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Grant Gregus · April 22, 2021

What is peer-to-peer tutoring and how does it work?

For ages students have turned to certified tutors to get the academic help they need. We’ve relied on professional teachers or those who have studied specific subjects at a specialized level to help with our academic needs.

The good news is that education is an ever-changing industry. We no longer need to rely on professionals or certified tutors to help us during our studies. That is why we created SocraTeach, a great complementary option for those who are looking for a non-traditional way to get extra help on their daily academic (or even non-academic) struggles!

Note that with peer-to-peer tutoring through SocraTeach, you don’t have to sacrifice the quality of help you need. In fact, you can be even pickier about your tutor to ensure that you are receiving the best help possible in the subject you are struggling with.

What is peer-to-peer tutoring?

Peer-to-peer tutoring leverages the idea that even at the same level of education, everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Instead of having to find someone with a specialized background to help you, you can simply request assistance from a peer who is more comfortable or well versed in the specific subject you struggle with. This is similar to when you were in grade school and you helped your friend in math, and they helped you in science because you were both strongest in those subjects.

We all have our strengths and weaknesses when it comes to education; peer-to-peer tutoring utilizes this fact and allows us to bank on our personal assets while recognizing that it is okay to still need help in other subjects.

Are there different types of peer-to-peer tutoring?

Peer-to-peer tutoring is simply not relying on an advanced professional or certified tutor to assist you with problems or misconceptions that you might be having. Because this is so broad, many things can qualify as peer-to-peer tutoring. You may already be partaking in the peer-to-peer concept without even knowing it! Ahead, we look into the different types of peer-to-peer tutoring.

One example of peer-to-peer tutoring is putting up fliers around your college that specifically target other students your age, to give or receive help on a specific subject or course. Perhaps there are students in the year above you who have already taken the course you are struggling with. This allows a great opportunity to get help from someone who has most likely already mastered the content you need to learn.

Another form of peer-to-peer tutoring can be study groups. When you get together with friends or classmates who are taking the same courses as you, or those in the same program as you, you are participating in peer-to-peer tutoring. This is a great way to learn from your peers as they share their understanding of course material while also addressing misconceptions. Through study groups, you can also get to know your peer’s strengths and weaknesses better, and over time find specific subject/course areas where people can start offering more specialized help.

Because we are living in the great age of technology, new forms of peer-to-peer tutoring are popping up. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that we can still maintain connections through technology, even when we are unable to meet up in person. This sparked the idea that perhaps we can create an app that allows students from all over the world to help each other in ways that were previously thought of as impossible.

What is SocraTeach?

SocraTeach has paved the way for this new type of peer-to-peer tutoring. We’ve created a simple, lightweight, and easy-to-use dating-style app that allows both tutors and students to help and get help on the fly.

Simply take a photo of the problem or concept you are struggling with and upload it to the app. Then, in true dating-app style, those looking to help you will swipe through all available problems uploaded by their peers. When a problem or concept pops up that teachers can help with, they can swipe right to send a teaching offer to the student. If the student accepts the offer, a live problem-solving session can be scheduled!

SocraTeach leverages the fact that teachers have seen what the student is struggling with ahead of time, and thus the live sessions are meant to be short and straight to the point. The idea is that by allowing teacher’s to see the content in advance, they can prepare on their own time leading to significantly streamlined sessions and a much more efficient utilization of the teacher’s and student’s time.

It’s time to take your schedule back into your own hands, and SocraTeach can help by providing live and streamlined tutoring to help with your specific needs.