Boston University students looking for homework and studying help can now turn to a website that offers aid from tutors based in India, though BU officials warned of its potential drawbacks.
Syed Hussain, a Harvard University alumnus, launched Uprodigy.com, a website that offers help from business, math and science tutors in India for a low cost in November 2007, he said.
"A year and a half ago, when I was still an undergrad, I felt a need for this service myself," Hussain said. "I figured it would be helpful to students."
These tutors, who are available 24 hours a day, communicate with students via email and messenger services, Hussain said. He said every tutor employed by the site has a Ph.D. or master's degree, some teaching experience and fluency in English.
"We find really smart people in India and subject them to interviews and have them take many different tests to see what they are good in and how good their communication skills are in English," Hussain said.
Hussain said he is currently in the process of marketing the site, which is still in its early stages, to students.
To motivate students to use the site, Hussain said students can receive one hour of tutoring for free from now until the end of the semester. After the first hour, the service will cost $15 per hour.
Hussain said the best thing about Uprodigy is its ability to connect intelligent people, and said no one will be injured economically by his work.
"No one is going to be losing a job because of our website," Hussain said. "We're not reducing the demand for graduate student tutors. We are creating another market instead of taking one away."
Educational Resource Center Director Glenn Wrigley and Assistant Director Virginia Schaffer said although the ERC does not have an online service for students, the center offers students something better: the ability to connect with a tutor in person.
"Our mission here at the ERC is to develop a relationship between tutor and student," Schaffer said. "I don't want students to spend money on a tutor if they can't talk to him face-to-face."
Schaffer said she thinks Uprodigy would be useful for answering small, specific questions, but online chatting cannot offer the same clarity in-person tutoring does for questions with elaborate answers.
Wrigley said the variability between BU professors' teaching styles is a something the site is ill-quipped to handle because tutors in India cannot accommodate for stylistic differences without having taken the classes.
"A professor might stress points in which a tutor may glean over," Wrigley said. "[Online tutoring] opens the door to misunderstanding. It's not a problem of being from India. It's a problem of not being from BU."
Louisa Stelle, a College of Communication junior who studies with a Boston Language Center tutor, said she thinks Uprodigy would help for an immediate simple question, but it would be difficult for explaining certain concepts.
"It depends on the kind of course," Stelle said. "If you're in a general history class, it might help for the facts. But it is a great idea. If it's a way you can help students at a reasonable rate, then I think it will be a success."
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