Dec 13, 2017 at 10:03 // News

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Education has the power to change lives. Unfortunately, not everyone has equal opportunities for success. The problem falls largely on socioeconomic barriers to receiving academic support.

According to a 2012 Stanford report , by high school the test scores for low income students average three to six grade levels below students from affluent backgrounds. The difference is even more dramatic with students in developing countries with limited resources for education.

A major factor in the wide education gap globally is uneven access to tutoring. Tutoring allows students to reinforce their classroom materials, supplement knowledge gaps, and develop specialized skills such as a foreign language, advanced study in math and science, or professional development. Researchers found that students who received tutoring performed 200% better than their peers which makes tutoring the most effective intervention for academic success. Unfortunately, current tutoring models are falling short of student needs.

Current Tutoring Models are Inadequate

90% of the tutoring industry is comprised of in-person tutoring agencies. However, the price tag for traditional, face-to-face tutoring can be prohibitively high for families due to the overhead costs of operation such as rent, utilities, and administrative expenses. Additionally, even though students pay a high fee the tutors only see a small fraction of the cost.

The tutoring industry has recently seen a shift to online models. While online tutoring is generally cheaper due to the elimination of travel and overhead costs, most online tutors do not have appropriate technological support as many rely on video chatting software, such as Skype, which doesn’t allow drawings, graph manipulation, or media. Moreover, there are no accountability measures to make sure that online reviews are authentic. Lastly, online tutoring that relies on robots (i.e. Duolingo) developed using artificial intelligence lack the real-time responsiveness of human tutors.

Blockchain Evens the Playing Field for Students Regardless of Socioeconomic or Geographic Barriers

Fortunately, the large educational disparity in the present does not have to be the reality for the future. In fact, Tutor Ninja Token (NTOK) is leveraging blockchain technology to transform the landscape of tutoring and alleviate the educational gap worldwide.

NTOK is a global decentralized ecosystem for continuing education that allows tutors and students to interact via an online platform built on top of the Ethereum blockchain. The impact of the NTOK platform is potential to disrupt the 100+ billion tutoring industry. Not only is NTOK equipped with high quality video and audio (levels better than Skype), lesson scheduling, payments, and interactive learning tools, its blockchain technology makes it impossible to tamper with tutor reviews. Importantly, NTOK significantly lowers the cost of lessons by removing the middleman to connect tutors and students (including schools) thus increasing the accessibility of academic support globally.

Currently, the NTOK peer-to-peer platform is being piloted for a new, decentralized model. Transaction on the platform will be performed using the NTOK token. Learn more about the pioneering work of the NTOK team and take part in ushering in the next generation of education technology providing every student with the support they need at ntok.io .

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