Boston, Massachusetts – Aug 4, 2014 – United Teach (http://unitedteach.com) is a platform where virtual volunteers join K-12 classrooms and help teachers inspire kids to learn. Student engagement is the single most important success factor in learning, and guest speakers are a proven way to increase engagement in the classroom.
Volunteer without leaving your desk.
United Teach makes volunteering easy. Volunteers specify the maximum amount of time they’re willing to volunteer (the minimum is one hour per year), their favorite subjects (hundreds of topics to choose from range from simply reading books to astronomy, for rocket scientists). Once registered, the volunteer is displayed to teachers looking for a speaker with their expertise. Teachers email volunteers to discuss their needs, and assuming a good fit, schedule time for the volunteer to join the class via video chat.
United Teach is the second platform for startup educational technology company CrowdWorks, Inc. CEO David Bebko, a former Google marketing executive, explains, “when a class is learning about marine biology, online learning resources such as videos, articles, and games are fantastic. Nothing though beats a live dialog with a marine biologist. We’re launching United Teach to amplify the ability for these human connections to occur more often.”
Registration opens today, special offer for early volunteers.
Volunteer registration opens today, and the first 10,000 volunteers will receive an exclusive invitation to nominate their favorite school to receive the service free of charge for the entire 2014-2015 school year. Normally, the annual subscription for the service is $12 per class. Depending on the number of teachers, your registration could be a gift worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars to a school.
Registration for teachers is currently invite-only, and will open to all schools on September 15. “We have a chicken and egg challenge with these types of platforms” explains Bebko. “If teachers register and there are no volunteers, they may not come back. We have a number of teachers who will be testing the sessions over the next 45 days, but the platform will be fully operating after September 15.”
About CrowdWorks, Inc.
CrowdWorks is a pioneer in crowdlearning – applying the rapidly growing crowdsourcing model to education. CrowdWorks was founded in 2013 by a group of education and technology experts who recognize the continued importance of human-to-human interaction in the learning process. The company’s first platform, www.fluentlee.com, is used today by language learners in more than 110 countries. The company is headquartered in Boston, with an office in Singapore.
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