As a sophomore at the University of Florida, Ethan Fieldman passed out flyers advertising a review tutoring session for an introduction to the managerial accounting exam. The fee for the session was an optional $5. Nearly 100 students showed up and paid the fee. The strategy proved effective. By the final exam, more than 400 students were paying a mandatory fee of $20 for Fieldman’s services.
“Ethan the Tutor” began offering review sessions for a variety of
courses and started hosting small tutoring groups with the University Athletic Association.
“I began giving small group sessions to student athletes on Tuesday nights and larger sessions for non-athletes on Wednesday nights,” Fieldman said.
Fifteen years later, Fieldman’s one-man enterprise has grown into StudyEdge, a Gainesville-based tutoring company that employs 230 people.
“We have a passionate staff that is dedicated to making sure the best education is available to every student by creating the best content and technology,” he said. “We are all about equity, innovation, scalability and helping students, teachers, professors, parents, middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities.”
StudyEdge serves 1 million students and 200 colleges.
While traditional tutoring is often one-on-one and is generally expensive, StudyEdge is an affordable option in today’s tech-savvy world.
“Price matters a lot. We are able to deliver better quality content and better technology at a fraction of the cost of everyone else,” Fieldman said. “We accomplish that by being innovative and efficient.”
Efficiency isn’t the only thing that sets the tutoring company apart. Fieldman notes that StudyEdge’s approach to teaching increases student’s ability to succeed.
“If you’re bored, you don’t pay attention,” he said. “And if you don’t pay attention, you don’t learn. We make learning a lot less boring, and in turn, increase learning.”
The UF College of Education clearly valued StudyEdge’s techniques, as it opted to partner with the company in the developing Algebra Nation, a free online resource created to address declining math scores in Florida.
StudyEdge continues to collaborate with the University Athletic Association.
“StudyEdge provides us with opportunities to optimize our content tutoring program with multiple resources for training as well as a way to conduct online tutoring that falls within our compliance and program guidelines,” said Kelly Bradley, UAA’s assistant director of academic support.
A benefit of StudyEdge’s online system, GoBoard, is that athletes can use it remotely.
“Our staff can tutor virtually one-on-one when student-athletes are traveling for competition, and we can monitor their success,” Bradley said.
StudyEdge also has helped the UAA find tutors for various subjects.
“The partnership continues to evolve as tutor trends and changes are taking place,” Bradley said.