“Empowering students to challenge education.”

Overview - The Big Idea:

Our vision is to create a new way of learning by expanding upon what is being taught in classrooms. Many people often have their own perspectives on issues that are taught within their classes but there is little room for free dialogue in the classroom setting. Students will be able to take the information taught in their classrooms and develop their own ideas by engaging in further discussion of various class topics in a web-based setting. Currently students are only able to elaborate on their perspectives on ideas in smaller sections lead by professors, conversations with friends, independent blogs, or other smaller outlets. This website would aim to have people focus more on developing their own ideas in a forum isolated from the conventional classroom environment while simultaneously creating the potential for students to earn money for their academic contributions. We will be creating a financially incentivised way to promote and encourage academic conversations enabling students to participate more with their education. Our ultimate goal is to provide the resources to take students' education one-step further.

Problem:

With the explosive growth of the internet, accessibility to information has increased significantly but people have not challenged the way in which we look at and internalize information. Many people are often exposed to information and accept what is being shown to them as truth without challenging themselves to reflect upon their own knowledge and thinking about how their own views differ from others. Furthermore, there are few centralized forums to discuss information that is being taught or presented.

Solution:

We will be creating a forum where students from selected communities will be able to actively discuss what is being taught in their respective classes. Similar to a blog format, where people are able to express their thoughts on a particular subject, individuals will be able to question and elaborate on theories and concepts taught within their classes. In addition to having access to relevant information about class subjects, students would be able to post their own viewpoints on various theories or concepts and critique the posts of others.