In March 2023, we announced that changes would be coming soon to the 1-on-1 learning and teaching experience on Outschool. Demand for tutoring from Outschool families continues to rise, and our team is focused on improving and enhancing 1-on-1 class management tools for educators and the tutoring enrollment process.
We’re so excited to share that after intentional, feedback-driven development and testing in collaboration with both educators and parents, the new 1-on-1 class experience is here.
Keep reading for info on:
- What’s changing about the 1-on-1 class format, including pricing guidance
- Important dates for educators
- Migrating existing classes to the new format
- The parent experience and the new 1-on-1 format
Important info for organizations: This initial release of the new 1-on-1 format will only be available to independent educators. We’re working diligently to finalize this update for organizations, and we expect that update to be released in late 2023 or early 2024.
Organizations are a critical piece of the Outschool learning community, and we’re very eager to provide this new format for those businesses. As many of our organization administrators likely know, the reality is that the class management process for organizations is inherently more complex. Therefore, updates to those scheduling tools and other platform aspects require more time to complete.
Perfecting this update as it relates to organization class and teacher management currently requires additional development and testing, and we will notify organizations as soon as we have any updates on the release timeline!
The following information and migration dates apply only to educators who teach using an independent account not associated with an organization as of the publication of this article.
What’s changing about 1-on-1 classes?
1-on-1 classes on Outschool will soon function as a unique class format, designed specifically to accommodate the needs of tutoring learners and educators.
New scheduling & classroom capabilities
In designing this new format, our team focused on addressing some of the most common pain points we hear surrounding 1-on-1 learning enrollment and teaching experience. With this update, you’ll find:
- Easier class creation and management. No more need to create different formats (1-on-1, ongoing, etc.) for tutoring classes. You can do it all by utilizing the new 1-on-1 format.
- New scheduling tools that allow educators to customize and automate their availability for tutoring without creating dozens of new 1-on-1 class sections. Manual scheduling and section transfers for 1-on-1 classes are a thing of the past!
- Continuous classrooms for 1-on-1 learners, even if they take a break or change their tutoring schedule. Easily track learning progress and return to prior projects with a consistent 1-on-1 learner space.
- A new refund policy. All 1-on-1 classes will have a standard refund policy: Full refund until 48 hours in advance, or within 24 hours of the initial purchase (until class starts). This will enable parents to use those new scheduling tools when they need them most, taking admin work off your plate.
As a result of these updates, educators will also notice a reduction in time spent communicating with families about small schedule changes, and more flexible enrollment options for parents that we believe will encourage more re-enrollments following a one-time tutoring class.
New pricing guidance for 1-on-1 classes
Updating our platform features is just one way that the Outschool team supports your teaching businesses. We also strive to provide valuable insights into the Outschool marketplace and online education market as a whole that help you increase revenue and meet your goals as entrepreneurs.
Currently, the prices that educators on Outschool charge for 1-on-1 classes are often far below the prices set by some competing platforms. This is particularly true for tutoring in traditional academic subjects, especially Math and English. The average price range for academic, online tutoring for kids under 18 is $60-100 USD per hour.
While the flexibility provided by Outschool to set your own prices and determine your own success is highly valued by many of our educator entrepreneurs, what we’re seeing right now is one downside to infinite flexibility:
Some educators are undervaluing their tutoring services, and that can be detrimental to their ability to create a sustainable business model and earn revenue.
We know that the educators who choose to tutor on Outschool have incredible, high-quality learning experiences to offer. Teachers of all kinds have historically had their time and skills undervalued and been underpaid for their work. Now, we want to do everything we can to prevent that trend continuing for our educator entrepreneurs.
We encourage all educators to evaluate their pricing for 1-on-1 classes in relation to the industry average, and we want you to feel empowered to set prices that:
- Reflect the value of your time and expertise
- Signal to parents the value of your class in relation to others in the tutoring marketplace
- Help you stay competitive in the online tutoring market
- Provide enough revenue for you to sustain your teaching business on Outschool
Get more updated pricing guidance here.
Minimum price requirements for Math & English tutoring
To help educators get closer to industry standards, there will be a minimum price requirement of $30 per hour for 1-on-1 classes. This requirement will initially only apply to Math and English 1-on-1 classes, as these academic subjects typically have a higher price point.
You’ll notice this required minimum price is well below the industry average for online tutoring listed above ($60-100 per hour). While only a small number of classes are currently priced below $30 per hour, we hope that this change can bring Outschool in line with current industry standards.
You’ll see this minimum price in effect for:
- New 1-on-1 math and English classes created using the new class format.
- Existing 1-on-1 math and English classes once they have been migrated to the new format using the migration process described below.
Educators may create coupons for 1-on-1 classes that result in an enrollment fee below $30 per hour. While coupons can be a valuable tool for both educators and families to try out new classes, we encourage educators to set prices that reflect the value of their time and expertise while supporting a sustainable revenue model for their business.
You can learn more about policies and FAQs related to this 1-on-1 price requirement in the Help Center. Explore additional pricing insights and recommendations for all classes on the Educator Library.
When will the format be available?
(Updated July 6th, 2023)
With a big thanks to the release group who tested this feature early, we’re happy to share that the new format is available to all independent educators creating new 1-on-1 classes! Head to your class dashboard to take a look.
We’ll be rolling out the migration option for your existing classes in the coming weeks. Later this summer, most 1-on-1 classes will be automatically migrated to the new format if the educator has not yet migrated them.
If the price of an existing Math or English 1-on-1 class is below the $30 minimum, the price will be raised to the minimum for new enrollments when it is automatically migrated. For 1-on-1 classes that include learners who enrolled prior to the class’s migration to the 1-on-1 class format, those learners will continue to be charged the price as set when they enrolled. Learn more here.
When will parents see classes in this new format?
As soon as you create a new class or migrate an existing class using the 1-on-1 format, it will be live on Outschool and visible to all parents. Parents may begin enrolling using new availability tools to create their preferred class schedules right away!
We believe this shift to a new and improved 1-on-1 format will help our community continue to thrive and spread a love of learning across the world. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to send a message to our team at support@outschool.com.
