Virtual instruction has boomed after the COVID-19 pandemic, including the use of virtual environments within in-person schools. But, research has provided little evidence about student experiences on these virtual platforms, nor how to improve the use of these platforms. Through natural language processing techniques, this study examines over 26,000 virtual tutoring sessions that took place within in-person schools to identify the frequency of disruptions during virtual learning. We find that 81 percent of allocated instructional time was undisrupted. Technology problems consumed approximately nine percent of planned instructional time, while student disruptions consumed another seven percent. We find substantial variation across schools, with fewer disruptions when tutoring occurred in dedicated environments such as libraries or tutoring-specific classrooms.
Understanding Disruptions: Causes of and Variation in Lost Instructional Time
Media Mentions
Three times a week, the young students struggling the most with reading at each of Milwaukee College Prep’s four campuses go to a dedicated classroom, don their headphones, and log into a virtual tutoring session.
For the next 30 minutes, each student gets one-on-one attention from a certified teacher who might ask them about their dog or their baby sister before diving into the lesson.
Virtual tutoring — in this case through a provider called Open Literacy — is the only way Milwaukee College Prep could provide so much tutoring for so many children and from such experienced educators, said Erica Badger, director of curriculum and instruction for the 2,000-student charter network.
“We have a hundred kids on at once,” she said. “Being able to have that many adults come into the school building? I can’t even imagine.”
For these reasons and others, virtual tutoring has remained part of the toolbox of American schools long after students returned to in-person classes. It costs less than in-person tutoring, scheduling is more flexible, and providers aren’t limited to hiring in the surrounding community.
But it doesn’t always work smoothly.
Two studies from Stanford University’s National Student Support Accelerator released Wednesday used natural language processing technologies to review transcripts from tens of thousands of hours of virtual tutoring sessions. Their goal: to better understand exactly what happens between tutors and students in these sessions.
One study examines the impact of disruptions as revealed through tutor comments, such as “You can’t see me? I’m not sure why you can’t see me” or “Sorry. Did you say something? It was hard to hear.”
Researchers found that 19% of available time was lost to disruptions, whether from technological issues, distracted students, or background noise. Time lost to disruptions was even greater when tutors were working with more than one student, especially if one of the students entered the session late.
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