Shzam is built to help connect two important groups: learners who want to learn and qualified tutors who want to tutor.
Shzam is built with the understanding that one great learning experience can change a person's perspective - learner and tutor alike. There's a common saying in education: everyone learns at their own pace. Despite no one really disagreeing with this, courses in academia are taught at a variety of different levels and speeds depending on the teacher. It can be truly frustrating to know that you have the prerequisites, but sit through a course and realize that the teacher is not user-friendly or not going at an appropriate pace - too slow leaves a person bored, and too quick leaves a person confused.
Shzam makes it easy to connect with the tutor who you are looking for with lots of search filter and background information for each tutor. Shzam also provides an opportunity for more traditional types of education. We list "Group Lessons" or "Group Classes" where one instructor teaches/tutors a subject or classes. There's a lot of flexibility with group lessons. Group classes have a maximum number of 9 learners to keep an informal and friendly feel that promotes questions. Learners can also register for a collection of classes, that is, a course.
With any online experience, it's important that the software and devices being used is both efficient and intuitive. Our built-in whiteboard is exactly that. Drawing on the whiteboard is instantaneous - there is no lag or rendering. Communication is easy with built-in audio, video, and chat. The whiteboard comes with many different presets for different subjects such as math, coding, statistics and graphs, etc and, of course, comes with the ability to upload documents and use a variety of markers, pens, and styles. A learner can easily save the board for later reference and review.
One half of Shzam's goal is to provide learners with a flexible and personalized experience from a professional and qualified tutor. The other half is to provide qualified tutors who want to tutor with a flexible and empowered way to tutor online.
Shzam is different from most other tutoring platforms. Shzam is a true online tutoring marketplace. Learners are able to transparently find tutors and see the tutor's background information, the tutor's rates, and the tutor's availability. Tutors set which subjects they want to tutor, the rate for each subject, as well as their availability calendar. Learner's decide with which tutors they'd like to work. Similarly, tutors decide with which learners they'd like to work.
Use filters like subject, rate, and availability to search for your preferred tutor. If after searching and reading profiles, you are having a difficult time deciding on a preferred tutor, consider messaging him/her.
Once you're sure you've found the right tutor, click the "Schedule" button and schedule a session. Some tutors allow immediate booking while others will respond back later with confirmation or a different suggested meeting time. Once confirmed, make your payment!
The whiteboard is interactive. Both tutor and learner can draw, add text, and import documents. The whiteboard can also be saved as a zip file or png to be referenced or reviewed later.
