- With VTCV3.1, what does the human tutor coordinator still do?
If he/she wants to, the tutor coordinator can have complete control over everything that takes place in the tutoring system. At a minimum the tutor coordinator must activate new one-on-one tutors, schedule tutoring labs (if you offer them), set meetings for "Special" students (if you have a Special Student status category), run the Weekly Report each week, and finalize the generated payroll each pay period.
- With what browsers does VTCV3.1 work?
VTCV3.1 works with most browsers. All recent versions of Opera, Netscape (and Mozilla), and Internet Explorer should work perfectly. A few features (such as the tutor coordinator's simple scheduler) will only work properly with browsers that are capable of viewing IFrames (most recent browsers).
- Is the information secure?
All of the information in the system is stored in a single database, so it is necessary to secure the database itself. To have a secure transmission of data, you need to be using a secure server as your host. If you choose to host VTCV3.1 yourself, then you should place the database in a password-protected folder, or set your server to not serve the database at all. You can choose to have us host your tutoring system on our secure system, in which case all data transfer is secure and all information is stored in a secure folder. - What can be customized?
There are many different types of options and messages that can be customized automatically. The following is a list of a few of those features:- The messages on the top of ten different pages and e-mails (mostly for new tutors and students)
- Aesthetic details of the system, including the font and background colors for the system, the font type, and other color details.
- Many of your tutoring system rules, including the default hourly pay rate of one-on-one tutors, the number of characters in your ID numbers, whether you have different classifications of students ("Regular" and "Special"), the maximum number of simultaneous meetings with students in the same class a tutor can have, the number of characters in the course numbers, if you offer lab tutoring, etc.
- If one-on-one tutoring and/or lab tutoring is available each day, and what hours each is available that day.
- Personal details, such as what website (e.g. Yahoo or Google) you'd like to load automatically each time the tutor coordinator goes to the Tutor Coordinator Control Booth and the tutor coordinator's name and contact information.
- Course information, such as all of the subjects (e.g. ACC, MAT) that tutoring is offered in and what classes there is no tutoring in for "Regular" students, as well as the message to show to Regular students who request tutoring in the subject.
- You can also add your own tips for students and tutors!
- Evaluation questions and answer types (checkboxes, textboxes, etc.) are customizable for tutors and students. It is also customizable, when evaluations can be filled out.
- You can even set what day you'd like each week to start on (generally for payroll purposes)!
- Complex customizations will necessitate your contacting us, or modifying the system's underlying code yourself.
- If we want to add (for our tutoring center) - on our own - a customization that is not readily available, can we do so?
You have limited permission to modify any of the code used in your system, and you can also request modifications to the program. Depending on your purchase agreement, you may receive three free hours (must be used within 30 days of your initial purchase) of modification to Virtual Tutor Coordinator V3.1. To learn more about modifying the system yourself or about requesting customization, please go to the Support page for more information.
- How much space does VTCV3.1 take up on our harddrive?
All of the files, when first installed, require under 3MB of space, but once information starts being stored in the database, it will take up more space. The program should not take up more than 20MB in a system containing several hundred students/tutors. At the end of each semester the database should be backed up and partially cleared, using the ClearDatabase page, and then repaired/compressed. If you would like, we can host the program for you on our secure system, in which case the program will (of course) require no space at all on your system.
- How do I get it???
Just go to the order page and fill out the form, or contact us for more information! E-mail us at Order@TutorCoordinat.com.
(C) 2004 Guy Goldstein
