Category: Topical

The following insight was not written by ChatGPT…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly becoming a powerful and transformative technology, and its impact is being felt in many different industries and fields, including education. As AI continues to advance and evolve, it is likely to have a significant impact on the way that students learn and the style of examinations that they will sit in the future. This insight aims to provide both students and parents alike realise both the positives and negatives of AI in education, including the ways in which it can be utilised to maximise learning and development.

Personalised Learning

One of the main ways that AI will change education is by providing personalised and adaptive learning experiences for students. AI algorithms can analyse a student’s individual strengths and weaknesses and create a customised learning plan that is tailored to their specific needs. This approach can help students learn more effectively and efficiently and can help them progress at their own pace.

AI’s ability to enhance accessibility ensures that education is accessible for all. For example, AI technology can help SEND students access and interact with educational materials, a feat that may not have been possible in the past.

Practise, Practise, Practise

Another way that AI will change education is by providing students with more diverse and engaging learning materials. AI-powered educational tools and platforms can generate a wide range of multimedia content, including interactive games, virtual simulations, and video lessons. This can make learning more fun and engaging for students and help them retain more information.

There are many programmes that can be used, alongside teaching, to help students practise essay or exam questions in an interactive and engaging way. Our tutors are well versed in using these effective programmes to accelerate learning and help students understand how they can be beneficial to their development.

Lack of Human Interaction

One primary drawback of AI in education is that it can replace or reduce the need for human interaction. Although a valuable asset to education, it cannot replace human interaction, which is crucial to any child’s or teenager’s growth both academically and personally. Our tutors offer unique insights, experiences, and perspectives that, alongside AI, optimise learning and potential. From London to Kuwait, Drama to Computer Science, cradle to career, at Think Tutors, every student is equipped with an elite tutor to ensure both enjoyment and progress within education.

Privacy

Finally, there are also concerns around privacy and data security with AI in education. As AI algorithms collect and analyse large amounts of data on students, it’s important to ensure that this data is handled ethically and securely.

To conclude

AI is expected to have a significant impact on the education world and the types of exams that students will take in the future. By providing personalised and adaptive learning experiences, diverse and engaging learning materials, and dynamic and adaptable exam formats, AI has the potential to transform the way that students learn and succeed. However, it is important to carefully consider the potential negatives and ensure that AI is used ethically and responsibly in education.

Contact Think Tutors

Organising tuition or mentoring with one of Think Tutors elite tutors or mentors is an excellent way for your child to have unrivalled education. With a 100% school admission success rate, our teachers are adept at enhancing performance through repetition, careful preparation, and confidence building Please contact us if you are interested in finding a tutor to help your child feel confident and succeed in their studies.

We provide a diverse range of elite tutors and mentors that can ensure that all of our pupils feel motivated and inspired by education, from the early years to university. From math tuition to perfecting an essay technique, Think Tutors can help your family take a well-deserved break while taking care of education and learning. We can arrange for hourly or full-time private tuition to ensure that your child makes the most of the Christmas holiday.

GCSE Tuition

We understand that each child thrives with a bespoke education. It could be that a student finds that a difficult topic requires more attention, such as how to effectively analyse text in English Language or how to determine Algebra in Maths. Some may need revision sessions for an important exam or assistance with completing coursework to a high standard. The extra time available during the Christmas period allows for greater focus on these areas.

Understanding the pressures that a student may be challenged with, such as mock results before or after Christmas, can be eased with one-to-one tuition. We are passionate at eradicating such worries by instilling a foundation for learning that will both increase motivation, confidence and drive results. We can offer in-person or online tuition to provide a personalised service that works for the entire family.

A Level Tuition

Students completing their A-Levels are challenged by the pressures of self-study and individual learning. Although this is an important ability to master in preparation for university and life beyond school, it can be difficult to achieve without proper support and guidance.

We understand that examinations and coursework loom over students of all abilities. At Think Tutors, we can offer professional, elite tutors and mentors who provide specialist academic advice to alleviate stress and improve performance. With at least 5 years of tuition experience and unrivalled subject knowledge, our tutors are uniquely placed to ensure the Christmas period is as productive as possible.

University Tuition

Our tutors were educated at Oxbridge and leading Russell Group universities, thus we are acutely aware of how to guide pupils to academic excellence. With tutors covering every subject at every level, we ensure that your child has the best chance of success in coursework, dissertations, and exams.

With little one-on-one support available at university, students may be unsure where to turn in times of confusion and uncertainty. Our tutors ensure that students at this level can think critically and independently, instilling in all students a strong mentality and drive. Tutors and mentors are experts in their subjects, many of them researchers at the top of their fields. This enthusiasm is passed on to the students, who develop an unbreakable work ethic and desire to succeed. Students will enter the new year with a renewed sense of clarity and understanding of their course, ready to tackle any challenge that comes their way.

