe often objecting that the teacher did it differently. 'It was a lose-lose situation.'

每当达拉斯的佩姬·本内特(Peggy Bennett)要帮她13岁的女儿克洛艾·弗里德曼(Chloe Friedman)做八年级物理和代数作业，到了最后俩人都会吵起来，克洛艾每次都说那不是老师讲的解法。本内特称这是个双输的局面。

Chloe says she was skeptical when her mom helped her sign up last month on Tutor.com, a New York City-based provider of on-demand tutoring. But after she logged on one evening for algebra help, a tutor, identified only by a first name and last initial, responded within a minute. Chloe says she was guided to figure out the answers, using text chat and an interactive 'whiteboard' that displayed their writing and calculations on a shared screen. After hearing nothing but typing for about 10 minutes, Ms. Bennett says she heard Chloe yell from the other room, 'They told me I did a good job!' Ms. Bennett adds, 'That was all that she needed.'

克洛艾说，一开始当她妈妈帮她在Tutor.com──一个纽约市的定制辅导网站上注册帐户的时候，她很怀疑这个网站能否帮上忙。但有一天晚上，她登上网站寻求一道代数题的解法，一个标注了姓氏缩写和名字的辅导老师不到一分钟就回覆了她。克洛艾说，她使用文本交谈，并在一块共享屏幕的白色书写板上写出运算过程，通过这种方式，她在指导下解出了答案。本内特说，只听敲击键盘的声音持续了十多分钟，接着克洛艾的房间里便传来一声欢呼：他们说我做对了！本内特补充道，这正是我女儿所需要的。

Chloe, who takes classes in dance, acting and singing, also uses Tutor.com on her smartphone at the dance studio between classes. She says she recently got help solving a math problem in less than 10 minutes.

克洛艾还学习舞蹈、表演和唱歌，课间休息时，她会在舞蹈教室里用手机登陆Tutor.com。她说她最近在网站的帮助下，不用十分钟就解出了一道数学题。

Ms. Bennett now lets Chloe use her credit card to extend her Tutor.com subscription whenever she needs help. So far, Chloe has spent $79.99 for up to two hours of tutoring. Tutor.com subscribers pay once a month for time used; unused minutes can be carried to the next month.

本内特已让克洛艾用信用卡延长了她在Tutor.com的订制时间。目前，克洛艾已花费79.99美元购买了两个小时的辅导时间；未用尽的时间可推到下个月继续使用。

Most sites enlist moonlighting or retired teachers, college professors or professionals with tutoring experience; most offer scheduled tutoring in addition to on-demand sessions. The most common users are middle- and high-schoolers, and college students taking basic courses.

多数网站都招聘兼职在校教师、退休教师、大学教授或者有家教经验的专业人士；除了按需定制的辅导之外，大多数网站还会按日程表提供家教课程。最主要的用户群为初、高中生以及接受基础课程的大学生。

About 95% of the 1,200 tutors available on Bangalore, India-based TutorVista are recruited from India, says C.S. Swaminathan, president of TutorVista, which was recently acquired by the London-based publishing and education company Pearson PLC. Tutoring sessions with its mostly U.S.-based customers are usually held via whiteboard and text chat, to reduce potential language difficulties, Mr. Swaminathan says. Still, students say, language barriers can sometimes slow communication, and grammar glitches can occasionally creep in.

TutorVista是一家位于印度班加罗尔的在线辅导网站，该公司已被伦敦培生教育出版公司(Pearson PLC.)收购。TutorVista总裁斯瓦米纳坦(C.S. Swaminathan)称其95%的员工招募自印度，而主要客户来自于美国，辅导课程通常会通过白板和文字聊天进行，以试图减少可能存在的语言沟通障碍。然而学生仍称语言障碍有时会使沟通过程变慢，偶尔还会有语法上面的问题。

Saira Sultan, an Irvine, Calif., college student, says the TutorVista tutors she taps several times a week for help with her English and math courses are pleasant and knowledgeable. She recently uploaded a business letter she had been assigned to write for her English class, and the tutor marked errors in the text and texted instructions on correcting verb tenses, rearranging paragraphs and rephrasing sentences to read more smoothly, Ms. Sultan says. The one-on-one edits have helped her learn to write more clearly, she says.

来自加州尔湾学院(Irvine College)的学生苏丹·西良(Saira Sultan)说，她每周都向TutorVista的老师请教好几次英语和数学课上的问题，而老师们博学而友善。她说，最近她的英语课要求写一封商业信件，她把作业上传到网上，辅导老师会标出错误、纠正动词时态，调整段落格式，并将语句梳理通顺。这种一对一的编辑帮助她的英文写作更加清楚明白。

The drawback, she says, is that communicating via text chat 'takes a lot of time.' Mr. Swaminathan says TutorVista can provide audio-chat sessions if scheduled in advance.

她说，缺点是用文本聊天来沟通“很费时间”。斯瓦米纳坦说用户可在TutorVista上预约视频辅导课程。

As with in-person tutors, knowledge levels and teaching skills can be uneven. Stephanie Dobbs of Los Angeles says one InstaEDU tutor who responded to her daughter Sarah's request for calculus help 'didn't know the material at all.' But Sarah, who uses the site two to three times a week, says it has so many tutors that switching is easy, and the convenience outweighs any drawbacks.

