Julia Chubarova
17/04/2020
In response to the crisis and the closure of schools and fitness clubs a new educational startup was launched in Latvia. It is the online platform Educióne. The platform founder Nikita Ribakovs will tell us about the main functions of the platform.
1. How did you come up with the idea to create the platform?
For the last 3 years I have been developing online sports platforms. At the moment, in many sports, most processes are happening in the old fashioned way: information about tournaments is scattered across various social pages, athletes have to send emails, look for organizers' contacts, and, at the same time, organizers have to process a ton of information coming from different sides. The online platform solves all these problems and takes sports to a new level.
Then because of coronavirus, my wife and I thought about online education. I began to look for resources where I can find a teacher, book a lesson, and maybe download ready-made courses. And there were so many different resources. On one website you can study languages. On the other, you can find and buy a ready-made course. Also there are few online bases of teachers and tutors with contact details. But to book a class you have to call every teacher, find out his free time, which is inconvenient for me, as a client. But I did not find such a platform that would combine all the fields of education and all the services of teachers.
2. For whom is this platform created?
There are 2 main user groups on the platform. These are specialists and students. A student is a student, the one who wants to learn something new. He may not even initially know what exactly he wants to learn, but in our platform he can find something that can interest him, since we are not limited to one industry. We have teachers of different languages and school subjects, fitness instructors, consultants, chess coaches and many others.
Specialists is a larger group. First of all, this group is divided into two types: professionals and mentors. A professional is a teacher, consultant, instructor or coach with a professional education / certification in the field where he works. Absolutely anyone can become a mentor who wants to share their knowledge and experience, but does not have the appropriate education.
3. What issues and problems will the platform solve?
Students can find an individual class, group class, course, webinar or select a specific teacher and see all his services. All in one place.
Entering the platform, a student can watch a teacher's welcome video, get acquainted with the curriculum. For the first lesson with any teacher, a 30% discount is provided. Students can try and experiment. And if a student likes the teacher he can book a pack of classes with a discount. All is super easy and flexible.
For a specialist, 4 issues are solved: self-presentation, sales, advertising and management.
The teacher creates his own account, completes a portfolio, adds services, runs an expert blog. For example the student is interested in studying Spanish language and the Spanish language teacher writes an article in his blog about studying Spanish, which we repost on the main page of the website. A student reads the post, likes it and then finds out that this teacher is selling a Spanish course. Or, for example, a student bought an “Salsa for beginners” course, and then he goes to the teacher’s page and sees that he is teaching online Tango classes at a convenient time for the student, and there is a free space in the group. By just a couple of clicks the student can book his place in a group and pay for the class. No calls or waste of time.
The teacher makes an online calendar with the available time for individual lessons, sets prices himself. Even communication with the group is carried out through the system. For example, the teacher needs to convey information to the group or publish homework exercises. He writes an announcement on the class page, and only students of a particular group can see it.
It is also important to clarify that the lesson itself does not take place inside the platform, but in the program chosen by the teacher, be it Zoom, Skype or any other program. The student will automatically receive all the necessary information for access.
4. Why should people choose Educióne?
Our mission is to ensure specialists with work, sales and eventually, of course, with income. We do not charge registration fees for the platform from either teachers or students. That is, let's say, no one is risking anything.
At the same time, the platform manages teacher planning processes. The teacher does not need to bother with scheduling, think about how to get paid for the work, and so on. The platform will take over all this.
Also, the teacher is not limited to one area. If he is both an English teacher and a Pilates instructor - no problem. He indicates this in his profile and can safely publish and sell courses and manage classes in several disciplines.
Our uniqueness is that we do not work for one specific niche. A student can enter the platform, choose any category, teacher and start studying. If in the future he wants to continue to develop in a different direction, he again enters the platform and selects a different category.
