Tutoring classes let families book personalized learning time based on a teacher’s availability. A tutoring enrollment may include one scheduled tutoring meeting or a recurring tutoring schedule, which is a set of weekly tutoring meetings for the same learner.

This article explains how to make changes to a tutoring class after it is active.

NOTE:

Tutoring availability controls when families can book tutoring meetings with you and how those meetings appear once they are scheduled.

Use the Availability tab for the tutoring class to set and edit tutoring availability for a single date, a date range, or a particular day of the week. You can also control the minimum notice time for when an enrollment can be accepted and the start-time increments that appear on the listing page.

Tutoring availability can be scheduled up to 90 days in advance, though you may choose to allow families to book for a shorter time period. We recommend scheduling bookable dates as far in advance as possible, up to 90 days, to increase your availability for families when enrolling.

Open tutoring availability does not appear on your teaching schedule. Once a family books a time or accepts a meeting request, that time becomes a scheduled tutoring meeting and appears on your schedule.

If your selected availability overlaps with a group section that has 0 enrolled learners, families can schedule tutoring meetings during that time slot. When you receive a tutoring enrollment that overlaps with an empty group section, Outschool will set the group section to private and notify you by email.

You can update the conflicting group meeting times before re-listing the section as public or cancel the section if it is no longer needed..

Teachers can add individual tutoring meetings, reschedule or cancel tutoring meetings, or stop a full tutoring section. Use the action that matches the change you need to make, and make any cancellations or schedule changes at least 24 hours before the affected meeting begins unless you have an extenuating circumstance.

For holidays, personal travel, or other planned absences, update affected tutoring meetings in advance and communicate clearly with the family so they understand the updated schedule and what to expect next.

A learner’s tutoring enrollment can be adjusted; use this section to withdraw one learner, transfer one learner, or update one learner’s tutoring price.

Before withdrawing a learner from a tutoring section, communicate with the family and consider whether another option would better resolve the situation, such as offering a makeup meeting, suggesting a different tutoring time, or offering a refund.

If you withdraw a learner, notify the family, explain the reason for the withdrawal, and refund any prepaid meetings that will not be taught. When a learner is withdrawn, they will lose access to the classroom and class content.

If you have not yet received a payout for the learner’s enrollment, you can withdraw the learner from the section following these steps:

Important Note: Once you have received a payout for that enrollment, the Withdraw option will no longer appear. Contact Outschool Support and ask to speak to a live representative for assistance in having the learner withdrawn.

Transfer a learner only at the family’s request or with their consent. Transfers are available between sections of the same tutoring class. A learner cannot be transferred to a different class.

To transfer a learner:

Payments from the original enrollment are automatically applied to the destination section.

Use the learner’s tutoring enrollment to update the price for future tutoring meetings.

To change a learner’s tutoring price:

After you update a learner’s tutoring price, the family receives an email about the price change. The new price applies only to future tutoring meetings and does not affect meetings the family has already paid for.

Updating the price also cancels all upcoming unpaid tutoring meetings. If the learner had a recurring tutoring schedule, suggest the recurring meeting time again so the family can confirm future meetings at the new price.

To add a tutoring meeting, follow these steps:

The family must confirm the new meeting before it is added. While the family reviews the meeting, the meeting time is temporarily held for that learner and is not available for other families to book. If the family does not confirm within 3 days, the meeting time is released back to your availability.

NOTE: For learners enrolled through a charter school, teachers cannot suggest additional meeting times. The family must coordinate with their school to add meetings to the learner’s enrollment. You can direct families to their charter school’s instructions for adding meetings.

Canceling one tutoring meeting removes that scheduled meeting only. It does not stop the full tutoring section.

When a teacher cancels a scheduled tutoring meeting, the family is automatically refunded for that session. Canceling future tutoring meetings also stops future weekly payments for those meetings.

If your tutoring class depends on learner-provided content, set clear expectations with families in advance. You may require families to submit materials at least 24 hours before class so you can cancel with at least 24 hours’ notice if needed. Late cancellations may result in an incident unless there is an extenuating circumstance.

To cancel a tutoring meeting, follow these steps:

NOTE: For parent-initiated cancellations, families should cancel using the parent instructions outlined here. Refunds will be processed automatically if they qualify under Outschool’s refund policies.

To reschedule a tutoring meeting, follow these steps:

The family must confirm the new time before the tutoring meeting is rescheduled. While the family reviews the reschedule request, the new meeting time is temporarily held for that learner and is not available for other families to book.

If the family does not confirm within 3 days or declines the reschedule, the meeting remains at its original time and the new meeting time is released back to your availability. If the reschedule is not approved and the meeting is not canceled, it will count as a missed class.

The duration of an already-scheduled tutoring meeting cannot be edited directly. If a meeting was booked at the wrong length, you have two options:

If your class listing itself is set to the wrong default meeting length, you can update the duration in your class listing. This will not affect meetings already scheduled, but it will apply to new meetings booked after the change.

The Stop button is available to teachers when they would like to cancel or stop an entire tutoring class section.

Teachers should use Stop only when they intend to end the full tutoring class section. Once Stop is pushed, the section will stop at the end of the current week rather than immediately. Any meeting scheduled before that time may remain on the section and still be treated as a meeting you are expected to teach.

Note: Do not select Stop to cancel the final meeting from a tutoring section if the intent is to reschedule it.

To stop a full tutoring section, follow these steps:

When you select Stop:

If the scheduled tutoring meeting time has passed, the family cannot reschedule that meeting themselves. Tutoring makeup meetings are not automatic, but teachers may choose whether to offer one.

If you choose to offer a makeup meeting, add or propose a new tutoring meeting time. The family must accept the new meeting before it is added. Accepting the new meeting triggers a charge for the new tutoring session.

Private tutoring meeting links let you create a one-time, personalized meeting time for a specific learner. Only share private tutoring meeting links for times you are fully prepared to teach. You can create private meeting times from the Availability tab and share the link directly with a family.

Private tutoring meeting links work differently from public tutoring availability. When you share a private meeting link, your tutoring class’s minimum notice time and buffer window do not apply. Families can use a private meeting link to enroll up until the meeting start time, even if your class normally requires advance notice.

Private meeting links expire 7 days after the meeting is created. If the family does not enroll within 7 days, you will need to send a new private meeting link.