Inspiring the next generation: A case study of TopTutors, Denmark’s leading online tutoring company

This is part of our Lessonspace Case Study Series. The purpose of Lessonspace is simple: Make Teaching Easier. We meet with dozens of companies, districts, teachers, and schools each week to understand how we can do that. The Case Study Series is a way for us to publicly highlight a small number of the remarkable people behind the brands we work with and share the interesting lessons they have learned and taught us, so we can share them with the world.

One-on-one and small-group tutoring has been shown to be one of the most effective ways for students to improve their academic performance and engage deeply with the lesson material. However, finding the right tutor continues to be a challenge for many students as, in most cases, they are limited to tutors living in their area.

TopTutors, a Danish tutoring company, took online tutoring to the next level and introduced an algorithm that matches students and tutors with a close to 100% success rate. Let’s find out more about TopTutors and how they help students succeed from the company’s co-founder and CTO, Elmar Jóhannsson.

The beginning

The story began when Elmar, co-founder and CTO of TopTutors, was still in school, experiencing first-hand, what it feels like to be in need of a private tutor.

"I wasn’t doing great; I was falling behind my peers until I was assigned a private tutor, and everything just clicked. But it wasn’t (only) because the tutor was very good at math; we had very good chemistry. He was more like a role model, an inspiration. So, I kept learning. This is what we want to spread to everyone."

Elmar and the other two founders have been teaching for several years and have realised how fulfilling it is to be on the tutor's side and pass on knowledge, spark “aha!” moments, and strengthen students' professionalism and self-confidence.

We imagine a world where every student has access to great tutors, having a long-lasting impact on their lives.

TopTutors: Online tutoring to inspire and help the next generation of students reach their full potential, no matter where they live.

What makes the biggest difference for students is the actual tutor they work with. Previously, you got the tutor who lived closest to you, instead of getting someone who matched your preferences and needs. […] That is the one parameter that changes the lesson.

One of the many benefits of online tutoring is that no one is bound to a specific location. As a result, the ideal teacher may live on the opposite side of the country and yet work with the student.

Finding the perfect fit

TopTutors not only eliminates distance problems by running the tutoring business entirely online, but they also apply a special algorithm to make sure the student gets the perfect teacher.

How does the matching work?

"We talk with the students and parents, and our algorithm matches them with the tutor that’s most likely to be the ideal tutor for them. We have expert education consultants who help us find the right match.

We want students to be happy with the first match […]. We ask questions about their interests, what kind of person they are, what is their motivation in school, what are their needs, and so on."

What’s the success ratio of the student-teacher matches?

"It is very rare that there is no chemistry on the first try. The advantage of doing this online is that we can immediately match the student with a new tutor because we have tutors from all over the country, rather than being limited to the 1-2 tutors in the immediate area.

It never takes more than 2 tries to find the right fit. On the first try, we have a 95-98 percent success rate. Finding the right tutor is crucial for the student’s success, as it is easier to develop a long-term relationship, check progress, and make sure the student stays motivated.”

Working with top tutors

"As implied in the name, we only want the top tutors. We’re a closed platform, so we don’t let anyone sign up to be a tutor. We look at grades and the best grades in your subject. Then, we run an interview process via Lessonspace. We look for good charisma and great teaching skills."

It has been proved that students work more effectively with tutors who are closer to them in age and share similar personality traits; therefore, TopTutors employs ambitious university students with high grades to provide students with a different tutoring experience than they would receive from a traditional school teacher.

To make sure tutors stay at the top, they receive extensive onboarding and training in how to become a better tutor, how to use the Lessonspace tools, and how to teach online more effectively. Due to this, TopTutors now employs over 300 tutors in Denmark and is rapidly expanding both within the country and shortly into nearby countries as well.

Challenges and success

The online tutoring industry is growing rapidly, so being young, open-minded, and technically skilled is a major advantage for the founders of TopTutors.

With online tutoring being almost non-existent before TopTutors in Denmark, one of the initial challenges for the company was to find the right solution for online tutoring. Finding the right tool is incredibly crucial to making sure the online space provides students with the tools necessary for learning.

It’s important to let the students actively engage in a lesson. To make it as good, or even better than having somebody next to them, drawing on a piece of paper.

Lessonspace offers a variety of different tools tailored specifically for online tutoring, with tools made to let students engage, collaborate, write, draw, and share ideas in real time.

The global pandemic pushed many students and teachers to try online learning for the first time, so after most lockdowns ended, many people wanted to go back to offline lessons.

"Even though we understood that some students were just tired of the online lessons, we explained some of the key benefits: one, students get a better tutor […] and two, they can use a platform that is made for private tutoring (Lessonspace). We can also offer recorded lessons for reviews, which becomes a better value proposition for students."

"We keep hearing success stories about how big an impact we have. I was talking to a dad whose son has had lessons for a few months and how that has completely transformed their self-confidence and motivation. The student reached the top of their class and successfully got into a good high school. That’s exactly why we do this – we want to think more long-term about the students and their future."

To find out more about TopTutors, visit https://www.toptutors.dk. For any questions about Lessonspace, visit our website or reach out to us at support@thelessonspace.com.