Online Tuition: Fewer Chances to Spread Infections

Fully online tuition lets students learn with a tutor without sitting in the same room. That removes one setting where infections such as flu and COVID-19 could pass between people. The teacher and classmates meet on screen, with each person joining from home.

The benefit applies in an ordinary school week. Children can ask for help, explain an answer and hear classmates' questions from their own study space. The family keeps a live lesson in the timetable while avoiding the extra face-to-face contacts involved in attending a class.

What changes when people learn from separate homes?

Singapore's Communicable Diseases Agency explains that both flu and COVID-19 spread mainly through droplets and small particles from an infected person. These can enter the air during conversation, coughing, sneezing or singing. Touching a contaminated surface and then the eyes, nose or mouth is another possible route.

In an online lesson, the tutor and students can talk, listen and work together without sharing the same air or passing materials between them. A student can discuss a question with classmates while each person uses their own device and writing materials.

That removes one place where students and tutors could pass an infection to each other. Children also meet people at school, at home and elsewhere. Online tuition reduces the contact involved in the lesson; everyday hygiene and relevant medical advice still matter.

This difference comes from where people are sitting. A small physical class still meets in one room. A small online class lets the teacher and students have the same conversation from separate homes.

How the tuition format affects contact

Face-to-face group tuition brings students and a teacher together indoors. Private home tuition brings the tutor and child together in the child's home. Fully online tuition keeps the people in the lesson physically apart.

Each format can provide live teaching. The contact described here is the time people spend together physically, whether they are reading a question, discussing a method or looking over written work.

Online tuition also removes the student's tuition journey and any accompanying parent's travel. Private home tuition removes the student's journey too. The difference between those two arrangements is whether the tutor and child meet in the same room.

Why feeling well does not tell the whole story

HealthHub notes that adults with influenza can be infectious before symptoms develop. Someone can feel well and already be able to pass on flu. This applies to everyday indoor activities where people spend time together.

Keeping tuition online means classmates and the teacher stay in separate spaces every week, even before anyone reports a cough or fever. Parents do not have to arrange a temporary switch for their child to learn from home: home is already where the lesson takes place.

The CDA's flu guidance also notes that influenza circulates throughout the year in Singapore. Separate spaces are useful beyond a particular outbreak. The lesson can stay in the weekly timetable while students and the tutor join remotely.

What about private home tuition?

Private home tuition offers individual teaching in a familiar setting and saves the child a journey. The tutor and student sit together to read questions, discuss the work and look over the child's method. As with other indoor activities, that brings people into close proximity and means sharing the room's air.

Tutors and students also meet people through school, work, other lessons and family. When a tutor teaches face-to-face in several homes, those lessons involve contact with more than one household. A centre-based class also brings people from different homes into one room. Infections can pass between people sharing that space, in either direction.

Our online classes keep the teaching live while the tutor and students stay in their own spaces. A child can speak directly with the teacher, show their working and get help with a question. The family keeps that time with the tutor without everyone meeting in one room.

Personal attention in an online classroom

DeepThink's live classes are capped at 4, and students keep their webcams on so our tutors can see and speak with each child. Our tutors teach on Zoom through screen sharing and on-screen writing, or through Zoom's whiteboard or another digital whiteboard. On a shared whiteboard, students can write on screen too.

For example, a percentage question may depend on identifying which amount represents 100%. A teacher could write the original and final amounts on screen, then ask which one is the starting value. That gives the discussion a visible reference while the method is explained.

The webcam helps the tutor stay in touch with the child; questions and working show what the child understands. Students can speak up as they would in a face-to-face discussion, and the teacher can ask each person to explain their reasoning.

Classmates also contribute. One student can explain a method while another works out the next step. The tutor hears the different answers and checks the work behind them. Students have their own attempts to make as well as a chance to learn from questions raised by the group.

The DeepThink platform is used to assign homework and extra practice outside class. It is separate from the live teaching on Zoom. Our online maths tuition page explains the programme.

Keep up everyday hygiene

Learning online changes the tuition meeting; the child still has a normal day at school and at home. Singapore's CDA guidance on preventing COVID-19 includes regular handwashing, covering coughs and sneezes, and avoiding shared food, drinks and eating utensils. It also advises wearing a mask and seeking medical attention promptly when unwell.

These habits remain relevant when tuition takes place online. A child may share a study space or device with a sibling and eat with the family before class. Keep the family's usual hygiene routines around those activities too.

If you have questions about a child's health or precautions for someone at home, speak with a healthcare professional. The choice of tuition format deals with one part of the week. Individual medical advice should guide decisions about a person's condition.

Help the child take part comfortably

A stable device, clear sound and space to write make the live exchange easier. Prepare the microphone and camera before class so the student can hear a classmate's question and answer when the teacher invites them. Keep the work within reach and ready to show clearly.

For a younger child, a parent can help with getting ready. Once the child is settled, our tutors lead the explanation, questions and checks of working. The teacher can invite a quiet student to explain one step or give a child time to finish their calculation before discussing it.

Encourage the student to bring a specific question from practice. They might point to the line where they no longer know what to do next. Our tutors can start there, explain the method and help the child try another question. The student receives direct teaching while remaining in their own space.

If your child does become unwell

HealthHub's flu guidance advises people who are unwell to rest at home and avoid school, work and crowded places to reduce spread. If your child has a fever, feels exhausted or cannot concentrate, give them time to recover. If they will miss class, inform the tutor before the scheduled start time.

For a guaranteed recording of an absent lesson, the tutor must be informed before the scheduled class start time. Notice at or after that time does not carry a recording guarantee. When the child is ready to learn again, a recording provided under that arrangement lets them revisit the teaching at home.

For DeepThink families, contact us if your child will miss a class or you would like help getting ready to return.