Educational software

Hi CHOICErs!

Consumer Action has assisted a Somali woman to file a complaint relating to education software, iTutor Learning Systems.

The software was sold to the woman in her home by a salesperson representing Victorian Tutoring Services. Educollect Pty Ltd then took over the agreement from Victorian Tutoring Services.

Our client alleges that the iTutor Learning System’s services were not provided with due care and skill, and that Victorian Tutoring Services engaged in unconscionable conduct as well as misleading and deceptive conduct during the sales process.

Keen to hear any other experiences with Educational Software (particularly those sold door-to-door or through telemarketing)!

-JB

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Some years ago, friends of ours moved from NSW to Queensland, and looking for employment, became involved with what sounds like a similar company that was selling educational software.

The sales method was to place advertising material in stores such as takeaway food outlets. The advertising was created to look like a competition promotion - “Win a laptop computer !”.

Of course, once people’s details were obtained via the ‘competition entry form’, they were then contacted and told that they’d won a laptop computer, a home delivery was organised, and a hard sell of the educational software subscription ensued: “How can you put a price on your child’s education ?”, “For the sake of your child’s future, let me show you how to budget so that you can afford this.”

I was appalled at the sales tactics, especially as most of the prospective clients were from low-income households.

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Ugh - the lure of fake competitions is the worst!

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My wife and I were worried about our two daughters’ level of Maths at school. Thus we decided to explore options.
I personally am very skeptical of any out-of-school tutoring (probably because of unworthy experiences in my own childhood).

After doing some research we decided to go for the plan provided by https://www.kineticeducation.com.au/. After a year and canceling our subscription. I have wasted $1,442.04

key points:

  1. Could not cancel our subscription for a year! I should have taken that as a warning sign.
  2. Reward system for kids was pointless.
  3. They provided a week or two of free trial, but that’s nowhere enough to judge how it will be in the long run.
  4. Worst of all was there were exercises without good enough tutoring!

Overall, it was definitely not worth the money.
would be interested to know if anyone else has tried any other platforms/softwares.

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Welcome to the Community @Kaz-aus,

That was an expensive lesson. As an oldie it has been decades since I have had school aged children, but used Kumon for one with good results. (The link is to the Australian franchise.)

Two disclaimers, that was in the 1990s and in the USA but the program was simple and I could not imagine a great deal of variability beyond the personality of a franchisee because of what and how it is delivered. It did require some parental engagement to keep them applied and was rote and repetitive, all that contributed to its success. It may have changed over time so YMMV.

In fairness some programs cannot be assessed in a week or a month and it can take a few months for the student to ‘get with the program’ and improve in class. Not suggesting you are one, but some customers may expect instant gratification that will rarely be forthcoming. Improving maths is more a hard slog than a eureka event.

Tutoring or having a resource to ask questions of is important. However the old Kumon used such small steps from exercise to exercise and level to level (there were lots of each at the time) I do not remember if we ever needed it.

Thanks for posting.

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That is a lot of hours you could have spent with a one on one tutor.

While online education programs may have merit, I personally would recommend to start with a face to face tutor with suitable qualifications to do out-of-school tutoring. If they are experienced and suitably qualified, they should be able to identify any learning difficulties or deficiencies which may exist, and then tailor the tutoring to strengthen these difficulties/deficiencies. After these have been corrected, different learning techniques can be provided depending on the individual in question. Not every learning technique serves each individually equally.

Generally long term support and correcting learning difficulties or challenges, as well as developing good learning techniques a individual may need are not usually possible with a online type tutoring/education program. With a face to face tutor these can be adjusted continually through contact with the student.

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