A LETTERKENNY maths tutor is inviting Honours Level Leaving Cert students to join him online for free classes.
Dr Conor Purcell is the founder of Purcelltutor.ie, a private tuition service. But on Monday Dr Purcell will begin free Facebook Live sessions.
“When the schools closed on March 14 I knew that I would have to change the way I did business,” said the tutor.
“I’m a private maths tutor, meaning I spend two or three evenings each week visiting students at their homes and helping them prepare for their exams, whether that be the Junior or Leaving Cert. What’s more, given my partner is a healthcare worker, who around that time began working the Covid wards at Letterkenny General, I knew I was high risk.
“I had played with the idea of video lessons a number of times but had always avoided them as I enjoy developing relationships with students and their parents throughout a school year, at their home. But I knew that now was the time for video. I went about testing out a number of different video apps by phone and laptop. Having previously used Zoom, Skype, Google Hangouts and Facebook video services, I soon came to the realisation that Whatsapp would be the best solution for my purposes. Most students, or their parents, have the App already, I reckoned, so calling in by video to their phone would work well, as long as they had a reasonable internet connection.
“So towards the end of March I began trialing it out. The way it works is the student sees either the page I am writing on or myself when we are having a conversation not directly focussed on the question at hand. They can choose to write down the notes themselves, or simply watch and take part as we chat about the question together. After each lesson I Whatsapp them clear photos of the pages we have worked on. As usual, we work almost entirely on past exam papers.
“Students, and their parents, have told me that the lessons are almost identical to those conducted at their home. They’ve told me that their phone screen size is suitable, and that a tablet/laptop wouldn’t add any extra benefit. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve been quite amazed at how well it’s working out. I’ve now been able to take on students further afield, those who would usually be out of my zone here in Letterkenny. Now I have a student in Stranorlar and another in Milford.
“This is a hard time for Leaving Cert students. They are under a lot of stress, and now the long summer ahead, taken up by study instead of free time, will be very tough. But this cloud’s silver lining is that they now have more time to prepare for their exams, and they have teachers and tutors who remain dedicated to them.
“This Monday at 2pm I will be beginning free Facebook Live classes, where, between now and the Leaving Cert, by working through past exam papers I’ll take students through a good chunk of the Honours course. These thirty minute sessions will take place every Monday at 2pm and I’ll begin with Algebra on paper one.”
Note that this class is for Honours Level students. To watch the videos live, or afterwards, just go to Purcelltutor.ie on Facebook and follow the page.
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