Teaching · For Tutors

The first session
starts on time.

The first online tutoring session is often lost to technology: a phone with no way to show written work, an upload too slow for video, a call that drops with no backup. Check each student’s setup, and your own, before you start. The checklist reads the measured speeds against a planning guide and flags what to fix while there is still time.

Check a setupWhat you get
$5one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $5

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Tutoring business kit, $69 for 80 items.

Setups

The worked example is made up: a student on a laptop who is ready, a student on a phone with an upload of 0.8 Mbps and no headset, and the tutor’s own setup with no backup plan and recording without consent. Student codes, not names. Saved on this device only.

Loading the setup form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · For Tutors$5 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
A record per setup: student code or tutor, which side, device, platform, test date, download and upload speeds and nine checks. Reads the speeds against a planning guide for one-to-one video; counts setups fully ready; flags slow connections, phones and tablets with no way to show written work, no backup channel and recording without consent.
Who it is for
Independent tutors and tutoring companies who teach online.
Format
Browser checklist with a saved record per setup. Prints one setup as a family handout, every setup in a table or a blank checklist to send home; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$5 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Tutoring business kit ($69) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Tutors space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Send families the blank checklist a week ahead.
  2. Run a five-minute test call before the first session.
  3. Measure speeds in the room the student will use.
  4. Agree a backup channel.
  5. Check your own setup too.

Check a setup

Speeds, roughly

A planning guide for one-to-one videoSpeeds measuredWhat to expectWhat to do3 down, 1.5 up or moreSteady video both waysNothing; keep the same room1.5 down, 1 up or moreWorks, with dipsTurn off other video in the homeBelow thatFrozen video, dropped callsMove closer, or use audio onlyA planning guide for one-to-one video3 down, 1.5 up or moreWhat to expect: Steady video both waysWhat to do: Nothing; keep the same room1.5 down, 1 up or moreWhat to expect: Works, with dipsWhat to do: Turn off other video in the homeBelow thatWhat to expect: Frozen video, dropped callsWhat to do: Move closer, or use audio only
Figures in megabits per second, as a rough guide; video platforms publish their own requirements, and they change.

Showing written work

Math and writing tutoring depend on seeing the student’s work. On a phone or tablet without a stylus, a second phone propped over the paper as a document camera often works better than any whiteboard app.

Recording

If you record sessions, get written consent from a parent or guardian first and say where recordings are kept and for how long. Some families will say no; plan to tutor without recording for them.

Sources

  1. Federal Communications Commission. Household broadband guide: speeds for video calls (fcc.gov).
  2. National Student Support Accelerator. Tutoring program toolkit: virtual tutoring (studentsupportaccelerator.org).
  3. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. Guidance on remote learning access (tech.ed.gov).
  4. Common Sense Media. Privacy and recording in online learning (commonsense.org).

The worked example is made up. Speeds are a rough planning guide, not a platform requirement. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.