'My kids want to do it': How live, online tutoring changed Justine's family for the better.

Cluey Learning - we review their maths tutoring for kids

Cluey Learning – online tutoring for years 2-12

Louise recently trialled Cluey Learning online tutoring to for her daughter Laura. They were both very happy with the experience, they sent out this review…

At Cluey Learning, personalisation means that they understand your child’s learning goals and needs, and provide the right help at the right time by combining focused, quality tutoring with structured content aligned to the school syllabus.

All sessions are 100% online and take place in a virtual learning platform, which means your child and the tutor work together at a time and place that suits your child’s daily schedule. There’s no need to be driving your child anywhere and no need for you to even be at home whilst they run the sessions. The tutor is hand picked to suit your child’s personality and needs, and my daughter loved her tutor and felt really comfortable with her. At school my daughter isn’t confident in asking questions in front of her friends and peers, but she is totally comfortable in front of her own computer asking the tutor questions.

Your child’s learning journey is delivered through live face-to-face sessions with their tutor covering all the theory and examples that they need. Your child also gets personalised feedback at the end of every session to track their progress. To help master concepts, the tutor may assign targeted practice questions between sessions that you review together in the following session.

For my daughter, tutoring with Cluey Learning not only helps her achieve her academic goals, but it has also increased her confidence in how to learn and what she is capable of.

If you would like to see what happens in your child’s sessions, you can watch the sessions too as every session is videoed and then sent as clips to review.

As the tutoring is all online it is a win for the children who love working online and a win for the parents in saving time, effort and money on group or private tutoring. Cluey Learning is online tutoring for years 2-12.

CLUEY LEARNING: THE PERFECT MIX OF ONLINE AND PERSONAL TUTORING

Tully just completed first grade last year and for a lot of kindy and year 1 she was a bit behind the other kids in reading. She was doing ok, but it just felt like it hadn’t ‘clicked’ for her yet. She was struggling with reading with expression and sometimes she took so long to read a paragraph that she didn’t really absorb what had happened in the story, which made comprehension a bit of a struggle sometimes.

It felt like she finally clicked about August last year, after we got back from an overseas holiday. She was finally reading more fluently, with more understanding. However, she still needed a bit more work to catch up. So when Cluey Learning asked me if Tully wanted to try out two of their tutoring sessions, of course I said yes!

Cluey Learning – How It Works

Cluey Learning combines online tutoring with a personal tutoring service. The student communicates with their tutor via video chat while they complete their work on their shared digital whiteboard. All their tutors are personally matched to the student’s personality and needs. All tutors are highly qualified. They are either teachers, training to be teachers or high ATAR achievers. They all have WWC checks and they combine your state’s curriculum with your child’s needs and their own experience.

Cluey Learning provides tutoring for children from year 2-12 in English, Maths and Chemistry. Their content is mapped to the Australian National Curriculum and considers state-by-state variations.

Cluey Learning – Tutoring Tully

As Tully finished school at the start of December last year, she had plenty of time to do a bit of extra learning. Before our sessions I completed a Q&A about her, to help Cluey pick the best tutor for her. Tully really responds to teaching by younger female teachers so that’s who she was matched with. Tully was matched with Lisa, who has Bachelor of Education Primary 2018, from Curtin University.

Before our first session Cluey Learning sent us a link to do a tech check to make sure the session would run smoothly. Tully logged on and met Lisa, who then did a series of activities with Tully to see where she was up to and what she needed help with. She checked her reading level and they looked at different nouns and how they worked in sentence structure.

The activities were a combination of reading out loud, answering comprehension questions and doing drag and drop and typing activities on the virtual whiteboard.

What Tully thought

“It was really fun. I really liked the activities where we got to sort out the nouns. I didn’t know nouns were feelings too.”

What I thought

I really liked the ease, the simplicity and the fact I didn’t have to go anywhere. I found that I did need to help Tully a bit but that’s because she’s not that good with the laptop yet and I didn’t realise we needed a mouse. She hasn’t really mastered the track pad yet. I did get to step away a bit though and I thought Lisa was great. She was very patient and really wanted Tully to work things out for herself. It made me realise that when I’m helping her, I often just give her the answer and that I should let he take more time to work it out for herself. Having a person, rather than just a computer program, made it feel a bit more like someone was monitoring the program and was tailoring it specifically to Tully’s needs.

What does it cost?

Sessions run for 45 minutes to an hour depending on the age, and cost $45 for years 2-6 and $80 for 7-12.

