When thinking of being introduced to tutoring outside of the classroom, many might picture a Kumon learning center or a tutor coming to their house. But what about a free AI tutoring website that is more efficient and has a better user-centered design.
High school seniors Arman Mokhlesi and Neil Pattainaik have achieved a unique accomplishment: making an online tutoring application, completely powered by artificial intelligence.
Mokhlesi, who began the development of the app in January and February of 2023 – around the time of the early ChatGPT boom – had original intentions of building a general AI tool for students. Later joined by Pattainaik, a close friend and fellow coder, they finalized on creating a virtual tutor for students who did not have access to tutors or could benefit from personalized teaching.
“I had been tutoring virtually…and was…realizing that my tutoring availability couldn’t meet the demand the students had for a tutor,” Pattainaik said. “So I joined… Arman… and vowed to create a resource that students could access…whenever they needed.”
Their efforts ultimately resulted in a final application, Tutorway. The app functions as a free online website, designed for high school to college students with the main purpose of teaching in an individually specialized process. Students can use Tutorway in a way that suits them for what educational assistance they need.
“Tutorway is designed to revolutionize how students learn,” Mokhlesi said.“We aimed to make the website…adapt to individual learning paces and…preferences”.
What makes Tutorway stand out the most is its ability to interpret information that it is given, rather than using general online information to give answers. Unlike other online AI websites like ChatGPT, Tutorway’s center feature is its ability to analyze documents, class notes, and even YouTube videos. In doing this, it can then present its users with the initial material designed for students, but explained in a way that can be easily understood.
“Real life tutors…teach in the way they know best, which can be different than what students are learning in the classroom”, Pattainaik said, “Tutorway takes… input from your uploaded notes, flashcard sets, lectures… and teach[es] you based on the methods you’re learning in class.”
Senior Jack Stebbins has experience in utilizing AI when making his stock-tracking application. He believes that Tutorway is an excellent demonstration of the potential of AI, and that its implementation would be particularly useful in general education.
“If it’s an…open resource to the public… I wouldn’t say there’s any unfair advantage,” Stebbins said. “Students taking advantage of their opportunities is already a part of education.”
To emphasize Tutorway’s student-oriented approach, Pattainaik and Mokhlesi coded the website to be as familiar to students as possible, with the application offering information through many mediums. Interactive chats, flashcard generation, writing assistance, and adaptive AI tutoring are all available to users.
“We believed that AI would let us create something that adapts to every student’s unique learning style,” Mokhlesi said, “That way…their education could be simplified to be more effective…while also being more enjoyable.”
Though Tutorway provides a holistic approach to learning, its tools might be seen as giving unfair advantages, or even permitting cheating for students. However, Pattainaik assures that this is not the case.
“Tutorway is not intended to be a cheating resource…we have specifically prompted our AI not to work in this manner,” Pattainaik said. “Tutorway’s AI is supposed to help teach students difficult concepts… to work towards answers and get a better understanding conceptually of what they’re learning.”
Tutorway originally had an ‘Essay Writer’ utility, in which students could have AI write essays on any topic. However, it has since been removed from the website due to it seemingly giving students an unfair advantage rather than providing them with assisted learning. With these types of advancements, students can use Tutorway to assist their learning, and not to take shortcuts through learning.
“I don’t think it is cheating because all it’s doing is making the normal research process a lot more efficient, and not as time consuming. It’s basically just creating a set list of requirements and assembling the data you’re looking for really quickly and really easily,” Stebbins said.
