There’s nothing quite like a leader who came up through the ranks. Katarina Allan, President of the Mount Saint Vincent University Students Union (MSVUSU), knows first hand what it is like to be a tutor and having to spend a considerable amount of time connecting with students and setting up course work.
Allan first started her own company, Katarina Allan Tutoring, in 2016. Then, when the MSVUSU first started with Nimbus, Allan signed on. Overall, as a tutor, she says the platform made her more efficient. It got rid of the back and forth to book a session, and provided an easy way to advertise her services.
Now, as President of MSVUSU, Allan takes on a bird’s eye view of the tutoring program and Nimbus’ role within it. She sat down with Nimbus to talk about using the platform to improve tutoring in university and her advice for new peer tutors.
What was your first introduction to Nimbus Learning?
I’m actually a professional tutor. I run my own company in Halifax, Katarina Allan Tutoring. I’ve been tutoring professionally since 2016.
When the MSVUSU got the Nimbus tutoring platform in 2020, I thought it made a lot of sense to apply. I was approved, and I found the platform works really well. It increases the efficiency of connecting with students and takes away a lot of that extra time that goes into booking and rescheduling sessions and all that stuff.
** To avoid a conflict of interest when administering the Nimbus program on the MSVU campus, Katerina no longer operates as a tutor on the Nimbus platform.
Do you feel the Nimbus platform made it easier to connect with students?
It’s easy to connect with students because they can find you in the app and send you a message. Tutors also make their times available right on the app. It takes away a lot of the back and forth, emailing questions about pricing, availability, or what courses you teach. Nimbus just sort of deals with all of that and streamlines it. It’s much easier that way.
It also makes payment processing way simpler. When I’m working with students off the Nimbus platform, I’m generating invoices and sales receipts and working through all of that. So there’s a bit of paperwork on either end. Sometimes, there’s situations where you have to go and ask someone to pay you or remind them because they’ve forgotten. With the Nimbus platform, that’s all taken care of ahead of the session — you don’t have to have those awkward conversations.
Has Nimbus made your program more efficient?
It’s much more efficient through the platform than it is to connect with them through other means. And I think it’s also more efficient for the student because, when they look for the course, they can select from the tutors available. They don’t have to spend time on Kijiji or in a Facebook group, trying to track down tutors. They also don’t have to purchase their tutoring service from a larger company where the tutoring rates tend to be a bit higher, and the amount that actually goes to your tutor is lower.
What do you find are the most useful features of the Nimbus platform?
The tutor profile, the in app messaging, and the scheduling and payment processing are the most useful ones. The tutor profile is really useful because it saves time on questions like, Are you able to tutor this class? If I was available, I could turn it on and then the answer is evident through the app. And if I tutored a class, the class is available and that’s evident through the app.
The tutor profile is also more efficient for the student because they can get a pretty good picture of what the qualifications the tutor has and what their price point is going to be.
One thing that I also find works really well is providing feedback to the Nimbus team, and having new features in the app developed.
How do you intend to use the Nimbus platform to continue to grow your tutoring program?
For the university and for our students, I’m really looking forward to increasing the visibility of the Nimbus tutoring platform on campus and increasing our course coverage. I’m continuing to onboard more tutors so we have that support available.
What tips do you have for tutors using the Nimbus platform?
Create a really thoughtful tutor profile and apply to teach as many courses as possible, because you can always turn them off if you’re getting busy. You’re more likely to get a student if you have more course coverage and more availability. Even if you couldn’t spend a full 10 hours tutoring in a week, if you have 10 hours available, put them on your profile. Then, once you have however many hours filled, you can adjust your schedule.
What tips do you have for tutors in general?
Tutors need to be able to say when they don’t know something — it’s really important. It doesn’t mean that you’re not doing a good job as a tutor. Honesty is pretty key there.
You also need to listen to your student and to what their different learning needs are. Being able to explain the same concept in five different ways back-to-back is a skill that you’re going to want to have because you’ll get to know your student, and you’ll get a more efficient view of what types of explanation will work with that student. By just repeating the same explanation you heard in class, it is not going to work.
You’re there to help them work with their situation. Everyone is capable, they may just need different learning strategies, techniques, and different amounts of time. In the lessons, sometimes people struggle, and it’s definitely helpful when a tutor can say something as simple as you know what, I see a lot of people with this issue. It’s not just you. Then there’s a sense of relief and you can move forward in a problem solving way. A lot of tutoring can be managing student anxiety. You never want to pretend you’re a counselor, because you’re not, but you can help bring that anxiety level down and help them learn better.
Finally, take notes for yourself so you remember, when you go to tutor that same student again, what worked last time. Start with what worked, and each session will get more and more efficient.
At Nimbus, we’re not just rooting for you – we’re actively working to help your program succeed. If you have any questions or are looking for support while recruiting more tutors (help drafting email campaigns, marketing materials, et cetera) we want to help! Connect with us today to learn more.