THE LEARNING HACK FOR YOUR BAES THAT WILL PUT THEM AHEAD OF THE GAME

After a LOOONG Summer vacay, it’s #backtoschool time – whoop! You did it mama! School bags are out (here’s hoping there are no mouldy sandwiches festering in the bottom), uniforms and shoes are ready, books are stacked and the Click and Collect order is in, ready to OWN the school lunch prep. You got this!

Back to school also means HOMEWORK, and if you’re already freaking out at the thought of fighting over English and Maths probs with your bae, we have the solution. We recently came across online tutoring and are absolutely CONVERTS.

The online tutoring guys we tested out are called Cluey Learning, offering tutoring for kids as young as Year 2 right through to grown up babes in Year 12, and English and Maths are totally their jam... they can also help out with Chemistry in Years 9-12 and NAPLAN prep for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

If your child needs a helping hand, or you simply want them to get ahead, these guys are GODS, making the whole tutoring experience super easy for you, super friendly and fun for your kids, and giving you control over time schedules. They really are a game changer – now we have tried them we wish we had done it sooner!

You don’t even need to be worried about finding a good tutor as these peeps have heaps who will be matched with the learning style of your child. Cluey only work with vetted leading teachers in their fields with top notch ATAR results giving you absolute peace of mind.

6 THINGS WE ARE LOVING ABOUT ONLINE TUTORING

1 IT PUTS YOUR CHILD’S NEEDS FIRST

Cluey has been developed with the student in mind, which is ah-mazing because we know that not all kids thrive in the school environment… and the last thing any mama wants is for their bambino to be left behind and feel sh*t about it. Cluey’s in-house education team caters to individualised learning and maps out content based on the Australian National Curriculum, making adjustments according to each state, so your little one is learning EXACTLY what they need to know.

2 YOUR BAE CAN LEARN AT THEIR OWN PACE

Cluey is designed to adapt to your child’s learning level and suit what their needs are – whether they just need to catch up, need to build confidence when starting at a new school or going into a new grade, or they want to kick ass and excel. We love that it’s a complete learning program that builds on their skills and knowledge step-by-step.

3 YOU CAN OPT FOR ONE-ON-ONE OR SMALL GROUP TUTORING

If your bambino needs a little extra attention, you can make the most of a one-on-one tutor, or perhaps they thrive in a small group environment, in which case you can join one of their tutoring groups with up to four other kids.

4 THE TUTORS ARE HANDPICKED TO SUIT YOUR CHILD’S PERSONALITY AND NEEDS

Once you’ve registered for the program, you have a chat with a member of the Cluey team to discuss your child’s personality, areas of focus and their goals. They will then use that info to match them with the perfect tutor. AND because Cluey only hires the brightest minds – teachers and uni students with top notch ATAR results – you know they’re in great hands… so mama can relax!

5 IT’S EASY AF TO USE

The Cluey platform is solely online and works on most computers with a mic and webcam, so there’s no need to download any fancy software… #winning! If you’re a technophobe, they’ll take you through a Tech Check to make sure everything is working – and so parents are up to speed (unlike our tech babes who can pretty much operate anything they sit down to!)

6 IT’S SIMPLE TO FOLLOW

The platform is fully interactive and shared in real time and at the end of each sesh, there is a quick review where the tutor and the student recap and share any feedback. These goals and feedback are then sent to the parent, so you’re kept in the loop. And because the sessions are recorded, you and your mini can jump into the portal and recap any session if you need a refresher.

Give it a try and you’ll see what we mean. Motherhood just got easier. YASSSSSS!

Take your child's learning to the next level with Cluey Learning

Whether your child is falling behind or excelling, Cluey Learning can maximise your child’s education with personalised, interactive tutoring sessions.

Cluey is an online education company specialising in English, Maths and Chemistry tutoring programs for school students in Years 2–12. Cluey’s in-house education team compiles all lesson material, which is aligned to the Australian National Curriculum.

All sessions are face-to-face and take place online between 7 am and 10 pm via Cluey’s virtual learning platform, which means you can work the lessons around your child’s schedule from the comfort of home. Personalised learning is at the heart of Cluey, as they recognise that all students learn in different ways.

Cluey caters to all budgets with private one-to-one and small group sessions that maximise individual attention, which your child might not get at school or at an out-of-school centre.

In contrast to your typical in-home tutor, Cluey’s tutors go through extensive training, ensuring that each of their students receives the best tuition possible. Cluey is extremely selective in their recruiting of tutors, hiring only experienced educators and university students with exceptional ATAR results. All tutors are vetted and have Working with Children Checks to ensure a safe experience for all students.

