Tag: save time

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.

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In this article:

  • A global survey of 2,000 knowledge workers found 68 per cent of workers toggle between apps up to 10 times in an hour
  • 31 per cent of workers say this constant switching of apps can cause them to lose concentration.
  • A look at how Nimbus centralizes everything you need to run your tutoring or mentorship programs
  • Thanks to the time saved with the Nimbus platform, 60% of our partners were able to expand current or launch new success services since partnering with Nimbus

Apps are great. From data collection to managing the schedules of many different people at once, apps consistently promise to make our lives easier – and for most of our needs, they do just that. However, each app that solves a problem adds to the litany of programs that we must keep track of and integrate into our work ecosphere. Information produced by each app also needs to be integrated with the information produced by other programs which can be a time consuming process.

Surveys have shown that the constant switching between apps costs us valuable time and risks knocking us off track. Instead, institutions looking for ways to increase productivity should consider centralizing apps and programs onto one platform.

Data show the constant switching between apps costs valuable time

A global survey of 2,000 knowledge workers found 68 per cent of workers toggle between apps up to 10 times in an hour, with 31 per cent admitting this constant switching of apps can cause them to lose concentration.

This constant switching between apps and other programs is also annoying, with 52 per cent of respondents saying they found it more annoying than paying bills.

But all is not lost. A majority of respondents (67 per cent) said bringing most of their apps onto one platform would help them develop a better workflow, with 65 per cent also saying it would help them become more productive.

Read more at “App Overload is Creating Chaos at Work and Costing Businesses Billions” by Ring Central.

Nimbus centralizes recruitment, scheduling, program tracking & analytics and reporting

The Nimbus Learning platform offers a seamless experience for administrators, with everything needed to run your tutoring or mentorship program in one spot.

The Nimbus platform carries the following features:

  • Recruitment: Tutor Vetting and Interviewing
  • Scheduling: Making schedules around tutors class and work schedules
  • Program Tracking: Timesheets, Hour tracking
  • Program Analytics
  • Surveying and reporting

The Nimbus team also follows a software as a service model, where we continue to work with and support our partners even after the Nimbus platform is up and running at their institution. Depending on the institutions needs, Nimbus offers tutor management support, including recruitment, interviewing, vetting and training.

We also offer marketing support and customized branding, to ensure your program hits the ground running.

The results of centralizing your program with Nimbus

Our results speak for themselves – interviews with our partners show the Nimbus Platform allows them to:

  • Improve data collection processes so staff have access to more data, while spending less time collecting it.
  • Reduced the day-to-day administrative process, and reduced staff workload by 53%
  • With this time saved 60% of our partners were able to expand current or launch new success services since partnering with Nimbus (ex. Mentorship programs, group facilitated study etc.)

Get in touch with us to learn more about how we can help!

Education A-Z is a tutoring company offering a variety of educational services to students of all ages in the greater Montreal area, from elementary school through university level. They offer one-on-one, private tutoring, specifically tailored to each student’s unique learning style and needs.

Their goal is not only to improve school grades, but to foster confidence, independence and life skills to better the lives of their students.

This week, we spoke to Alysha Zackon, the co-founder of Education A-Z and a tutoring savant about the importance of pairing the right tutor to students in need and her goals for this year.

What is your role in this company?

I am the co-founder of Education A-Z, as well as one of its tutors. My main job is finding, introducing potential instructors into our philosophy and approach to tutoring and learning, and ultimately matching the right tutor for each student. We are looking for tutors who have the right blend of domain knowledge, social skills, reliability, adaptability and love of teaching.

Why were you interested in working with us?

When I first heard about Nimbus, I immediately recognized its potential to benefit our clients and our business. Nimbus offers an outstanding platform that provides a much-needed service in Montreal. It is especially important today for teachers to be able to give students the full range of available sources for help in learning. This includes access to the best extra help that many students need. Nimbus is an excellent platform for the type of partnership needed between Education A-Z, our clients and our tutors.

What are your program’s goals for this school year?

We aim at matching students with the best educators to help them learn content in an enjoyable and relatable manner. We also help them prepare for tests and examinations by teaching both context and test-taking strategies that minimize test stress. We want our students to gain a strong grasp of content that will carry over to their more advanced classes and different contexts. Most importantly, we believe that we can teach our students effective learning strategies that they can adapt and use their entire life.

While these goals have not changed, the current pandemic has educational and social impact on the way students learn, and the ways we can assist their learning; Education A-Z has adapted to this new challenge.

What role do you hope Nimbus can play in helping you reach your goals?

The importance of matching the student with the right tutor cannot be underestimated.

Nimbus will make it easier for students to find the specialized educational services they need. It will help us pair students with their most suitable tutor based on a variety of factors.

Nimbus also facilitates the scheduling process; both the client and the tutor can spend less time scheduling and more time on education.

Have you changed your approach to tutoring/teaching due to COVID?

While our teaching philosophy and goals have not changed, we will be leveraging technology more than ever to adapt to these unprecedented times. As many of our students are opting for online learning, environment, we will be strategically using various features of video calling platforms. We will also be adapting our methods to make the tutor/student interaction as engaging on-line as it would be face-to-face. This way, we will be able to provide a safe solution without compromising the quality of teaching and learning.

What advice do you have for tutors as they navigate the pandemic?

Tutors should avail themselves of the latest technological solutions and online learning tools. They should also be aware of, and adapt to, the particular limitations of not learning in face-to-face interactions. If they are tutoring students in person, they should adhere to social distancing guidelines.

What advice do you have for students as they begin school with COVID in mind?

First and foremost, follow your school’s safety regulations closely. This is your time be super-heroes and heroines and protect those around you. Take pride in the fact that your actions will contribute to our society’s success.

Keeping up with the demand for your tutoring program can be difficult – Nimbus can help. With our help, program administrators reduce their workload by 52%, which has allowed 60% of our partners to expand current or add new student success programs. Our dedicated team can help inform you (and your student interns) on where to focus your marketing efforts, and can even provide custom materials and strategies to ensure your program success.

Get in touch with us to learn how we can help!