Edventure is an online platform that offers one-on-one tutorial services to preschool to grade 10 students. They offer English, Filipino, Math, Science, Reading, and Araling Panlipunan.
We availed of the free trial service good for 1 hour. Our chosen subject was Math 5. I sent the topics to be discussed when I booked a slot. I had 6 topics that my son needed to review. Since the class was for an hour, I said that maybe the teacher can give 2 examples for each topic to cover the whole hour.
Prior to our scheduled date, I kept receiving text messages and emails reminding me of our session. This is good, especially for super busy parents like me.
The day of the session came. My son was online 5 minutes before the scheduled time. The teacher was 6 to 7 minutes late. She didn't say anything about being late. She immediately proceeded to a short review but the problems she asked were not grade-appropriate. They were just some simple addition and subtraction problems. I asked for the following topics to be discussed:
- Like terms
- corral puzzle
- simplifying expressions
- multi-step equations
- value of n in an algebraic equations
- making expressions
Upon hearing the review problems, I went over to my son's study space to take a look. I was surprised because the teacher's FB was on the screen. She was also solving the equation on top of the FB. I stayed for a few minutes.
The next problem went something like this: (these are not the exact name and numbers given)
Principal Howard donated 6,918 chairs to the local public school. If 618 chairs are left, what is the initial number of chairs?
The problem itself is already, well, problematic. The problem already stated the number of chairs that the principal donated. What happened after donating the chairs? Why were there 618 chairs left? My son couldn't understand the problem so the teacher said, the correct operation is subtraction. So, you will subtract the 618 leftover chairs from 6,918 to get the initial number of chairs? That's exactly what she did. At this point, I was already frustrated.
Then she was discussing a problem about Nadine and James (yes, those were the names she gave). She was asking my son which person has the correct equation but there was nothing on the screen. At this point, the FB was gone and was replaced by a white screen. She repeated the question. I told her, "Excuse me, teacher but we cannot see anything on the screen. Do you have the equations up?" Then she doodled a line and I told her that we could see that. Then she said, "Oh, my God!" After several seconds, she was able to bring the right screen up.
The first value of N equation was good. The second one was again, problematic because the answer was wrong. She told my son, "Oh, I think this answer is wrong. This answer is wrong, right, Isaac?" Then my son said the correct answer. The equation was there on the screen. It was okay except for the value of n which was wrong.
I think she only gave 3 to 4 problems then asked my son if he had any questions. My son said no because he couldn't understand the teacher's explanations. I'm sorry to say this but she had bad grammar. She said, "you subtract 29 to 10 and the answer is 19." A lot of her sentences are also wrong and she was trying hard to speak with slang and accent. I wanted to tell her, "just be yourself, teacher. No need to try to speak with an accent." I may not have perfect English grammar but I know that my grammar is excellent. I am a stickler for grammar. I hate the fact that a lot of the shows on TV are Tagalized and a lot of fresh graduates cannot even compose a simple sentence correctly. I also don't like the fact that my son is being taught by a teacher who has terrible grammar.
After asking Zac if he had any questions, he asked if I was there. I told her I was. She said, "Ma'am your son did good today." I thanked her and she said she was ending the class. It was only 3:45! The class was supposed to be from 3 to 4 pm. I hour, I know it was a free trial but shouldn't they fulfill what was said on the website? Shouldn't they use up the full hour? She was also 6 minutes late and she ended the class 15 minutes early!
After class, I emailed Edventure and asked if the teachers really don't use up the full hour. The person I spoke to said that it's usually 40 minutes of discussion and 20 minutes for meeting with the parents. I told him what happened. I also mentioned the FB incident (and only that). I even sent pictures as proof. I didn't hear again from them. This was last week. As of publishing this post, I haven't heard anything from them about the FB incident and the time issue.
I am very disappointed with the tutorial service itself and the customer service. I heard some parents had a good experience. Maybe it depends on the subject, grade, and teacher. They are still offering free trial sessions on their website. They said that the tutors are vetted and that the tutors are actually teachers who are part-timing with them. Maybe you'll have a better experience. As for us, we will not try the service again.
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