Crowdsourcing brings together a large group
of individuals to find solutions for needed services, ideas, or content. Now, a
Polish ed-tech firm has created a “crowdlearning” website, an online community
where students can share their insights on one subject in exchange for help
with another.
Brainly,
originally launched in 2009 under the name Zadane.pl, targets middle- and high-school
students with a Q&A platform that provides peer-to-peer help. In an effort
to balance the number of answers with the questions, students earn points for
answers and can then use those points to ask questions.
“Our advantage is fast answers,” Michal
Borkowski, Brainly co-founder and CEO, told The Next Web.
”Generally, if the question received an answer, it’s there in 80% of examples
in 10 minutes. Competitors at the U.S. market are way slower.”
Since changing its name to Brainly in 2012,
the company has developed sites for students in 13 countries. It has more than
20 million users worldwide and nearly 60,000 in the United States since its
launch here earlier this year.
“It’s interesting that math tops almost
every country’s most popular subject, but then the more you think about it, the
more it makes sense,” Borkowski told Forbes.
“There is often more than one way to arrive at the correct answer to a math
problem, and this is where peer-to-peer learning can really deliver value.”
