NSM Review: The clever new way for kids to learn online
Parenting is delightful stuff, but being a mum also comes with an overwhelming sense of responsibility for making sure your little one has the best start in life- and that includes their education. Bianka Ford tests out Cluey Learning, a ‘safety net’ online tutor service that can identify any gaps in their understanding of classwork, before it becomes a bigger problem.
No matter how bright or studious your child is, it’s easy for them to misunderstand a simple concept in the early years at school, say in Year 8 maths, which then compounds over the years until it’s an HSC-sized problem in Year 12. And while of course the school teacher can help, they have a whole class to contend with, and even a one-on-one tutor can be tricky to organise, not to mention finding the right personality to match your child’s learning style.
So what’s the solution? Well, enter Cluey Learning! Cluey is an online tutor portal that connects your child to a one-on-one real-life tutor. Here’s how it works:
- Tutors are a knowledgeable, experienced teachers or top ATAR achievers
- They are all vetted, have WWC checks, and backed by highly qualified Faculty Leaders. There is an Education Advisory Board and all of these people are well versed in the Board of Education requirements for whatever state your child is learning in, or whatever exams they are sitting
- The lessons are a combination of the learning programs (each aligned with the NSW School Syllabus) and the tutor’s own expertise
- It’s online and it’s safe, with no reason to fear for your child’s safety being compromised
Cluey Learning’s expert content team and educators hard at work on the job!
So much planning and knowledge goes into the Cluey Learning program
Cluey Learning: The Road Test
Our family took Cluey for a trial run, and from the start I felt comfortable and supported. Michael gave me a call ahead of the first session to get background on my son so the best tutor could be matched to his tutorial. Cluey’s operators made sure we knew how to check our connection, webcam and mic were correctly working so that technical issues wouldn’t interfere with our session. Clever!
Our goal: For us, rather than a specific issue, we wanted to check that my son’s mid-year change in schools (which also meant changing teachers and curriculum) didn’t leave him with any gaps in his foundational knowledge.
We wanted to check my son’s change in schools didn’t leave any gaps in his knowledge.
The Cluey Learning set up showing our tutor Clarissa mid-lesson
How Does It Work?
We logged into the session 15 minutes early for a welcome screen and to discover a Whiteboard space, which is like the blank canvas (or digital piece of paper!) where the student works. I’m unnaturally excited, while my son has found a way to use to the tools to draw a Pokeball, naturally. Like most of our kids growing up with technology, he is very at ease with the process and working online. I mean hey, he might be learning, but he’s still getting screentime so it’s a win as far as he’s concerned!
Working with the Whiteboard interface, which has easy-to-use tools
Clarissa ran through some basic sets of questions to gauge where any weaknesses might be
The Cluey Learning Session
At the appointed time of 4:30 on the dot, our tutor Clarissa pops up on our screen, in exactly the way a Facetime call appears (each of you with a view of the other). She’s about the age of a University student, she’s polite, obviously very intelligent and has a great connection with kids. She starts with some questions to put us at ease then gets cracking with the lessons listed on an onscreen panel.
First we master to the tools, which are the Whiteboard space (with standards like pen tool, text tool etc) and an excellent upload tool to upload homework or a video of an issue that needs help.
We then work through some basic math problems so Clarissa can see where my son’s learning is up to. As a parent, it’s hard to bit my tongue when I see that he’s doing something incorrectly, but letting the trained expert on the other side of the screen do it her way, yielded better results!
As the session comes to an end, the timer on the screen lets you know it’s time for reflection. We were able to see that we now had an excellent idea of my son’s situation, and what strengths and weaknesses to focus on in the next session to best support and improve his learning.
Mum’s Verdict:
I would confidently recommend Cluey Learning to my friends. The session with the Cluey tutor gave me the peace of mind that he was on track with his learning, but also showed me that some topics need to be explained in a different way for him to fully grasp the concepts, which Clarissa handled perfectly.
Student’s Verdict:
"I think it went pretty good, I like it. I like how she could just talk to me and make questions appear. I like how you can draw and use text features. I think it would help with school because it starts easy and then gets a little harder. Can I do it again?"
The verdict from our test subject was clear: "Can I do it again?"