然而，那些辅导老师的知识水平和教育技能常常良莠不齐。洛杉矶的斯蒂芬妮·多布斯(Stephanie Dobbs)说她女儿萨拉(Sarah)在InstaEDU上找到的微积分家教“根本不了解这块知识”。然而Sarah每周却要上这个网站两三次，她说更换老师很容易，使用这个网站利大于弊。

An InstaEDU spokeswoman says on occasion, tutors can halt billing while they figure out the material, or students can be given refunds or a different tutor.

一位InstaEDU的发言人称，辅导老师有时会在审题时暂停计费，或者学生也可以要求退款或更换家教。

James Nickerson agrees that on-demand tutors need winnowing. When he turned to InstaEDU recently to help his 16-year-old daughter Emma with an advanced-Latin class (they couldn't find a skilled Latin tutor in their hometown of Stevens Point, Wis.), he didn't turn Emma loose online. Instead, he sat beside her while she chose a tutor, urging her to bypass a math major who claimed a sideline expertise in Latin in favor of a New York University grad student majoring in classics. He also helped her schedule sessions, to provide continuity with the same tutor.

詹姆斯·尼克森(James Nickerson)也认为这些家教需要经过一定的筛选。最近，他登入InstaEDU来帮她16岁的女儿艾玛(Emma)挑选高级拉丁语课程，他没有立刻放手不管，而是坐在一旁陪她一起挑选老师，要她别去选以拉丁文为副业的数学专业毕业生，而是选择纽约大学(New York University)古罗马文学专业的硕士毕业生。他还帮助女儿制定课程表，以便她能一直上同一个老师的课。

On-demand tutoring is just one of a growing array of online homework-help options. Khan Academy, one prominent example, offers interactive tutorials in addition to educational videos. Chegg.com provides answers to homework questions, while crowdsourcing sites such as StudyBlue enable students to share study guides, notes and flashcards.

按需定制的辅导只不过是正在发展的在线作业辅导产品的一小部分。举个例子，Khan Academy在提供教学视频的同时也提供交互式辅导课程。Chegg.com提供作业答案，而StudyBlue这样的众包网站则让学生可以分享讲义、笔记和学习卡片。

Some school districts pay New York City-based TutaPoint and other online-tutoring sites to provide free access to students; about 2,000 libraries let students use Tutor.com without cost. Free access to tutoring sites can help level the playing field for students from all income groups -- if they provide trained, qualified tutors, conduct background checks and safeguard users' security, says Nora Carr, president of the National School Public Relations Association, a professional group.

一些学区向总部位于纽约的TutaPoint和其他在线辅导网站支付费用，以便其学生能免费登录这些网站。约2,000家图书馆也供学生免费使用Tutor.com。专业组织全国学校公共关系协会(National School Public Relations Association)的主席诺拉·卡尔(Nora Carr)认为，这些举措可以帮助不同收入阶层的学生享受到更加平等的教育机会──前提是这些网站的辅导老师经过训练、具有职业资格，职业操守经过审查，并且网站能确保用户信息安全。

But the sites can also tilt the playing field in favor of kids with plenty of money for tutoring help, creating pressure for other students to have a tutor too. Parents should monitor kids' use of the sites and track fees, which 'can get very expensive very quickly,' says Ms. Carr, who is chief of staff of the Guilford County Schools in Greensboro, N.C.

卡尔说，然而富裕家庭的孩子登入网站寻求帮助，也会迫使其他学生寻找辅导老师，进而或也将加剧教育不平等。家长应当监督孩子对这些网站的使用，记录他们支出的费用，因为这些网站很贵，费钱速度也很快。卡尔也是格林斯博罗市吉尔福德郡学校(Guilford County Schools)的教员主任。

Yamini Naidu says online tutoring last year through InstaEDU helped her earn As in advanced-placement classes at her Beaverton, Ore., high school. Now a freshman at Yale University, Ms. Naidu works eight hours a week as an InstaEDU tutor.

俄勒冈州比佛顿高中(Beaverton High School)毕业生Yamini Naidu说，去年在IstaEDU在线辅导的帮助下，她在大学先修课上拿到了一串A的优异成绩。如今，她已是耶鲁大学(Yale University)的大一新生，并每周花8个小时在InstaEDU上提供在线辅导。

She says that students who come to sessions with a list of questions or assignments to work on -- and who block out time to concentrate -- benefit most. Text chats occasionally stall, though, if students are distracted or start multitasking; Ms. Naidu tries to re-engage students by asking questions to spark their interest, she says.

她说，最能从这些课程汲取知识的，是那些带着一串问题和作业题的学生，还有能够专心听课不顾时间的学生。然而如果学生分神或者做起别的事情，那么文字聊天就会拖延时间；她说她试图通过询问学生问题、激发兴趣来让他们重新专注于课程。

Bharathy Chummar of Plantation, Fla., turned to the online tutoring site Eduboard last summer to help her 15-year-old son Prajwal research possible science-fair topics. Prajwal had a 45-minute audio and text chat with a tutor, who is also a physician, about an idea involving bacteria. The doctor later sent him a research summary with links to more studies.

去年夏天，佛罗里达州普兰泰申的丘玛尔(Bharathy Chummar)登入了Eduboard在线辅导网站，来帮助她15岁的儿子普拉杰瓦尔(Prajwal)就科学展览会上的主题进行调研。普拉杰瓦尔与一位同为外科医生的兼职家教进行了45分钟的视频课程，并用文字进行对话，探讨了一个有关细菌的想法。之后，这位医生发给了他一份研究综述，内容包含了更多相关研究的链接。

Online tutors 'fill a huge gap that can never be filled by parents,' Ms. Chummar says.

丘玛尔说，在线家教“担起了一项家长永远无法担当的职能”。