Contact Think Tutors

Organising tuition or mentoring with one of Think Tutors’ elite teachers or mentors is an excellent way to gain an advantage in the Christmas period. Our teachers are adept at enhancing performance through repetition, careful preparation, and confidence building. Please contact us if you are interested in finding a tutor to help your child feel confident and succeed in their studies.

Many of our tutors have been trained to help students across the special educational needs spectrum, including ADHD. The insight below briefly describes ADHD, before outlining how our tailored approach helps each student meet and exceed their educational goals.

What is ADHD?

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects people’s ability to concentrate on a single task for long periods of time. ADHD is mostly diagnosed when children are aged 3 to 7, but it can be diagnosed later on in childhood and also in adulthood.

Students with ADHD in the past have frequently been labelled as troublemakers, however, discourse is slowly changing, and both research and history show that many strengths are associated with ADHD. From presidents to painters, and actors to musicians, the world has been enlightened by those with ADHD and will continue to be. With specific regards to the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates; physician Albert Einstein; and polymath Leonardo Di Vinci.

ADHD in UK Schools

ADHD occurs in approximately 2-5% of schoolchildren in the UK. Students with ADHD have been stereotyped as easily distracted, often making careless mistakes, and disrupting the classroom. These students who have been wrongly stereotyped and who are also undiagnosed may feel isolated from their peers. However, the strengths associated with ADHD, and neurodiversity in general, can often help a student thrive in school.

Tutoring Students with ADHD

ADHD is increasingly seen as a unique way to unlock excellence. Our tutors recognise the ability to hyperfocus on tasks with enthusiasm, constantly acting upon curiosity, creativity, and intuitive thinking, abilities which are overlooked by many. With a wide range of tutors who have worked with pupils with ADHD, our tutors understand how to access this untapped potential.

Think Tutors investigate how the student learns best for both personal and academic growth. From bespoke learning plans to advice on independent schools that are best suited for your child’s needs, we pride ourselves on working with elite educational professionals to maximise learning and growth. We assess students’ current ability, identifying strengths and areas for improvement to provide purposeful tuition. Overall, we and our tutors place high importance on the students’ welfare to foster a healthy and happy learning environment for your child.

Contact Think Tutors

With a 100% school admission success rate, our teachers are adept at enhancing performance through repetition, careful preparation, and confidence building. Please get in touch with us if you’re interested in finding a tutor to help your child feel confident and succeed in their studies.

Masterclass and Short Classes at the National Youth Theatre 

The NYT provides incredible opportunities for teenagers to explore drama, theatre, and acting through their masterclasses and short classes. Options are available online or in person. Their ‘Start-Up’ programme, for instance, encourages young people to develop their potential (on and off the stage) by exploring a range of topics across storytelling, devising theatre, movement, music, and character. It’s BBC approved and, at Think Tutors, we highly recommend it too.

100 Days of Code: The Complete Python Pro Bootcamp for 2022 – Udemy

The opportunities for self-directed and assisted learning online are practically endless. With over 54 million students and 204,000 courses, Udemy is a well-recognised education company operating at the leading edge of online learning. Given coding’s importance as the language of innovation and technology, one of Udemy’s many coding-related courses could be the perfect gift for your gifted child.

Oculus Educational Apps

The Oculus range of VR headsets is pioneering 3D educational apps for the 21^st century. Exploring everything from human anatomy and Rembrandt to chemistry and Anne Frank’s house, the opportunities to view educational content beyond the limits of a textbook or Google images is astounding. This is an excellent gift for children who adore technology and are insatiably curious.

Shakespeare’s Globe

Shakespeare’s plays may be read the world over, but not everyone gets the opportunity to live and breathe the reconstructed atmosphere of where they were originally performed. Seeing one of Shakespeare’s plays at The Globe is the perfect way to bring the bard alive for his youngest fans, but it can also be beneficial for those who are struggling to understand his work. It is also because there are plenty of resources available on site to help such students better understand both the playwright and his plays. Indeed, Shakespeare’s Globe is well worth a trip to London on its own merits or when coupled with other adventures.

Bespoke Experiences at the Royal Observatory

You don’t need to live near the Royal Observatory in Greenwich to explore the night sky; indeed, there are thousands of observatories around the world that welcome public interest and youth participation. But, if you do happen to live in Britain, a bespoke tour of the Royal Observatory would be well worth it. There, you can arrange for your own private planetarium show and collaborate with professional astronomers to conduct your own observations using telescopes. For those who can’t make it there in person, there are online opportunities as well. These include virtual fireside chats with expert Royal Observatory astronomers as they transport you from your home to the outer edges of the universe.

