Supercool School Is, Well, Supercool

by Nathaniel Whittemore · 2009-11-17 21:00:00 UTC
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Education is one of the areas I think is most ripe for tech-minded social entrepreneurs to democratize learning and unleash talent. With the launch of the new platform Supercool School, anyone can set up a school, recruit teachers and students, and organize live classes.

The idea is pretty basic. Sign up for an account, plan classes, visit the education marketplace to see what is already available and what people are looking for, and go to it. Starting a school is a monthly cost, but the classes themselves are free for users. Everything is connected via video and text based chat.

The guys behind the project have a serious passion for education, and are clearly focused on enabling more people to learn. I wonder what type of people are going to want to pay for the ability to give classes without the ability to recoup the cost. I could possibly see companies like consulting firms using it as a tool for brand building, but it will be interested to see who else joins. It seems like part of the plan is to offset the costs of the general consumer facing tool with an enterprise service for internal corporate use.

This is a maturing space, and Supercool School joins peers like eduFire, School for Everything, and others. While it's not clear yet who has exactly the right formula, it's exciting to see so much activity in this important area.

Nathaniel Whittemore is the founder of Assetmap. Previously he was the founding director of the Northwestern University Center for Global Engagement.
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