There are many articles on outsourcing tutoring now a days. A good example is the article in NYT.
I find this trend very interesting. The traditional classrooms are an example of ‘broadcast’ metaphor of teaching. In experiential learning there is more emphasis on learning. Learning is more student oriented. Tutoring is effective in most cases because it is one-on-one mechanism in which a learner interacts with the teacher and this results in more interactive and experiential learning. By taking tutoring to an outsorcing model, one can encourage this interactive learning in situations where enough tutors are not available at a geographic place where they are needed, but are available in another place. Cost is the result of scarcity and currency differential rates so we will not talk about that.
This article mentions that:
Using a simulated whiteboard on their computers, connected by the Internet, and a copy of Daniela’s textbook in front of her, she guides the teenager through the intricacies of nouns, adjectives and verbs.
This is the beginning. Here we are seeing the first steps in technology. As things evolve soon we will see much more experiential techniques using audio, video, text, and other online interaction mechanisms. And these will result in powerful experiential environments for learning — much better than a regular class room.