Personalised Tours of Oxford and Cambridge

Our team of industry-leading tutors are available to curate bespoke educational outings for children, teenagers, and parents alike. With institutional connections to many leading museums, institutes, and universities, we can provide personalised tours by leading professionals and academics. Likewise, with dozens of our tutors having studied at Oxford and Cambridge, Think Tutors are incredibly well positioned to guide an aspiring applicant on a behind the scenes tour of many of the most famous and interesting colleges.

How can Think Tutors help?

At Think Tutors, with the assistance of the highly qualified tutors that we can offer, your child will achieve success. A number of our tutors and mentors are vastly experienced in working with multiple students from a range of backgrounds. If you are interested in finding a tutor to ensure that your child not only surpasses their academic targets but feels excited by education, please do get in touch.

The extent to which the Covid-19 pandemic has affected children’s education may not be fully recognisable for a number of years. According to research, 49% of parents and guardians felt that their children struggled with their education during the pandemic due to ‘limited parent/carer time to support’, 16% believed a lack of appropriate resources was the cause.

Educational Support

As a result, it is crucial to gain understanding of how to support your child to reduce the effects the pandemic may have had. There are various ways that you can offer academic guidance, from talking to other parents and obtaining advice or hiring a private tutor to help your child with subjects they might be struggling with.

As a parent, it can be overwhelming if you are unsure whether your child requires extra academic guidance and how you can guide them. We’ll cover the following topics to help you understand what you can do if you find your child is struggling:

• Signs your child needs academic support
• How to support your child at school
• How to support your child at home
• How can Think Tutors can offer educational guidance

At Think Tutors, we offer private tutoring support tailored to your child’s academic needs. You can contact us online to find out more about how we can support your child’s learning with online tuition, homeschooling or mentoring.

Signs your Child Needs Academic Support

It is also important to support your child’s learning at home, especially if they don’t enjoy school or don’t respond well to their teachers. You can offer them academic guidance outside the confines of school with the following:

• Tutoring support – One of the most valuable ways to support your child’s learning is to complement their schooling with private tuition. From online tutoring to Summer classes, Think Tutors provides bespoke academic support for all subjects at every level. Our exceptional tutors will improve upon problem areas, and can adapt their sessions depending on what suits your child best, whether that means developing time management skills or breaking down algebra equations. Contact us to learn more about how we can provide your child with the educational help they need.
• Homeschooling – If you are concerned that your child is struggling in school, you might decide that homeschooling is the best option for them. There are many benefits of homeschooling as it is convenient and tailored to your child’s academic strengths and weaknesses. At Think Tutors, our homeschool tutors are happy to travel around the world with your family to ensure they can support your child in the best way possible.
• Educational resources – There is a plethora of academic resources available to students, both online and physically. From practice exam papers to educational games, video tutorials to workbooks, there are so many opportunities to support your child outside of the classroom. You will also find many apps designed to provide additional learning support, whether it be with organisational and developmental skills, or offer educational guidance on specific subjects.
• Build their confidence – Children who are struggling at school may lack the confidence to improve and thrive. If you are wondering how to build confidence in children, start by talking positively about education and share examples of when you overcame obstacles. At Think Tutors, we offer mentoring support to help students achieve academic success in a happy and healthy manner and, in doing so, build their confidence. If your child is struggling with a creative subject at school, developing confidence is also a great way to nurture creativity.

Bring school to life – Using real world examples can give your child the educational guidance they need to understand a topic. It can put their learning into context and provide them with a new way of understanding it. You could take them to the supermarket to learn about percentages or to a museum to consolidate their knowledge on the Victorian era.

Contact Think Tutors for Academic Support

It is not unusual for children to struggle with school at different times in their life, particularly with the impact of the pandemic being especially hard on students. From talking to teachers, to building confidence, utilising educational resources and understanding the syllabus, there are many ways that you, as a parent or guardian, can support your child with academic guidance.

If you are wondering how to support your child at school in the best way possible, you might consider private tuition, such as online tutoring, homeschooling, or mentoring. Whether your child is studying for their GCSEs, A Levels or is in their younger years, we offer tailored tutoring services to provide your child with the academic learning support they need to thrive.

If you have an enquiry about educational support for your child, and you want to find out more about our private tuition services and mentoring, then please contact us and we will be in touch shortly.

