Welcome to my first blog post! This week I am taking a look at a technology based, education, article. My #GEN2018 class was given a research task, to take to Twitter with the hashtag #edtech, and see what we could find. You can imagine how excited I was when I found this article, written by Tim Newcomb, highlighting the different ways the platform Outschool is making use of the internet, and the millennial obsession with it.
(The irony of the fact that, I, though not a millennial, was only able to find this article due to my ability to use Twitter in the classroom is not lost on me…but I digress.)
Outschool is a live, online learning, platform which connects students from around the world to other students and teachers. The founder of the start-up, Amir Nathoo, suggests that “the main goal of the platform is to offer diversity with the added value of human interaction” according to Newcomb. The platform has dubbed itself the “Netflix of learning”.
If you are currently asking yourself, “Well, what is so special about Outschool?” Believe me, you are not alone. I was struggling to see any differences between this platform, and platforms like Twitter, where students can also connect in real time with others. What makes Outschool so different from all of the other online learning tools?
Outschool began in 2017, and has presented over 31,000 classes to students around the world. The classes remain capped at 18 students, and the platform has maintained over an 80% attendance rate for the classes offered. While these are incredible accomplishments for a start-up…this is not why Outschool is so popular with students, or why they have self identified as the “Netflix of learning”.
Outschool fosters a love of learning through offering courses that the students want to take, and, because they want to take them, they remain more actively engaged. Some of the courses offered are architecture taught through Minecraft, Spanish taught through Taylor Swift lyrics, and animal anatomy taught by vet technicians.
By offering courses that peak student interests, through interests they already like or know about, on platforms like the internet, students are being set up for success. A bonus for teachers that work on the platform is the added freedom, from regulations, they find when creating courses. (And the additional income isn’t bad either!)
At the end of the day, Outschool is a prime example of how we as future educators can be using our student’s interests, on platforms they enjoy using, to teach them the material they need to learn!