The eduFire Blog

Hey all. I’ve been pretty quiet on the blogging front lately (Koichi has been doing a fantastic job in my absence!) as we’ve been gearing up to launch some very cool new stuff. But I wanted to pop in to offer some reflection on 2008 and look forward to 2009 and beyond. First, some highlights of the last year:

Our launch – This seems almost bizarre to me but a year ago there was no eduFire. I mean we had this blog up and all but that was it. In the last year we’ve launched the site, kicked off live one-on-one tutoring, unveiled flashcards and started beta testing live video classrooms. I can take only a smidgen of the credit for all this as I’m fortunate enough to be working with a fantastic team. Looking back it’s very awesome to think about all that we’ve done in a year’s time.

Our community – The most inspiring part of my first business (2000Tutor.com) was building a community of technology professionals that I believed was the most thoughtful and supportive on the Web. It was awesome to watch people come to our site as technology newbies and six months later see them prepared to go out and land an entry-level job in IT.

At eduFire I see the same thing happening. I see an amazingly cool and helpful group of people coming together with the express purpose of getting smarter and becoming more effective teachers. There have been so many cool community-related things that have happened here this year that I can’t even begin to list them. And what’s great is that we’re just getting going. I feel the seeds are definitely there for one of the strongest educational communities in the world. That’s awesome to be a part of.

Our vision – I think one of the things that has attracted so many people to eduFire is the vision of what this can become. eduFire today is about 1% of what I think it can ultimately become. I think a lot of the decisions we’ve made might not make immediate sense to someone on the outside looking in but over time will become a lot more understandable. There are certainly a lot more recognizable models and easier ways to make money in the short-term than what we’ve chosen to embark upon. However, we’re most concerned with the long-term impact of what we’re doing and very excited about how what we roll out in 2009 will start to accelerate that impact.

Which brings me to saying a few words about what we’re excited about going forward.

First, 2008 was a year in which I felt for the first time the true possibility of a Global Intelligence. By this, I mean a world in which access to the wisdom and insights of the entire planet was available to each and every one of us. Some of the things that helped spur this feeling were the growth of tools like Twitter (I can go on for hours about why I think tools like Twitter represent a major step closer to a true Global Intelligence), Ning and Facebook. The continuing growth of blogs and the explosion in video blogging in 2008 were also huge steps in this direction. I’ll likely be blogging more on the subject of a Global Intelligence soon but for now I’ll just say that I’m very, very excited about this possibility.

Second, I was really encouraged by all the innovation I saw in the online education space in the last year. When we had the original idea for eduFire back in 2007, online education was a bit of a wasteland. There were a few funded companies like Tutor.com and Tutorvista and very little true innovation. In the last year and a half that has changed dramatically. It seems like just about every week I’m seeing a cool new edu-related start-up. Some of my favorites include Cramster, Grockit, Innovative Languages, iTalki, Knewton and Teachstreet (and I’m leaving a bunch out…my apologies!).

Not all of these companies will succeed but the fact that people are trying out new approaches and models is incredibly cool. I think there is no single greater opportunity to change the world than through educational start-ups. Reading Jeffrey Sachs’ Common Wealth over the holidays has made me even more fired up about that. If we can develop platforms for learning that are more fun, more efficient and more portable than previous models than we can export those platforms globally and fundamentally change the planet by empowering everyone to have access to a world class education. Seriously, what could be more exciting than that?

Finally, I am blown away by the energy I’m seeing around teaching and learning online. We have thousands of people who’ve signed up to do that at eduFire despite the fact that we’ve yet to start really marketing the site. The most common request we hear from teachers is that they can’t wait until they can quit whatever else they’re doing and make a full-time living teaching on eduFire.

And the students who’ve been using the site are raving as well. Although there is a bit of barrier someone has to cross to experience online learning for the first time, once they do they often tell us that they can’t imagine getting in a car again and driving 20 or 30 miles to a class somewhere. Indeed, the convenience and flexibility of learning from home will only increase in coming years and lead to online learning usurping face-to-face learning at some point in the future (although that could be a while of course!).

I want to close out this post by saying thank you to the people who’ve made 2008 such a special year for us. First of all, our team who has done fantastic work and demonstrated a huge amount of passion. Second, to our investors who’ve believed in us all along the way and continue to support us. Third, to our community of teachers and students for what they bring to eduFire. Your excitement about the future of education is contagious and inspires us to build an even better product.

If indeed education is like the lighting of a fire than 2008 was the year when we saw the spark here at eduFire. Now we’re looking forward to turn that spark into a full-blown inferno in the coming years. Happy New Year to all of you and my sincere hope is that 2009 is the best year of your life.

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