CLOUD TUTORING

With entry to many Canadian universities requiring average grades of 85%, the market for private tutoring is taking off. In fact, Canada is a latecomer to this trend, says David Frey, whose teacher-recruitment startup Teach Away launched a web-based tutoring platform, Skooli, in September. “In South Korea, parents spend over US$1,000 a month per child on private tutoring,” he says. China, India and Vietnam are not far behind. Global Industry Analysts Inc. says the global tutoring industry will hit US$196 billion in revenues by 2020.

Teach Away started Skooli as a way to make use of its own talent surplus: “We had 8,000 teachers applying to us every month, but there are not enough jobs in the world to place everybody [in classrooms],” Frey says. So instead of moving, those who are interested can build a private tutoring practice from home.

By eliminating the cost of physical space, he says, Skooli can compete on price with storefront tutoring franchises like Kumon while also offering a selection of 850 tutors and counting—location not being an issue. The platform enables face-to-face video conferencing combined with whiteboard and document-sharing functions. Students can also record and review their sessions later. Today’s “screenagers” are as comfortable learning over a laptop or tablet computer as they are in person, Frey says. If Skooli succeeds in leveraging these trends, this market has room yet to grow.