Member Article

Platform mixing the Open University with Skype launches today

The London-based educational platform, How Now, which aims to put users in direct contact with experts in a vast array of skills and topics has officially launched today.

Founded by Wonderush and One Minute London entrepreneur, Nelson Sivalingam, the platform allows experts to teach users through live, interactive video chat from anywhere in the world, and allows users to book and pay for sessions from home.

Styling itself as the Open University meets Skype, the platform has launched with more than 300 experts in 12 different countries, covering topics such as playing the guitar, cooking and language learning.

Experts can set their own price, availability and class duration, and in return can host classes of up to nine people through their web browsers, with teachers receiving ratings and reviews depending on their effectiveness.

Following the launch, Sivalingam, said that he was excited to be launching what he has termed the world’s first ‘live video learning platform’, giving users the option to learn ‘anything from anywhere’.

Touching upon his wider vision for the platform, he added: “Through the right kind of education, I strongly believe every human being, no matter how impoverished or illiterate, can develop a new awareness of self.

“There are millions of people with expertise around the world that could be teaching but don’t because of lack resources and there are millions more who do not have access to high quality teaching just because of where they are based.

“In the Internet era, lack of resources and geography should not be barriers to teaching and learning. We started HowNow to change the way the world learns by enabling anyone with expertise to teach and by empowering people to learn from each other.”