Please read the tutor’s manual if you would like to host discussions or correct writing at LingQ.
You will find it here.
http://lingqcentral.lingq.com/faq/
We will be improving how the system works. I cannot stress enough that it is important to do a good job. People are paying with points for the chance to talk to you or have their writing corrected. If you do not do a good job you cannot expect people to come back.
If you have questions do not hesitate to ask here on the forum.
I just realized that this link may not work. Please check out the manual at my blog.
I realize that making everyone a potential tutor has raised the question of quality. I have confidence in the quality of our members. I will also try to book a discussion with every new tutor in his or her language so that we can exchange ideas about tutoring, and just to make sure that the sound quality is up to our standard.
Some general thoughts may be helpful. A tutor is just one of the many resources available to a learner. We can spend hours listening, reading and reviewing words and phrases on our own. The time we spend with a tutor is more limited, and the impact on our learning is more limited. It is important not to rely on a tutor, but to rely on our own efforts.
To me the most important qualities for a tutor at LingQ are:
good command of his or her native language
ability to converse on a number of subjects
ability to draw out the learner, and let the learner do most of the talking
pleasant personality that encourages and stimulates the learner
sympathy for the position of the learner
a thorough discussion report
Not all tutors will have all of these qualities to the same extent. Therefore it is a good idea to experiment with a few tutors.
I think the issue of quality is a legitimate one, and I agree with your list of needed qualities. They are not easy to find, however. Actually, I guess they are reasonably rare…
I see your point about the lower relative importance of the tutor in the whole process, but be aware that most people, on the contrary, (still) see the tutor as a central figure for learning. So I guess you’ll need some way for the community itself to assess tutors’ quality, maybe something more or less like those systems found in sites like ebay. As a first coarse idea, I’d suggest that after any conversation or writing correction, the learner would be invited to qualify and/or comment on that “transaction”. These comments could then become part of everyone’s profile, or at least of the profiles whose owners agreed to make this information public.
I am sorry not to agree with you Ana, I find that most my tutors at LingQ, including, and especially, your good self, meet these qualifications.
We should incorporate some kind of evaluation system or at least a “favourite” system. We would want to avoid any cranky negative comments on people’s profiles.
I would like to echo the idea that tutor-as-central-figure is a much more common perspective than tutor as one of many resources. It is human nature to fixate a little on a charismatic authority figure. rather than make the language and culture itself the center of your learning. I think the latter is the better way.
Many of us learners and tutors.
How about a tutor evaluation form that would got to support only. We could refund money to the learner and deduct points from tutor, at our discretion, if negative reports start to accumulate.
Your thoughts please.
Sample form:
This tutor
a) did not meet my expectations,
b) met my expectations,
c)exceeded my expectations
in the following areas
sound quality
got me talking
helpful and encouraging
discussion report
writing report
missed or canceled discussion at last minute
additional comments
Many of us are learners and tutors.
How about a tutor evaluation form that would got to support only? We could refund money to the learner and deduct points from tutor, at our discretion, if negative reports start to accumulate.
Your thoughts please.
Sample form:
This tutor
a) did not meet my expectations,
b) met my expectations,
c)exceeded my expectations
in the following areas
sound quality
got me talking
helpful and encouraging
discussion report
writing report
missed or canceled discussion at last minute
additional comments
Sound quality can be a learner issue. Otherwise looks ok.
That all sounds fine with me. On another note, is there any way you can fix it so I can see my own discussions on the Speak page? I always want to make sure that the discussion times are really posting. I would appreciate it! 
“How about a tutor evaluation form that would got to support only? We could refund money to the learner and deduct points from tutor, at our discretion, if negative reports start to accumulate.”
Steve,
I hope that you just refund money to the learner at your discretion without deducting points from the tutor: unpopular tutors will disappear owing to the unpopularity itself.
Transaction costs should be shared among three parties, that is, among the management, tutor, and learner.
“I realize that making everyone a potential tutor has raised the question of quality. I have confidence in the quality of our members.”
I agree with Steve on that.
I did not know this is Tutor Forum.
@ Jillisa - That is on our list. For now, you can still see your own times on the Calendar page.
OK. Thanks, Mark.
I think it would be good to have a tutor evaluation because everyone is now allowed to tutor.
Sound quality could be told directly to the tutor, I think. Sometimes there are problems with Skype that influence the sound quality.
I think LingQ should show the “last login” of users that students can decide if it makes sense to submit writings to a tutor. If a tutor does not move to LingQ regularly he maybe is no longer active. And it could be annoying for a student to wait very long for a writing correction.
“I think LingQ should show the “last login” of users that students can decide if it makes sense to submit writings to a tutor”
That is brilliant. I think it would encourage more participation generally.
That’s a good suggestion Vera. We will add this to the profile.
Thank you. I’m glad that you like my suggestion.
I like VeraI’s suggestion. I once submitted writings to a tutor who left LingQ.
It will be nice to know who is active before submitting essays.