Here’s what a session looks like:

• The tutor and student start by setting goals for the session together and the student receives a session outline, which they can use to review later on.
• A highly effective road map for learning is used, with a starting point and logical path. Each concept builds on top of another to optimise the student’s learning experience. These road maps have been developed based on an analysis of over 30,000 sessions.
• The newest version of Cluey’s platform includes an interface that allows student-teacher interaction in real time — both users can see exactly what the other is typing and drawing as it happens. This feature enables the tutor to catch any mistakes that may occur before they are corrected by the student.
• Cluey’s content is split into varying degrees of difficulty, to ensure appropriate material is delivered to align with your child’s goals.
• Once a session is completed, a session review and progress report are sent to the student and their parent, so everyone is involved in the learning journey.

Watch this video to find out how Cluey is changing the Australian school tutoring landscape for the better.

Here’s how you can get started with Cluey:

• Each student’s journey begins with a phone call with one of Cluey’s learning advisors to discuss the student’s needs and personality so the best tutor can be matched.
• Prior to the first session, an email with login details to Cluey’s portal will be sent to both the parent and student. Students can use the portal to schedule and review their Cluey sessions and access progress reports, session recordings, practice questions and invoices.
• There’s no need to download any software — most laptops with a webcam and microphone will work just fine! Cluey has a dedicated tech diagnosis test that you can do before you begin to ensure the sessions will run smoothly.

Cluey Learning Review. Australian Online Tutoring Service for Students Makes Learning Convenient and Easy. Get 30% Off!

School teachers at all year levels do a wonderful job when it comes to educating our kids. Regardless, it's quite normal and common for students to experience some difficulties with their individual learning from time to time, especially when it comes to understanding fundamental concepts and theories in any given subject. Without prompt intervention, a student may find themselves lagging behind their peers at school. This can lead to low self esteem and an apparent disinterest in learning altogether, plus a whole host of other issues down the track.

No matter where your child ranks academically, have you ever considered the benefits of a tutor to assist your child with their studies?

Tutors are experts in one-on-one learning and can help your child to overcome any learning hurdles they may face. Any student can benefit from tutoring too, not just those facing challenges. Personal tutoring can put students ahead in their studies, which may assist them to earn prized scholarships or succeed in the future to reach their goals. Every student can benefit from a personal tutor.

Cluey Learning is a Sydney-based online tutoring service designed for Australian school students. Cluey Learning offer highly professional tutors who are skilled at teaching kids. Sessions are tailored to each individual student's needs and are mapped to the Australian school syllabus for students in years 2-12.

Tutors at Cluey Learning are a selection of highly-screened, hand-picked teachers and top ATAR score achievers. A highly skilled professional tutor will be assigned by Cluey Learning to fulfill the needs of every student. Tutors specialise in English (years 2-12), Mathematics (years 2-12) and Chemistry (years 11-12). Sessions are structured to build on previous lessons in a logical and progressive way that works with each student's skills and needs. Worth noting too - all Cluey Learning tutors work within the framework of the Australian school syllabus and its State variations. They also cover NAPLAN preparation for years 3,5,7 and 9.

When Cluey Learning approached us to try out their online tutoring service, we were only too pleased to accept their generous offer. We've never used a tutor before with any of our kids. We discussed the proposal with our 13 year old son who was quite keen to hone in on some of his own personal learning hurdles in English.

In order to get the ball rolling on our son's tutoring sessions, Cluey Learning gave us a call and asked us about our child's specific learning needs. These were a series of simple questions regarding his year level, subject of choice, (he chose tutoring in English) and a few other general basics. He was given the option of a male or female tutor too. (Our son chose a male tutor.)

From here there was no need to do anything further as Cluey Learning took care of the rest.

Online lessons with Cluey Learning are a simple setup. Our son (Ruben), was assigned a professional tutor to assist him with his learning requirements. A day and session time was organised during our initial discussion on the phone. Our son was then emailed a direct link which would give him exclusive and instant online access to his regular tutor, on the agreed day and time of his ongoing lessons. (Saturdays at 11am.) Prior to his first lesson, Cluey Learning assisted Ruben to set up his internet portal and it was all quite easy from there.

Ruben's first tutoring session began with a meet and greet with his online tutor, who carefully navigated through our son's academic strengths and weaknesses to identify the focus, level and direction of his specific learning needs.

As soon as this was sorted, his tutor launched straight into a detailed and relevant refresher on grammar, punctuation and comprehension, the whole time, working with Ruben at his level - that of a 13 year old boy.

