Educator launches ‘Tuto,’ an online class and tutoring services platform
Aiming to address the daily challenges educators and students face due to a lack of tools, Yanmarí Alicea developed a digital learning platform called “Tuto.” The platform offers students and teachers access to online classes, tutoring services and other features. Officially launched this week, the website provides four courses in various subjects: painting, domestic violence, time management, and life insurance production.
Alicea’s teaching experience made her aware of the issues that educators deal with.
“It addresses problems that students and teachers face,” she said in an interview with News is my Business. “For students, this is a fast and easy way to connect with experts in different topics, from basic classes to professional mentors who teach professionals about various subjects they need to advance their careers.”
The platform also gives teachers flexibility in what they want to teach, when and how much they want to charge for services. Alicea explained that the website is helpful for teachers and college students who would like to offer tutoring services but lack time. Instructors decide the price for each class and when to offer it, with the option of pre-recording online classes.
“Another problem I am directly addressing is offering teachers all the tools they need to teach a course or provide tutoring lessons, with a service that is accessible and at a reasonable price,” Alicea said.
Teachers can choose from various plans, including a free option or the VIP plan for $398 a month, which includes up to five on-demand, or live, classes; webinars; evaluations; a messaging system; profile page; video editing; and an hour of instructional design coaching, among other features.
“We have all the tools that professionals need to design, manage and offer these courses online or in their classrooms,” Alicea said. “And we provide all the digital tools and space for these professionals to sell courses that can be on-demand, pre-recorded, live classes, or even individualized courses, tutoring and professional mentoring courses.”
The digital platform represents an opportunity for professionals and educators to establish a business in their own way, setting the cost of services offered and their working hours.
“We are not limited to a particular market,” Alicea stated. “As a digital tool, our vision is to be a large educational ecosystem at a local level that can eventually be exported, without being limited to any academic level or class subject.”
On the website’s tutoring marketplace, students can reserve services from more than 20 topics, including journalism, communications, marketing, science, Spanish, literature, digital marketing, and personal finance.
In the future, Alicea hopes teachers will offer College Board preparation courses for students needing to sharpen their math, Spanish and English skills before taking the standardized test required for college acceptance.
Teachers’ and educators’ performance will be evaluated after each course is completed.
“The teachers’ performance will be evaluated similarly to Airbnb’s evaluation process,” Alicea explained. “The students and teachers will undergo a feedback process, so at the end of each course, the student will evaluate the teachers, and the teacher will evaluate the students’ performance.”
