Studytable Connects Students for Tutoring Help with Difficult Coursework

  • By Dian Schaffhauser
  • 02/25/20
Studytable app

A Purdue University-affiliated startup has launched a software service that offers a twist on tutoring. Studytable enables students to identify peers who can help them with difficult coursework.

To use the software, a student downloads a free app (currently available for iOS), describes the problem he or she is having with the coursework and then opens a digital "study table." Other students who want to earn money apply to host a study table, and then the user can read reviews and personality traits to select the preferred host. The two students then schedule a time, decide on a location, and the timer in the app starts and finishes the session. The price for an average session is around $20. The app also includes a payment feature that lets families send a digital "care package" — money — to help cover the costs of sessions.

According to Studytable Founder Wesley Crouch, the program was initially called Tudr. (It's still called that in a listing on the Apple App Store. The company changed the name after market research, to "avoid any stigma associated with conventional tutoring."

As Crouch explained in a statement, "Students often describe conventional tutoring as too formal or impersonal. We don't draw a distinction between a student and a host. Users can create one profile and easily provide or receive help from other students as needed."

Recently, the program was introduced at Purdue. It's also in use, the company said, on campuses in Indiana and California.

The mobile service received a boost when it was chosen to be supported by Purdue Foundry's Double Down Experiment. DDX is a year-long, invitation-only accelerator program designed to help companies troubleshoot their unique challenges and grow through consulting services and other resources. The Foundry is an entrepreneurship and commercialization hub whose professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. It's housed in the Convergence Center for Innovation and Collaboration in the Discovery Park District, located on the west side of the Purdue campus.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

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