Case studyGiantommaso D’Astolto

NEST projectAlta Scuola Politecnica VII cycle

Teacheo

What is it?

French on-line platform for tutoring

It is based on web conference lectures

It provides help for students from primary school to university

The idea is to create an “E-bay of knowledge”, where tutors can be reached even remotely

Homepage

The homepage introduces the service to the web surfer, with sections concerning:

- Pricing

- System functionalities

- Uploaded material

- Teacher database

How does it work?

Students can find teachers in a database, where they are rated on the basis of previous lessons

After scheduling an appointment (or contacting an available tutor) the lecture is given

Finally the student pays the fee and rates the experience for future users

IT tools

Interactive whiteboardsWith equation editor, graphs,

3D drawing, screen sharing, calculators

Videoconferences and chats

for simultaneous interaction

Videoplayer audioplayer

for uploaded lectures

Strengths/1

Wide range of subjects, it covers all the needs for students starting from primary schools to university. This means that an user will find anything he/she needs and will less likely look for competitors

Strengths/2

Good use of feedback, teachers are rated by the students they help. A new member can always find information regarding teacher and have a clear idea of who to choose.

Strengths/3

There is no time box for lectures, students can use scheduling tools to arrange appointments with tutors and previous session are recorded in order to be watched again in the future.

Weaknesses

The service is not assured 24/7, because there is need for tutor availability.

Moreover the availability of a tutor in a certain time depends on the amount of requests and available resources, therefore it is fundamental to choose the service capacity

Business model

The service is on a pay-per-use base, each teacher has his/her own price per minute and you can choose the one that fits you the best

Teachers that want to sign up have to pay a certain fee, depending on how many functionalities they need and whether they want to use it for students they already know or not

Conclusions and take-aways

The service creates a good opportunity for distance learning.

The tools are very sophisticated and offer a wide range of functionalities

There is possibility of scaling it down to a smaller community in order to substitute private lessons and maybe using it for a larger group of students at a time.