http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB20001424052702303763804579186043194947628
With Digital Tutors, Solving Calculus Problems Via Text
By SUE SHELLENBARGER
Wall Street Journal
November 13, 2013

It's a nightly dilemma in many households: A student hits a wall doing homework, and parents are too tired, too busy—or too mystified—to help.

Ordering up a tutor is becoming as easy for kids as grabbing a late-night snack. Amid rapid growth in companies offering online, on-demand tutoring, students can use a credit card to connect, sometimes in less than a minute, with a live tutor. Such 24/7, no-appointment-needed services can be especially helpful to students with tight budgets or tight time frames or those in remote areas.

"All of a sudden, the world opens up to them," says Michael Horn, executive director of education for the Clayton Christensen Institute, a San Mateo, Calif., education and health-care think tank.

That said, the quality of on-demand scholastic support can be uneven, and the catch-as-catch-can approach to enlisting a tutor may not be best for struggling students who need sustained help. Sessions can bog down on technical glitches, and language barriers can cause problems on sites that rely on tutors from abroad.

Prices, ranging from about $24 to $45 an hour (and often prorated to the minute), are cheaper than what many skilled tutors charge in a student's home. And parents and students say the quick homework fix can ease stress and make evenings at home more peaceful.

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My children have taken online courses, some with live instruction, but have not yet used "digital tutors". I see the benefits in cost and convenience, but it is easy for tutoring to become having someone else do the student's work, which is unethical and which also leaves a student unprepared for tests. The article mentions a Yale student who used a tutoring service in high school and now works as a tutor for eight hours a week. I have read on College Confidential of bright high school students making good money tutoring.