09
de Febrer
de
2016
Act.
09
de Febrer
de
2016
"Some 95% of what we learn happens when we teach." Thus said the US psychiatrist William Glasser, but it is also a statement that fits perfectly when talking about the Catalan start-up Sharing Academy. It is a project that has not only grabbed the attention of 48 Spanish universities and more than 3,500 students, but also finds itself in the sights of the jury of the Mobile Premier Awards as one of 13 finalists.
Its history begins with Jordi Llonch, founder and CEO of the start-up, who gave up being a test pilot for commercial planes to become an entrepreneur. "Everything came out of the degree in multimedia I was doing at the UOC a little before I gave up my work," he points out, "there was a subject I just couldn't make progress with, Programming, and so I decided to find someone to help me with it."
University work designed for university students
However, finding someone was not easy. In fact, he insists that this process required more time than switching the roles of teacher and student so that the subject became clear. That is what led Llonch to carry out some anonymous surveys: "I had a blog on which I posted about education and took advantage of that to begin asking some specific questions. With those, I realised that I was not the only one in this situation and that gave me the idea for a platform that puts students from the same university and doing the same degrees in contact so that they could help each other." This was where his final thesis for his degree came from and also the project that a little later Incubio accepted in its business acceleration programme.
While it is not the only platform that offers a service like this, Sharing Academy sticks out because it is the first in which the teachers are the students themselves. "They are university students who have successfully passed the subject someone needs help with, they know what knowledge is needed, what the book says, how to get the lesson across, what to look out for in the exam... We sometimes get to a teacher's level," says Llonch about the advantages of having former students in the role of teacher.
However, specific requirements are needed to become part of the platform and to act as a teacher: e-mail, verified identity, sending academic credentials to certify what you have studied and the expectation of receiving comments and recommendations. "We have different mechanisms for verifying that the documentation is real," points out Llonch to fend off any criticism, and he adds that it is the evaluations of users that help to give more visibility to a profile. In other words, the students evaluate the teacher and help him or her to obtain more medals, to appear higher up in the list of results and to gain a better reputation.
Adapting to the needs of the users
The more recommendations, the more possibilities exist to raise your price; that is how Sharing Academy works. At the same time, not everyone is looking to make money, there are teachers who do it out of a sense of altruism. Between the profiles that charge nothing and those that ask for 25 euros an hour, Llonch estimates that the average price is somewhere around 12 euros, "with a lot ending up at 14 euros due to the increase we are seeing this semester," he adds.
"The sharing economy shows the potential parity among equals," points out the CEO, about what is for the moment a start-up "for personalised and individualised learning." Nevertheless, he recognises that there are users who offer group sessions and the fact of being a "living platform" allows for this type of new format.
Where complaints on behalf of academies are concerned, he insists that there is no reason to fear. What's more, Llonch states that contact has already been made with some companies in order to come to some form of cooperation agreement and that some even look for teachers from among the portal's users.
Covering the gaps in public universities
The start-up keeps between 10% and 20% as commission, which varies according to the number of classes. Yet this is a very recent measure, as it only came into effect in January. "We began like BlaBlaCar, everything free and with in-hand payments, because we wanted to find out if it interested anyone. We have now seen that it does and have begun to charge a small part." And they have mainly done so to ensure that the teachers receives the money for the service they offer, a payment that was not always made. "We act as a depository and once we have checked that a session took place, we pay the teacher in question," concludes the CEO.
Today they have reached 48 of the 83 Spanish universities. "Getting to all of them is impossible, because there are smaller private centres where the community already know each other and it is easier to find an older student that can help you," he says about the coverage in Spain. That is why they target universities with at least 5,000 students.
Of Sharing Academy's network of 3,500 students, some 850 are already giving classes and some 43% of the students who look for help end up coming back.
Big Data in the university system
"We are collecting detailed information. On the level of knowing which person, which day and which time the help is needed. All of that, if you put it together, provides very powerful analyses that the universities love." This could be the second product to come out of the start-up, Big Data for use by universities to detect problems with specific subjects and lessons in order to improve the following semester. The result, therefore, is nothing more than "reducing the number of failures," Llonch points out.
100% public capital
Without business angels, loans or anything else, Sharing Academy has invested 200,000 euros of public funds to build itself up. "From money from the Spanish State to help from the European Union, and in large measure obtained thanks to help from the incubator," Llonch says, grateful for the work done by Incubio.
Given that it does not have its own capital, they foresee the turnover at the end of 2016 will help them to offset the staff expenses –a team made up of four people- and the functioning of the platform.
