Tutor Tech requirements policy

My Tutor Studio Inc. (MTS) was founded to offer life-changing tuition for all. Our site was developed with the aim for high-quality lessons to take place in a safe environment, and this is reflected in several key built-in features.

We’re committed to ensuring the highest possible standard of personal safety, well-being and safeguarding of each student and tutor using My Tutor Studio.

This policy makes clear what My Tutor Studio requires from tutors’ tech setup to ensure high-quality lessons can be delivered.

• Why do you have a tutor tech requirements policy?

• What’s your tutor tech requirements policy?

  Your internet connection

  Your device

  Your web browser

  Your microphone & speakers

  Your webcam

• How can I test my tech setup?

• What happens if I don’t use a suggested tech setup?

• What if I can’t change my tech setup?

The right tech setup is vital for the success of a lesson on My Tutor Studio. Without it, lessons can suffer from poor connectivity, including lagging audio, video and whiteboards, and can also make each of those elements of a lesson not work. These problems can be caused by any participant in a My Tutor Studio lesson: the schools, the students and the tutors. Tutors need to have the right tech set up for a great lesson connection. This includes thinking about:

• Your internet connection

• The device you’re using

• The browser you’re using

• The microphone & speakers you’re using

• The webcam you’re using

• Tutors are responsible for ensuring they have a tech setup that’s compatible with the My Tutor Studio platform.

Let’s dive into what your tech setup should look like to ensure lessons can run smoothly.

• See how you can get the most out of your internet connection here.

• You need at least 2 Mb/s upload and 5 Mb/s download speeds. Test your connection speed here.

• A Windows laptop or desktop computer

• A MacBook or iMac

• An iPad

  • Please note that Amazon Fire & Android tablets are not compatible with our platform

• A graphics tablet can be really useful (but you don’t need one!).

You should not access or deliver your lesson from a mobile phone! The lesson space is not designed to be used on mobiles. Delivering a lesson from a mobile phone will make it harder to interact with the lesson space and will lower the lesson quality for yourself and your students. It also risks the lesson space not functioning. If you're experiencing tech problems on your device, please contact our tech support team on LiveChat, who'll be happy to support you.

Please note: You need to make sure your device’s operating system is up to date with the latest version.

You should not access or deliver your lesson from a mobile phone or tablet! The lesson space is not designed to be used on mobiles or tablet. Delivering a lesson from a mobile phone or tablet will make it harder to interact with the lesson space and will lower the lesson quality for yourself and your students. It also risks the lesson space not functioning. If you're experiencing tech problems on your device, please contact our tech support team on LiveChat (bottom right-hand side of the screen), who'll be happy to support you.

• You should use Google Chrome, Edge or Firefox browser for lessons on a laptop or computer.

  • We recommend using Chrome on a Macbook or iMac.

• Your browser should be up to date.

• You should clear your cache regularly to keep your device running smoothly. Learn how here.

Please note: You need to make sure your device’s operating system is up to date with the latest version.

You must use one of the following:

• A wired or wireless headset/headphones with a built-in microphone.

  • Make sure your wireless headphones are charged before your lesson starts.

• The microphone built into your device with headphones for the sound

  • Using the built-in microphone and speakers together will likely cause audio echoes or no audio at all.

  
  

• Any webcam will do! Make sure you regularly do a software update.

Please keep your webcam on while the student is present for all lessons. If you are having tech issues, you should work with My Tutor Studio's tech support team to resolve it, rather than turning your camera off.

We will reach out to you if we notice that you are not using your webcam to teach lessons, as this can negatively affect the quality of the lesson.

Some pupils feel more comfortable not having their webcams on, and some schools may not be equipped with webcams. That’s ok, but please keep yours on even if they have turned theirs off.

We ask you to follow the instructions above to enable students to learn in the most effective way on My Tutor Studio. If you have any questions or are struggling, please contact our tech support team on LiveChat (bottom right-hand side of your My Tutor Studio account page), who'll be happy to support you.

If you think you’ve met all the requirements listed above, it’s a good idea to run a test on your device by trialling the lesson space. This will make sure everything’s working well. You can test your tech setup here.

If you use a tech setup outside of what’s mentioned above, the lessons you deliver will be at risk of being lower quality due to issues with the connection between you and your student(s).

The team at My Tutor Studio tracks the tech setup of all students, schools and tutors. Where there is an issue with a user’s tech setup, we’ll be in touch via email to let that user know and to find out if we can do anything to help.

Where tutors are concerned, if there are continued issues with lesson quality and a tutor’s tech setup has not been improved, we'll be in touch again to understand why and continue to offer support.

After two warning emails, if the tutor's tech setup has not been improved and there are continued lesson issues, then we may remove the tutor from the platform.

My Tutor Studio has a responsibility to ensure tutors understand the tech requirements for delivering great lessons on My Tutor Studio. We’ll work with tutors to support them to meet those requirements.

As a tutor, it is your responsibility to ensure your tech setup adheres to those requirements and to engage in the support offered by My Tutor Studio to help you meet those requirements.

If you do not wish to change your tech setup or follow the guidance of our tech teams, and the tech setup is causing issues in your lessons, then My Tutor Studio has a responsibility to its schools and students to remove you from the platform and allow tutors with the right tech setup to take over your lessons. If you later improve your tech setup, we will happily reinstate you on the platform, provided you can demonstrate to our tech support team that your tech setup meets our requirements.