We all have those teachers who left an indelible mark on our psyche. Teachers who drilled past the doldrum of rote, mechanical rhetoric and managed to capture, magnify, and infuse ideas and their meaning into our lives.
They’re rare. Like, count on one hand rare.
Maybe it’s that teacher who made algebra make sense with pneumonics; maybe it’s the teacher who made history feel real and alive with their stories.
We all have those people who made us think differently and alter our approach. The “best” (ie most prolific) teachers sometimes come out of the classroom and begin to affect millions of lives. With social platforms, teachers and coaches can get their ideas across to a huge swath of the population. And there are marketplaces like Intro that promise to pair you with best in class professionals when you’re stuck on a business problem. But how do you know that the “best” in the world is the best for you? We’re all unique and learn in different ways. When it comes to tutoring, you really just need to find someone who can break things down in digestible ways.
What if instead of looking for the best teacher in the world, you could create a marketplace where people could find the best teacher in the world specifically for them?
We think River can help unlock this type of marketplace.
We’re using tutoring and teaching as an example here, but this idea applies to any retention/relationship business like therapy and coaching.
Here’s how we think River could help make this idea come to life:
Profiles verifiable onchain: Teaching is predicated on trusted relationships where the teacher’s acumen and credentials need to be verifiable and accurate. In short, in order to be a trusted tutor, we need to know you are who you say you are. And it would be highly beneficial to the recipient of the tutoring to pick the tutor best suited to helping them succeed.
Teacher reputation: River’s extendable reputation system allows for the implementation of trust and reputation metrics directly within the platform. Tutors and coaches can build their reputation based on peer ratings and feedback, which are securely recorded onchain. This system helps maintain high standards of service and gives students confidence in the quality of the coaching or tutoring they receive.
Smart contracts for results: Using smart contracts, you could capture tutoring progress across a student’s lifecycle. With this knowledge, a student would be able to see how other students progress with a particular tutor, how quickly they meet goals, and advance along their trajectories. You could find signal for how likely you are to retain info in this class (based on similar profiles) and you’ll be more likely to progress in a way that is aligned with your goals. These contracts could also allow you to hold money in escrow until you hit your learning goals.
Use River to game the system. This idea kind of gamifies the tutoring system and you could imagine creating levels and leaderboards within the platform. But it’s a game with a positive outcome; a more retentive student and the ability for people to find optimal tutoring matches based on the success of others. Hope you find some inspo here. If this sounds like the kind of idea you'd like to build out, head to river.build and make it happen! We’re here if you need us.