Moreover, they have the small boost of being among the finalists for the Mobile Premier Awards. "Our project was born here in Barcelona and we have continued to grow bit-by-bit until we are all over Spain, and being in the Mobile is a door to the world and will help us to see if the model can be adapted to a global scale," Llonch reflects. And, of course, it makes them think that in 2017 they could go to countries that have shown an interest, such as Portugal and France, or even possibly Latin-America.
Its history begins with Jordi Llonch, founder and CEO of the start-up, who gave up being a test pilot for commercial planes to become an entrepreneur. "Everything came out of the degree in multimedia I was doing at the UOC a little before I gave up my work," he points out, "there was a subject I just couldn't make progress with, Programming, and so I decided to find someone to help me with it."
University work designed for university students
However, finding someone was not easy. In fact, he insists that this process required more time than switching the roles of teacher and student so that the subject became clear. That is what led Llonch to carry out some anonymous surveys: "I had a blog on which I posted about education and took advantage of that to begin asking some specific questions. With those, I realised that I was not the only one in this situation and that gave me the idea for a platform that puts students from the same university and doing the same degrees in contact so that they could help each other." This was where his final thesis for his degree came from and also the project that a little later Incubio accepted in its business acceleration programme.
While it is not the only platform that offers a service like this, Sharing Academy sticks out because it is the first in which the teachers are the students themselves. "They are university students who have successfully passed the subject someone needs help with, they know what knowledge is needed, what the book says, how to get the lesson across, what to look out for in the exam... We sometimes get to a teacher's level," says Llonch about the advantages of having former students in the role of teacher.
However, specific requirements are needed to become part of the platform and to act as a teacher: e-mail, verified identity, sending academic credentials to certify what you have studied and the expectation of receiving comments and recommendations. "We have different mechanisms for verifying that the documentation is real," points out Llonch to fend off any criticism, and he adds that it is the evaluations of users that help to give more visibility to a profile. In other words, the students evaluate the teacher and help him or her to obtain more medals, to appear higher up in the list of results and to gain a better reputation.
Adapting to the needs of the users
The more recommendations, the more possibilities exist to raise your price; that is how Sharing Academy works. At the same time, not everyone is looking to make money, there are teachers who do it out of a sense of altruism. Between the profiles that charge nothing and those that ask for 25 euros an hour, Llonch estimates that the average price is somewhere around 12 euros, "with a lot ending up at 14 euros due to the increase we are seeing this semester," he adds.
"The sharing economy shows the potential parity among equals," points out the CEO, about what is for the moment a start-up "for personalised and individualised learning." Nevertheless, he recognises that there are users who offer group sessions and the fact of being a "living platform" allows for this type of new format.
Where complaints on behalf of academies are concerned, he insists that there is no reason to fear. What's more, Llonch states that contact has already been made with some companies in order to come to some form of cooperation agreement and that some even look for teachers from among the portal's users.
Covering the gaps in public universities
The start-up keeps between 10% and 20% as commission, which varies according to the number of classes. Yet this is a very recent measure, as it only came into effect in January. "We began like BlaBlaCar, everything free and with in-hand payments, because we wanted to find out if it interested anyone. We have now seen that it does and have begun to charge a small part." And they have mainly done so to ensure that the teachers receives the money for the service they offer, a payment that was not always made. "We act as a depository and once we have checked that a session took place, we pay the teacher in question," concludes the CEO.
Today they have reached 48 of the 83 Spanish universities. "Getting to all of them is impossible, because there are smaller private centres where the community already know each other and it is easier to find an older student that can help you," he says about the coverage in Spain. That is why they target universities with at least 5,000 students.
Of Sharing Academy's network of 3,500 students, some 850 are already giving classes and some 43% of the students who look for help end up coming back.
Big Data in the university system
"We are collecting detailed information. On the level of knowing which person, which day and which time the help is needed. All of that, if you put it together, provides very powerful analyses that the universities love." This could be the second product to come out of the start-up, Big Data for use by universities to detect problems with specific subjects and lessons in order to improve the following semester. The result, therefore, is nothing more than "reducing the number of failures," Llonch points out.
100% public capital
Without business angels, loans or anything else, Sharing Academy has invested 200,000 euros of public funds to build itself up. "From money from the Spanish State to help from the European Union, and in large measure obtained thanks to help from the incubator," Llonch says, grateful for the work done by Incubio.
Given that it does not have its own capital, they foresee the turnover at the end of 2016 will help them to offset the staff expenses –a team made up of four people- and the functioning of the platform.
Moreover, they have the small boost of being among the finalists for the Mobile Premier Awards. "Our project was born here in Barcelona and we have continued to grow bit-by-bit until we are all over Spain, and being in the Mobile is a door to the world and will help us to see if the model can be adapted to a global scale," Llonch reflects. And, of course, it makes them think that in 2017 they could go to countries that have shown an interest, such as Portugal and France, or even possibly Latin-America.