Q: What is Guaranteach?
A: Guaranteach is an online math tutor. We have thousands of short videos which teach a range of K-12 math topics from Fractions to Calculus. Once you create a Guaranteach account, we'll ask you to take a short learning preferences quiz which will help us understand the way in which you like to learn. After that we'll help you learn by recommending videos for you based on those learning preferences.

Q: What do you mean by Learning Preferences?
A: Learning Preferences are the things that you care about when you're trying to learn. For example, some students like to learn about new topics from teachers who use a lot of diagrams or draw a lot of pictures to accompany the lesson. Other students prefer a lesson in which concepts are introduced by stories and through the use of analogies or metaphors. There are hundreds of other types of learning preferences which could include preferring younger teachers, a faster or slower pace, learning with music or rhythm, and many other possibilities. In a traditional classroom, students don't get much choice: the teacher will have a preferred method of teaching, and you'll get to hear it once. With Guaranteach, you can pick the way you like to learn, or learn from many different teachers who will explain the concept you're studying in slightly different ways.

Q: How does it work?
A: Guaranteach learns about each student through the Learning Preferences Quiz. Once you've answered the questions in this quiz, we'll have a pretty good idea about the way in which you like to learn. If you search for 'Lowest Common Multiple', we'll find a whole lot of lessons that teach this topic, and recommend the best one for you. If you don't like it, that's ok. You can jump to the next video with a single click of a button....and keep doing that until you find a video (and a teacher) that makes sense to you.

Q: Where do you get the videos from?
A: We get our videos from a number of places. Partnerships with other organizations, schools or non-profits and through our own network of video teachers who create math lessons for us. We always welcome new contributors, so if you have some interesting lessons or would like to participate, please drop us an email! Over the next few months, we will start accepting user-generated videos through the website, and we'll keep you posted on our progress with this new feature.

Q: How do you ensure the videos are of high quality?
A: All of our videos are reviewed by professional math teachers to make sure that they are accurate and useful for your learning before putting them on the site. We don't insist that every video must be 'world-class' as we believe that you, the users, will tell us what you like. As more and more videos arrive on the site - we believe the best ones will rise to the top and be seen by more people, allowing the best teachers with the most useful lessons to be seen by all. Like any system that relies on the wisdom of its users, it's not perfect - and we're sure that you'll let us know if you spot any little mistakes, so that we can instantly respond!

Q: How is Guaranteach different from other on-line math teaching sites?
A: We think there are two ways in which Guaranteach is different:

1) Customization: Guaranteach adapts to each student in a different way. Our intelligent software is constantly assessing the student and offering video recommendations based on what the student has previously watched, how they've scored in short tests and their learning preferences - there's no-one else out there like this.We've seen other 'adaptive tutors', but they don't adapt the teaching: instead they focus on asking questions, and adapt the difficulty of the questions based on your response.

2) Many Ways: Guaranteach has lots of different ways to teach each concept. If you don't like our recommendation, or if you'd just like to hear three (or ten) different teachers explain a new concept (such as Differentiation from First Principles) - then Guaranteach lets you do that. Sometimes you just need to hear an explanation a few different times, from a few different angles, to help you really understand it. That's what a good tutor could do for you. That's what Guaranteach will do for you.

Q: What subjects do you currently cover?
A: Math. All the way through from basic math (reading and writing numbers) to Advanced Algebra. We'll be adding thousands of videos in Geometry, Trigonometry and Calculus over the next few months.

Q: Are videos labeled with a particular learning style, so that if I find a teacher/style I like, I can continue using that teacher/style in subsequent visits?
A: Yes. We show you the author of every video that we have, so that if you like a particular tutor you can easily find their videos in other topics. We also let you select videos based on any learning style that you wish, so that if the system is not recommending you the videos that you like, you can find videos that are suitable for other learning styles.

Q: I have a question about a math problem/subject - but I can't find any videos to help me?
A: With over five thousand videos on the site, Guaranteach has a video on just about everything in the K-12 math syllabus. If there is something you can't find, that you think should be there: let us know and we'll put new videos on your suggested topic on the site within a few days.

Q: Do I need any special programs or software to watch the videos?
A: We're just like many other internet video sites. If you have a recent browser such as IE7 or Firefox 3.0 then you'll probably have no problems. If you're using an older browser, or you're finding the videos aren't showing properly, then you'll need to make sure you have Javascript turned on and Flash enabled. Not having Flash enabled is the most common reason for videos not showing correctly.