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Web portal connects students to tutors [Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates)](Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Teach Me Now is the answer to the overwhelming need among high school students for a personalised and easily accessible learning experience. From learning a language to teaching valuable skills, there is no dearth of startups in today's education landscape. However, good quality educational services at a reasonable price are hard to find. Possessing perhaps what can be called a genuine zest to impart quality education, upcoming web portal 'Teach Me Now' could be the best that technology has to offer in the field of online education in the region. A startup based out of Dubai, Teach Me Now is a global marketplace that connects student/parents to tutors online. "It is something like the eBay of private tutoring. Users can sign-up for the portal as teachers, students, and parents/guardians," said founder of the website Thea Myhrvold. "Teach Me Now is more than just an education marketplace. It is the answer to the overwhelming need, especially among high school students and parents, for a personalised and easily accessible learning experience, said Myhrvold. Packed with over seven years of experience in online education, Myhrvold wants to deploy Teach Me Now to break down the barriers of traditional learning and access to education, while making tutoring and skill transfer transparent, simple and fun to do. The website which is due for a soft launch in two weeks, will officially open to users in October. Teach Me Now is based out of in5 Innovation Hub, an environment that supports entrepreneurship and cultivates the development of the information and communication technology and digital media start-up ecosystem in Dubai. Myhrvold, along with sales and marketing manager of Teach Me Now, Sami Khoury, are working towards introducing the product into the UAE market before fully launching it in October. "Even though Teach Me Now is open to students of all ages, our primary focus is on high school students who need help to get into university," said Khoury. "Packed with a live learning lesson in a virtual classroom with interactive tools, we take care of everything from organising payment to scheduling lessons in different time zones," she added. The website currently focuses on one-on-one personalised experiences and each session has a live video, chat, and a real-time word document, which are used for virtual lessons. "The lessons are systematically saved for both the student as well as the tutors so that they can refer to it later," said Myhrvold. People who are listed as tutors on the website can set their own rates for the classes. "The rates are on an hourly basis. Like for example, a teacher can set a session rate for $100, but the student is charged per minute. In case there is a problem with connectivity, the student is not charged for the lost time," said Myhrvold. The website also pays special attention to special needs learners. "There is an option to change the font of the site for dyslexic students. We are also developing content to suit needs of children who are blind," she added. "We are also planning to launch the website in Arabic," she said. "The reason we chose to operate from Dubai is because there is such a high smart phone penetration in the country and the people here are very open to technology. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Smart Learning program is witness to the fact that students here are used to technology as a means of learning," said Myhrvold. "Any tutor, parent or student who wants to sign up they can register on www.teachmenow.com. We have amazing mentors and consultants who have really helped us get where we are today," she added. [email protected] (c) 2014 Khaleej Times. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |