At the risk of sounding like I'm complaining, I would like to post the following complaint/query.
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I just looked at the list of the 6 courses/lesson titles that italki teachers are now allowed to offer.
I have the option of deleting any of the courses, except for one new course that italki forced into my list of courses without consulting me or asking for my permission and caused one of my courses to be removed from the list.
The unwanted/forced course is entitled "one-on-one tutoring".
If you are an English teacher, I would like to know if the same course was imposed on you by italki and perhaps causing the removal of one of your previous courses.
1 Go to https://teach.italki.com
2 Click on Teacher Settings
3 Click on Lessons
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I've sent the following message to italki support:
MESSAGE TO ITALKI SUPPORT
I want to add one course to my list of teaching courses, however, I already have 6 courses/lesson titles but I did not post nor do I want the "One-on-One Tutoring Course" that italki forced into my list of courses.
If italki insists that I teach this course, then kindly send me the course outline, teaching topics and teaching materials.
If italki does not have a description of the course, then remove it from my list (or give me the option to delete it from my course list).
I need to add a course that I have always offered and has been removed and replaced with the unwanted "One-On-One Tutoring" course.
Thank you
Richard
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What the heck does "one-on-one tutoring" mean? Aren't all, or at least most italki sessions "one-on-one?"
(My guess: it's a software bug, to make sure that a teacher who fails to create any courses automatically has one completely generic course filled in for them.)
John...
Thank you for your comments.
Svitlana...
Thank you for your feedback.
Now I know that I'm not alone in this matter.
In my case, my original 5 Courses/Lessons all have a pencil/pen icon which allows me to edit the lesson descriptions plus a button that looks like a trash can that can be used to delete a course/lesson.
Your situation is even different than mine.
Things on italki keep getting stranger and stranger... and that's unfortunate.
I have been a programmer since 1976, and never used the term 'bug' or the
related term 'debugging'. I believe (I'm not sure about that) that Chinese or
Japanese use 'error' in their language.
Of course I did many errors while programming, and know how sometimes
spotting them can be a real burden. The correction part is usually easy,
unless the problem is related to a wrong understanding of what the software
should achieve.
'Bugs' have an independent life from the programmer, 'errors' do not have
this quality.
I understand that these considerations are not really centering the issue, but
the programmers should have our admiration for their imagination and for
getting things done, and also take responsibility for the software behaviour,
and this is in the optimistic assumption that the development process
gave them enough time to do things properly.
Thanks, Richard for raising your concern about these issues, which I believe
should be taken in very serious consideration for what, I am sure, will
happen in a future that is right now and is not in a hurry to manifest itself.
Note I am not a teacher but aren't all italki lessons "one on one" by the very nature of them begging conducted online via Skype or another application. There is only me and the teacher teaching and learning together one on one.
I suspect like Dan it is a software bug in that the wording is not clear. (no apologises for slightly ancient English phrasing maybe?)
I will see what happens next time I try to book any lessons to see if anything has changed, as soon as the pre booked lessons are over. That I booked before the announcement.
