Problem
The measures worldwide imply that primary and high school students and their teachers have to stay home more often. This means that students do not get a chance to interact with their teachers as often as before. In developed countries, most parents are capable of helping their children with their school subjects. However, the parents’ efforts might not be enough sometimes. or they might simply not have enough time to help their children struggling with a subject in school. Given the fact that many university students have to stay home during the times of corona, helping younger students can allow them to have an interactive time while they engage in knowledge transfer.
Solution
We are introducing a platform where students can match with mentors. It is easy for both parties to sign up in their respective category. The student makes a request to match with a mentor. Their request includes details about the subject they are struggling with and their language of preference. Mentors with the fit areas of expertise and language requirement will get notified about the student request. After their first interaction, they can choose to continue with the process or deny. Even though our platform involves video calls and chat options, there will be recommendations to other useful sources. After the session, each of the parties receives a badge based on the other person’s feedback.
Over the weekend we initially had a brainstorming session and came up with a very broad idea for a product. Since the initial idea was too broad, the team decided to narrow it down to a basic level, to begin with, and to include some of the features as a possible future development. The team then started having discussions in order to draw out a clear map, how the user experience will look like. Then our graphic designer started developing the prototype while the other two worked on explaining the details and making sure the whole process will be smooth.
The solution’s impact to the crisis
Having an online network that can allow students to connect with mentors to enhance their academic performance while they have to take part in remote education. Working and studying from home can be a huge challenge, and due to the current circumstances it's complicated to personalize the service provided to students so we can respond to their individual needs in the best possible way. Mentor.me will help to provide this quick and effective assistance to students that require help and mentors will get the opportunity to share their knowledge and acquire oficial experience that can be recognized and added to their CVs.
Business plan
The platform will be offered for free to all users. There will be no form of payment initially during the corona crisis period. We expect the demand and supply to be high during this period. On one hand, elementary and secondary education students can use the service to practice the topics they are struggling with. During the corona period, our team expects a high number of students willing to have a one on one discussion about the topic with an expert. On the other hand, higher education students have more free time by staying home so they can enjoy the challenge of transferring their knowledge to younger students. After the “crisis” stage of the pandemic is over, the mentors will get the chance to ask for a small price based on their badges and past recommendations. Therefore, creating a form of competition between mentors to strive for a better service. The payment amount will be small so that students can afford it. At the end of every quarter, the mentors with the best recommendations will be shown in a leaderboard. To be at the top of the leaderboard means that a mentor has great service and therefore more students will be willing to approach the person.
Built With
- android-studio
- figma
- photoshop