I personally listened in on each tutoring session and was highly impressed with the teaching skills of his tutor. He was extremely well educated, well spoken and very knowledgeable in English as a subject. Ruben was likewise, engaged and involved during each session which was great to see.

Shared texts which appear online are typically used to promote discussion and concrete learning examples. In our son's first session, he was asked to analyse the grammar and punctuation of Anh Do's 'The Happiest Refugee.' His comprehension was also guided via a systematic dissection of the supplied text. The Cluey Learning software allows for this valuable exchange to occur.

After each tutoring lesson, Cluey Learning provide a detailed report of all that is covered during the most recent session. This is emailed to parents around 24 hours post-session.

We found this report very helpful as we could see the excellent skills and knowledge being progressively passed along during each of these one-on-one sessions with our son. Additionally, students and parents can see a full history of each tutoring session simply by logging into their account on the Cluey Learning website.

We have found the online tutoring services provided by Cluey Learning to be absolutely exceptional! Our son reports that he feels much more confident in the subject of English since he began his lessons. Ruben found the one-on-one sessions enjoyable and with no distractions, (such as those found within a typical classroom), he has absorbed so much more information via this method of learning.

We highly recommend Cluey Learning and would not hesitate to use this service again in the future for any of our children.

Please visit the Cluey Learning website to learn more regarding fees and services. Setting up a tutor for your child is quick and easy and the pay-off is priceless. Cluey Learning conveniently provides online tutoring 7 days a week from 7am to 10pm.

Cluey Learning Online Tutoring Review

The internet, when used responsibly and judiciously, is a wonderful resource for kids and can be both educational and fun. Now, it can also be used for one-on-one and small group tutoring through Cluey Learning, an online tutoring company that supports students between the grades of two to twelve.

If your child didn’t get the report card they were wanting or expecting, Cluey Learning offers tutoring sessions during the school term and right throughout the holidays to help your child catch up on work they may have missed this year, or to give them a headstart on next year’s curriculum.

The daughter of one of our Brisbane Kids’ writers was invited to trial this online tutoring service, completing two online sessions with a tutor in the area of grade 8/9 English. Here’s what she found...

How does the Cluey Learning tutoring system work?

1/ Phone call to discuss your needs/aims

The first step to setting up your child’s online tutoring is to phone Cluey Learning to discuss your child’s tutoring needs (or register your interest via their website and they’ll phone you), as well as discuss your child’s disposition so that they can best match a tutor to your student’s personality and subject area.

2/ Matching a tutor to your child

My daughter wanted to specifically work on spelling, grammar, and punctuation; something she had always found challenging at school, despite otherwise achieving well in English. After going through these details over the phone with Cluey Learning, we were matched with a tutor named Joanne; a teacher with considerable experience in the classroom and private tutoring.

3/ Login details & scheduling

An email was sent to us before the session with our online account details – this is where you can schedule and review sessions, as well as access progress reports and invoices, by using a username and password to log in.

I was relieved to find that we didn’t need any special software or downloads for the Cluey Learning tutoring sessions – just a laptop or computer with an internet connection, audio, and a webcam (which is usually in-built these days). Cluey provide an email with a link to each online session, which is always in real-time and 100% interactive.

4/ Online tutoring session

At our allocated time, we clicked on the link and found Joanne ready and waiting for us. At first, I hovered around the computer, unsure whether I was needed, but it really wasn’t necessary – my daughter and the tutor dived straight in and were hard at work for the next 60 minutes. They began by setting goals for the session. My daughter wanted to work on commonly misspelt words, like stationery vs stationary or desert vs dessert. Joanne was able to immediately bring up a spelling diagnosis to assess where my daughter was going wrong, and then show her strategies and techniques to help her get it right next time.

Both my daughter and her tutor could see and hear one another (similar to Skyping), and they could both use an interactive whiteboard for the spelling tests and other activities. I noticed that Joanne was very encouraging and amiable, and chatted to my daughter about her favourite books and authors, as well as getting into the nitty-gritty of English tutelage.

What we liked about the Cluey Learning tutoring sessions

The online tutoring format is incredibly convenient – you can schedule sessions anytime between 7 am and 10 pm, seven days per week. That means you can fit it in before or after school, or around other activities in the holidays. I loved that I didn’t lose time driving to and from a session, and I didn’t have to drag my younger children along! While my daughter was having her session, I was able to do some jobs around the house, which was a much better use of my time, compared to sitting in a waiting room or carpark.