The Case for Creative Learning

Parents around the world are interested in developing their children’s creative thinking skills and providing them with creative resources. Interestingly there are numerous studies in the field of linguistics, language pedagogy and second language acquisition backing up creative writing as an effective method that engages the cognitive part of the brain, develops creativity and benefits the development of foreign language learning. It has been shown that writing activities give language learners the opportunity to improve their word and sentence formation, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, cohesion and coherence.

Creative writing has been proven to engage both hemispheres of the brain, not only logic, strategy and organisation, but also imagination and emotion. Especially in the world we live in today, empathy, an aspect that creative writing not only relies on but also trains, is essential.

Learning Techniques

Language learning should be approached holistically as the broad picture matters as much as the details. Practicing creative writing in a foreign language helps you not only improve your grammatical accuracy and range of lexical resources, but also your sense of rhythm, imagination and humour. What creative writing can do compared to other language learning methods is that it encourages you to be inventive and make the most of the language you know, as you constantly try to find different ways to say the same thing or develop your ideas.

Sometimes less is more, so do not feel constrained or discouraged by a lack of knowledge. You do not need to be advanced in French or know all the Spanish tenses, nor do you need to master all the declensions in German to write a flash story or a short poem such as a haiku. A language learner does not need to have full control of the language studied to be creative, in fact, being creative helps you make the most of the little knowledge you have to play with. For me, creative writing activities are a true celebration of learners’ progress no matter what proficiency level they have.

Creative writing is a process: it takes time and dedication. Some people prefer to write their first draft as quickly as possible and then go through their text and edit it. Others prefer to reflect on each sentence written down as they had already decided on a genre, subject and format. Do not stress if you cannot come up with a good introduction: you can start writing your story fist and then decide on an introduction and conclusion at the end, once you have figured out the entire plot. What is amazing about writing creatively is that you can develop your language abilities without being under pressure, which in time helps you hone your skills. You can write a text based on your own interests, experiences, imagination and so it is one of the best ways in which you can counteract boredom. Not to mention that creative writing can be an individual, but also a collective activity. You can write a poem, a story or even a play online, with your friends, which improves not only your creativity, but also your communication and team working skills.

When you study foreign languages, practicing creative writing is not only effective, but also an enjoyable activity. It helps you break away from monotony, improves your language skills, nurtures your emotional intelligence and communication abilities and allows you to explore the language and the culture you are learning about without feeling under pressure. Creative writing helps you maximise your exposure to a new language, especially when travelling and social interaction are so limited these days. Step outside of your comfort zone and challenge yourself to write a little bit, if not every day, then once a week.

Academic Mentoring

Working with one of Think Tutor’s talented professional tutors or mentors could help you improve your writing skills, perfect your grammar, vocabulary, spelling and punctuation, hone your personal style, as well as identify your strengths and weaknesses.

Register

All higher education applications in the UK are made through UCAS (University & College Admissions Service). To start with, you will need to register with UCAS and make sure that all your details are correct.

Find a Course & Apply

Use the UCAS website to research and find the right course and university or college for you. To help you choose, we recommend reading as much as possible about the subjects you’re interested in and compare them. Remember to check the entry requirements for each course which can be found on each course page. This UCAS guide explains most of the higher education terms used in the UK system. Undergraduate & Postgraduate courses have different entry requirements and processes so double check the course you’re applying to for guidance.

Oxbridge Application

If you are applying for Oxford or applying for Cambridge (you cannot apply to both unless it’s for a graduate or postgraduate degree) then you will need to approach your application with special focus. We can provide expert advice on how to do this, offering services that cover everything from support on drafting your personal statement to conducting mock interviews.

Accept your offer

After submitting your application, your university or college will be in touch to let you know if you have received an offer to study, or not. Your UCAS portal will also be updated when an institution has made a decision. An unconditional offer means that you have a place regardless of any pending exam results. A conditional offer means that you need to meet the specified entry requirements in order to secure your place. This is commonly exam results.

Arrange Funding

There are a number of scholarships and bursaries available to international students studying in the UK. View the whole list to see if you may be eligible for one

Apply for a Visa

You may well need a visa in order to study in the UK. You can do a quick check via the Government’s website to ascertain if you require one. A student visa will allow you to live and study in the UK while you are on your course. There are two main types of student visa:

Tier 4 (General) Student Visas – for those over the age of 16 and looking to study at a higher education level.

Short-Term Study Visas – for students who want to join a course that is 6 months long, or, an English language course up to 11 months long.

If you’re looking to work during your stay, you will need to check your visa type and your sponsoring college or university as this will determine the type of work, and the number of hours that you can carry out.

Prepare for your stay

You’ve got your offer confirmed, a student visa sorted, now you just need to pack your bags and prepare for a life studying in the UK. Don’t forget to book flights and get student accommodation sorted with plenty of time before the start of term.