Until we can set up a more automated tutor evaluation system, please email me at steve(at) lingq.com with any problems. We will refund points to learners if the complaints are justified.
"I think LingQ should show the “last login” of users that students can decide if it makes sense to submit writings to a tutor. "
I think this is a good suggestion, but I don’t want my “last login” time shown on my profile page. I hope it is shown only on the pages of the members who want to do tutoring.
If the tutor is studying another language, you can look at his or her profile to see the activity in the past seven days. You can also post on the tutor’s wall and ask, “Are you still active as at tutor?” I have done this.
Are you still active AS a tutor?
Are there any privacy issues with having last login displayed? Do any other websites do this?
I think the idea is to have tutors put up a sign, a light or something to say that they are available, and it would have to be renewed every day or so. Those tutors who are active should then appear on a list. I.e. they are in their office.
Just a thought.
I don’t see what the issue is with displaying the last login date. I don’t see any privacy concerns here. Yutaka, why don’t you want that to display. Also, making it the tutor’s responsibility to identify that they are active is going to mean a lot of willing tutors will not do this and will not be shown in the list.
On Skype and Facebook they let you see only your Contacts or Friends’ last login or current online status.
I’m with RQ. Being active as a learner or on the Forums is better indicator than merely being logged in. Perhaps the word “Active” can be automatically displayed on the profile on that basis.
Oops, the Activity score is already there. Maybe that it is just a matter of making people notice it, or otice who is on the Forums, when choosing a tutor.
Let us take the example of Zerimeri, an excellent tutor of Italian who does not use the site for learning. Her response time is excellent.I know she is active because she is offering discussions. Adelberto is more active as a learner and also offering discussions. I think I would alternate my writing between the two of them.
The same in Russian. Rasana is more active as a learner, but Ilya and Lyudmila are both very responsive tutors who offer discussions. I alternate my writing discussions among them. I am not likely to go to their profile. I just know they are there because they have discussions. I do not know who has the time to correct my writing at any given time. If I do not get a quick response from one, I just resubmit to another.
My concern is really more the following:
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Some correctors do not do a thorough job. I would like to review corrections with some of our correctors. If people are unhappy with a writing correction I do not mind hearing about it. The possibility of a tutor grabbing someone else’s has now been eliminated so we can stop talking about it.
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Tutors who cancel suddenly create problems. We have had a few problem recently. I would like to hear about this so I can talk to
the tutors involved, -
If some tutors do not do a good job on discussions, do not keep the conversation going, or do not provide a good report, are are not serious, I would like to hear about it.
Eventually these issues should be handled by some kind of evaluation system so that tutors have to earn their way onto an honour list or favourites list.
Mark,
I wonder who is interested in my last login time, and the information on my profile page is unnecessary for myself.
From up thread,Vera wrote:
“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.”
Sorry. I have to remember that this is Tutor Forum.
I think there are many indicators for activity already. If a tutor offers conversations they are active, the activity score shows if they are active learners. If they offer writing correction they should perhaps point this out in their profile too if they are not active learners as well.
The wall also shows a certain rate of activity, contacts with learners.
I wouldn’t mind having the last login “date” displayed, but certainly not the time, because time patterns can be critical (!!!). Our daily rhythms are an issue anyway and can be followed by certain people. Also employers could become aware of how much time members spend on the LingQ website, you never know.
The possibility of resubmitting writing to another tutor is enough, I think to ensure speedy corrections.
What about holidays? If a tutor needs a break, goes on holiday, do they have to write about this on the forum? I wouldn’t. You can see that they don’t offer conversations for some time. As for writing submissions, you can write about this in the first line of your profile. I always look at the profile of tutors before I submit writing or sign up for a conversation. But don’t forget to remove the warning when you are back, or you won’t get writíng submissions for a long time :)))
The more people offer writing correction the easier it will be for learners to move their submission to another tutor if they are kept waiting (maybe longer than 48 hours).
As some of you have mentioned, the Activity Score is an indicator, although it doesn’t work for those who tutor but don’t study. Some are concerned about the last login time displaying. Theoretically, the fact that a tutor has a language selected for writing correction shows that they are active but we know that many will not remove this language when they are no longer interested in correcting. By the way, Reinhard, if you are going away, you can just change your writing corrector language to none. I don’t think you need to write anything in your profile.
Perhaps the answer, in addition to currently available indicators mentioned above, is to have the corrector “accept” the writing when it is submitted by clicking on a link in the email that goes out. If they accept it within 12 hours, they can correct it, otherwise the student is emailed and asked to choose a new corrector.
I am interested in becoming a tutor here and correcting student writing. My question is this: are tutors required to host conversations as well? I have a small child and I don’t feel it would be realistic for me to make the commitment to be available at a set time, as enjoyable as I think the task would be.
I am a state-certified foreign language teacher with 13 years of experience. I have also taught journalism for many years and so I am used to helping learners revise writing assignments. I also have experience working with English language learners. I think I would enjoy working with language learners here.
Hi numby, you can do that but the past shows that students prefer to submit writings to tutors who offer and show other activities. There are so many tutors who offer writing correction that students develop criterias how they chose a tutor. Here is my advice:
- Fill out your profile.
- Be active on the forum.
- Create content for the library.
- Think about offering conversations.
The last point is important for me. I’m a member since two years, and I submitted a lot of writings, but all of them to tutors to whom I have been speaking before.
numby,
I think advanced learners would love to have an experienced teacher correct their submissions.
Vera’s advice is good advice. The learners choose their tutors and the tutors they want to correct their writing. The more you are in evidence, the more likely you will attract learners. But you can certainly just offer writing correction.
If you describe your background in your profile, occasionally comment on the Forum, host even one discussion once a week or so, and go as far as to create some content for the library, you will attract learners.
Why not write and record a few short articles on what you think is important on English writing, for example?
Sorry, that was me, I forgot I was in another account!!