We also liked the fact that there was no formal assessment required before beginning with Cluey Learning. Instead, the tutor uses a continuous assessment approach by asking questions and conducting a few exercises to determine where my child was at in each area and then personalised the learning plan and tutoring sessions specifically to her needs.

As a parent, I really appreciated that I was emailed feedback from the tutor afterwards so that I was kept up-to-date on what they had been working on in that particular session. My daughter was also given the opportunity at the end of the session to share her feedback, which I’ve included below.

Tutor feedback

The student read a passage fluently and answered comprehension questions well. We looked at new vocabulary from the passage and discussed meanings. She identified words in the passage that would be spelling challenges for her. I explained a relevant spelling rule and she successfully put it into practice. I also demonstrated some spelling pattern/colour strategies that she found helpful. The student plans to try them out with a list of words with double middle consonants and report back to me. We looked at commonly confused words and she learned some tips for remembering the differences. She then correctly completed a practice exercise and wrote some sentences using the words. In coming sessions, she would like me to cover spelling rules with her. We will also work on sentence variety. She demonstrates a motivated and diligent attitude towards her learning.

Student feedback

I chose this emoji because the session really helped me to learn about spelling rules and helped me identify the areas of spelling that I need the most help in.

Challenges with Cluey Learning online tutoring

You really need a reliable WiFi connection for the session to run effectively. For the first session, we had to move from my daughter’s bedroom to our home office, as there was a bit of a delay in the sound. However, once she was seated closer to the modem, the connection was much better, which made for a more seamless session.

To make a booking, or to find out more about Cluey Learning and how they can assist your child, please visit www.clueylearning.com.au.

Brisbane Kids thanks Cluey Learning for providing our writer and her daughter with online tutoring sessions for the purpose of a review. Costs were covered. All the opinions stated in this review are true, honest, and genuine, with the sole aim of providing enough information for parents to make an informed decision about utilising this online service with their children.

Parents shift children to online tutoring after school amid coronavirus

After schools were forced to rapidly adapt to online learning when coronavirus hit earlier this year, parents and students also went online for extra help.

Online tutoring services have received strong increases in enrollments since March, with parents concerned their children would fall behind while doing school work at home.

Elizabeth Hickey said she had sought out online tutoring for her sons, Anthony, who is in year 6, and Freddie, in year 8, at the beginning of the year.

"It wasn't necessarily because of COVID[-19], but it has been a benefit because they've been able to get that extra one-to-one tuition without any face-to-face, and get supported to do their maths. And we're actually just about to take up English," Mrs Hickey said.

Mrs Hickey said Freddie and Anthony had both seen improvements in their maths work following online tutoring sessions through Cluey Learning.

"Working from home actually gave me a lot of benefits because I didn't have to deal with unreasonable sounds around me, people talking. The tutoring helped me get on with my maths, so it was really helpful," Anthony Hickey said.

Mrs Hickey, who lives in Charnwood, said online sessions fit around other family commitments.

Cluey Learning chief education officer Dr Selina Samuels said the company had seen a 30 per cent spike in enrollments in March and April, when schools first switched to remote learning. A lot of interest had come from senior students.

"Over 50 per cent of the senior students [we surveyed] were looking for or already using additional support, like online tutoring, particularly because they feel that, in learning from home, they've really missed the one-to-one connection with their teachers," Dr Samuels said.

Dr Samuels said the shift to online school learning earlier this year had flowed through to tutoring.

"There has been a consistent recognition of the benefits of online tutoring as opposed to in-person tutoring," she said.

Professor Karen Dooley, a researcher at the Queensland University of Technology's education faculty, said families sought out tutoring support for their children for a variety of reasons, from providing extra help to extending academic performance.

She said while there was limited research available on tutoring's impact, education experts agreed there had been an increase in home tutoring services in the past 20 years.

"One of the interpretations that is quite widely accepted is that the relationship between the family, the school and the nation has changed within the last couple of decades," Professor Dooley said.

"And there's a stronger shifting of responsibility to families for the outcomes of their children, and expectations of more intensive parental involvement in a child's education. That's quite different from, say, the middle of last century."

Professor Dooley, who was running a research project on tutoring before coronavirus disrupted the school year, said the forced introduction of digital education services during the pandemic could see long-lasting changes to tutoring.

"And I think that is talking to a big issue for the entire education system, from the early years to university and from the formal institutions as well as the providers of tutoring, that this is perhaps one of those moments where understanding of possibilities change because we were thrown into a situation where we had to do certain things," she said.

In June, the Grattan Institute called on the federal government to launch a $1 billion six-month tutoring program, saying it could help close the existing gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students.