Experts offer free homework help online

No student shortcut
The common complaint from those running such services relate to students who see them as shortcuts to doing the work.

"Some will say, 'Show me how to do this step by step,'" said Sally Illman, an online math and physics tutor at Elluminate, which offers free services for customers of certain textbooks and for-fee tutoring for others. "Some people come in thinking they will just watch a movie and see someone doing their homework for them."

But Illman said many students are glad to devote the time once they adjust their expectations.

Some commercial services have shied from such offerings completely.

Scholastic Inc. opted to focus on teaching students good research methods rather than providing answers.

"Learning is not about immediate answers," said Seth Radwell, president of Scholastic's online division. "It's about figuring out how to get better at research and organization."

America Online Inc. recently discontinued a bulletin board where students could post questions, opting instead to let visitors search for answers prepared ahead of time on frequently asked topics.

"It's more efficient," said Jennifer Maffett, director of AOL's Research and Learn unit. "It's the way we can reach the most kids."

Some services, including AskMeNow and Webmath.com, blend automated responses with human-generated answers to serve more users.

Ken Leebow, an author who visits schools to educate parents and teachers on Internet resources, also suggests that students look through answers to frequently asked questions that many sites cull.

Fliegler, for instance, has a page with the basics on fractions, decimals and percentages and suggests that students check there first.

But for tougher questions, the 82-year-old Fliegler said he will keep giving individual responses "as long as I can stay alive and stay alert. It's good mental exercise for me at this stage of the game."

And if he's not helping students with homework? "I'd drive my wife nuts doing all kinds of things," he said.

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