Virtual or In-Person Tutoring: Does it Matter?

March 2026
Deborah White 

Q: Did you check your mail?

• Answer 1: Yes, I looked in the slot but there was nothing there.
• Answer 2: Yes, I walked down the block but had forgotten the key and came back for it. There was nothing there anyway.
• Answer 3: Yes, I drove to the post office and opened my little box. Nothing there.

Clearly, that wasn’t what the question was asking. We are in need of a retronym, “a new term created from an existing word in order to distinguish it from the meaning that has emerged through progress or technological development.” Is that a great word, or what?

So what should we say instead, if we really meant it in the old way? Did you check your snail mail? Because now we have a more likely candidate: email.

Here is another example: Now it’s not enough to say you’re taking a class. You have to clarify if you’re taking an online class or an in-person class.

GO Tutor Corps has begun an online tutoring program, and we are eager to see it succeed.

Of course, one huge advantage of online tutoring is that you don’t have to be in the same place as the tutee. I heard about someone tutoring a person in Qatar the other day. From my limited perspective, it might just as well have been on the moon.

Virtual tutoring can be tricky, so one thing to strive for is making the online experience as effective as possible. Here are my tips and tricks:

• Learn the students’ names right away. Ask them if they like their name, how it was chosen, etc. Always address them by name.
• Make it seem like you’re looking into their eyes whenever possible (something I’ve been working on now that I know about the little white light at the top of my monitor). Of course you have to look away to consult notes or whatever, but keep up the virtual eye contact. Make the student feel you’re paying attention to them, wherever they may be.
• Make sure your voice is pitched properly and at a good volume. One of my regrets is not taking voice lessons when I was younger, because my voice is distinctive and not very nice (my assessment). 
• And as for the student, you might have to work with them so that you can hear them, even above background noise. I usually have to tell them to put the mic closer to their mouth.
• Remember little things about the student and bring them up at subsequent sessions. “Oh, right, you’re the one who likes to multiply the base times the height and then divide by 2 instead of multiplying ½ times the base times the height.” I know it seems hokey, but you’d be surprised. I had an algebra student once who was really good at factoring quadratic trinomials, and I dubbed him the Factor King. “Oh, the Factor King sees a way to do it!” He loved it.

Of course, these techniques are fully applicable to in-person tutoring as well. 

I have had some online tutoring experiences in which the student and I did not make a real connection, and I’ve had others in which I would have sworn we were together in person. Since online tutoring is here to stay, our best bet is to do it as well as possible.

This spring I have an 8th grader, N, who lives in New York City and is an excellent student. I always ask the students a few personal questions when we first meet:

• Have you always lived in ____ ?
• Do you play a sport?
• Do you play a musical instrument?
• Are you a gamer?

N said she plays basketball and flag football. As a sports nut, I asked her if she follows the WNBA. She does, and her sister has season tickets! She herself had been to a game and bought a Sabrina Ionescu jersey. So I just had to show her my Brianna Stewart FunkoPop. This cracked her up and that sealed the deal. The idea of an old lady collecting Stewie stuff? I don’t exactly recall what she sent in the chat, but it was something like “UR so funny,” and when I told her what an excellent student she is, she responded by writing how much she liked working with me.