Listen to this articleBelow is our recent interview with Sue Lee, Head of Growth of Gooroo. Sue Lee is the Head of Growth at Gooroo, a tutoring membership that matches students to tutors perfect for them
Q: For those who haven’t heard of it, what is the best way to describe Gooroo?
A: Every child learns differently, and today’s education system doesn’t accommodate for each student’s specific learning struggles. Gooroo is a tutoring membership that matches students to tutors perfect for them based on their unique learning needs. Members have access to Gooroo tutors who are experts in over 300 subjects, all in one place. Gooroo provides students and parents with continuous feedback, progress reports, and a designated support team who’s there to guide them through their learning journey.
Q: What’s wrong with the current tutor matching system?
A: The current tutor matching system makes it difficult and tedious for parents to find a great tutor for their children. Parents need to go through various channels such as newspaper listings or referrals to first find potential tutors. They are further burdened with reviewing qualifications and interviewing potential candidates. This all can take several weeks, which means less time for the students to begin learning. In the end, there is no assurance that the tutor that was chosen was the right fit. Then, the process has to start all over again.
Recommended: An Interview With The Founder & CEO Of ZeroBounce, Liviu Tanase
Gooroo’s solving this by doing the heavy-lifting for parents. Our tutor verification team goes through the time and effort to carefully review every Gooroo tutor. We have a rigorous vetting process so that parents feel assured that they are getting the best tutor for their students. We do an initial application screen to ensure that tutors have at least 2 years of formal tutoring experience, meet the minimum academic requirements (test scores, G.P.A., etc.), and are confident in teaching students one-on-one. From there, we invite tutors to come in for an in-person interview with our team. We use this time to learn more about the tutor’s unique teaching style and approach. Gooroo also background checks all of our tutors. Lastly, we stand behind every Gooroo tutor, which is why we provide parents with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. If it isn’t a great fit, we are committed to making it right. We’ll provide the student with a new tutor, and the new session with the new tutor is free, on us. We rarely ever have to do this because almost 99% of our matches are perfect the first time.
Q: What are the benefits of one-on-one sessions? Is it better than group sessions?
A: Gooroo focuses on one-on-one tutoring sessions. With one-on-one lessons, tutors are able to cater to each student’s unique needs. This goes hand in hand with how we strive to match a student with a tutor based on their specific learning needs and goals. Many of our students prefer one-on-one sessions because they sometimes feel like they cannot keep up in class or group sessions.
One-on-one lessons allow students to feel open to ask questions they don’t completely understand. It allows tutors to tailor the lesson specifically to what the student has been struggling with. It’s a more hands-on approach so that the tutor can see the student’s specific progress and assess the student’s strengths and weaknesses. That way, each lesson is personalized to what the student needs to focus on.
Q: How exactly does Gooroo work? Can you walk us through your process?
A: Our online platform handles everything for the parent and makes it convenient for them by keeping everything in one place. Parents can go to our website to submit a request for a tutor. The platform will ask specific questions about the student such as subject needs, topics he/she needs help with, learning style, learning pace, and more. It will also ask for the student’s availability and location. Our matching algorithm will then show two tutor matches that fit the desired criteria. Parents are able to review the tutors’ profiles which include important information such as the tutors’ educational backgrounds, biography, parent testimonials, and relevant teaching experience.
Once a parent decides on the tutor, they can simply enroll in Gooroo’s membership directly on the website. Gooroo works on a membership basis to encourage regular learning. All of our students have lessons at least once a week. Our system handles all payment and billing, which makes it easy for both our parents and tutors to pay and get paid.
Recommended: Meet Intro30 – The First Impression Company, Where Candidates Introduce Themselves With 30-Second Videos
Q: What is the best thing about your platform that people might not know about?
A: One thing many people don’t know about Gooroo is that we have an extensive learning dashboard that provides insights on each student. After each session, tutors provide immediate feedback to let both the parents and students keep track and stay on the same page. Tutors provide a session recap to give a big-picture overview of what topics were covered. Additionally, the feedback includes the current learning focus along with advice on how the student can improve even more. Lastly, tutors always include a set a gameplan of what the next lesson will look like. We log all of this online so that parents and students can easily reflect on each session. We also include information on the student’s preferred learning method, pace, and soft skills (tenacity, curiosity, communication, and organization).
