Can we talk for a moment about this big change that is about
to happen on 2nd April? If I have to be honest I don't see the point of Instant
tutoring removal? I don't believe this is a profitable move for Italki, so I am
quite confused.
The announcement starts with "You may remember that last year we released
the <a href="https://beta.italki.com/">beta.italki.com</a> and
promised to release optimized features for teachers in the future. On April
2nd 2019 we will be releasing a new teacher site,
teach.italki.com." and then we can see that one of the changes is:
- Instant Tutoring will be removed and will be
replaced with a new and improved feature in the future.
<o:p></o:p>
So my question is: Will Instant tutoring will be unavailable for a year, since last time they said "in the future" that is how long it took. :/<o:p></o:p>
it's a shame to shut this down, as many teachers and students find this a useful tool. I have some students who ONLY use Instant Tutoring, because of the flexibility.<o:p></o:p>
- 45 minute and 90 minute lesson
durations will be removed due to low demand and to simplify
the lesson booking process.
<o:p></o:p>
Removing the 45 and 90 minute options surely is just reducing choice and flexibility for the customer? There are students that take 45 minute lessons on their lunch breaks and sometimes a 60 minute lesson is not sufficient to meet the objective of the class.<o:p></o:p>
Are you really trying to tell us that people don't understand the difference between 45 and 60 minutes? I'm not sure how this complicates the booking process at all. <o:p></o:p>
- The previous category named
Informal Tutoring will be renamed Conversation Practice. Any
changes made to Conversation Practice will not appear on italki.com other than
the price.
Informal tutoring is NOT only Conversation Practice:Informal tutoring is
way more than just Conversation Practice. I prepare my lessons more that my
lessons actually last sometimes. I put a lot of work and effort in finding the
best way possible to help my students. Grammar, tenses, CV translates,
role-play for an interview, you name it and it can be found in Informal tutoring.
This "Conversational Practice" is kinda offensive if I have to be
perfectly honest. I am not having a coffee and chating with my students, sure
there are some who make our job way easier and who really just want to talk
with you, but in most cases that is not the case!
<o:p></o:p>
Community Tutors<o:p></o:p>
<ul style="margin-top:0cm" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal">Community Tutors will be able to create 3 lesson categories under the new lesson categories General and Conversation Practice. <a href="http://italki.com/">italki.com</a> allows the creation of 1 lesson category, <a href="http://teach.italki.com/">teach.italki.com</a> allows the creation of 3 lesson categories. Of the 3 lesson categories on <a href="http://teach.italki.com/">teach.italki.com</a> only the 1st lesson category will be shown on <a href="http://italki.com/">italki.com</a>On a positive note the additional categories for Community Tutors is a useful development so thank you for that.<o:p></o:p></li> </ul>
If italki moves to Facebook, they'll do it without my participation.
I refuse to use Facebook because it exists only to steal as much of our private information as possible, then sell it to anyone and they have no qualms about doing business with any entity, no matter how corrupt.
Facebook is corrupt and despicable and I will never have anything to do with that quasi-criminal organization.
@Su.Ki.
If your prediction is correct, I say one more change should be made:
"Italki is no longer changing the way the world learns foreign languages."
Stasa said: From what I understood there are going to be two sites.
I am fairly sure that there will not be two sites. At least, not for long.
They're going to force teachers, tutors and students to move over to their new site. Paid lessons, of course, is the only thing that interests them, as it this is their source of income. There'll be two sites for a short period, and then they are going to close this site.
This means that there will be no more community: no questions and answers, no discussions or notebook. This makes sense from a business perspective : why should they waste time and resources maintaining a bothersome feature that doesn't make any money for them?
As soon as the new site is up and running, they'll shut this one down at tell everyone that the community is now on Facebook. And that'll be the end of italki as we know it. It'll become a money-making marketplace like so many other sites, and everything we have shared here will be lost.
https://www.italki.com/discussion/193214
