With the goal to improve the Canadian academic industry, on Sept. 9, Ontario university students officially launched Cooplearn, a website designed to help students keep in contact with each other regarding school affairs.
The free website was founded by childhood friends Bassil Eid, studying economics at the University and Ottawa, and Robin Defaye, a student at the University of Waterloo. They came up with the idea in October of last year.
On the website, students can create an account, select their school, then form Studyrooms which are virtual spaces that mimic the classes offered at a given school. This is where students share notes, help one another study or work on assignments.
“We came up with the idea of Cooplearn when myself and a few friends were sitting around thinking of how dependent we are on each other when it comes to completing assignments and studying for exams,” said Eid.
By allowing students to take control of their education, the founders hope to achieve their goal of improving the national school system – a goal they feel should be shared with students around the country.
“We all need to come together,” said Eid. “Cooplearn simply provides the meeting place.”
He feels the collaboration the website allows can help better students’ work, while also making the studying process more fun.
“Going through a tough experience with others who are in the same situation as you always makes the experience a lot easier,” said Eid.
Before officially launching the website this fall, Eid and Defaye tested it out on their friends who were enrolled in summer classes. Eid explained that they’re still testing the website and taking in feedback from users to make improvements.
Cooplearn becomes more beneficial as more students sign up, explained Eid, as it allows for the sharing of knowledge.
He said just under 700 students use Cooplearn, while the amount of users is quickly increasing.
“The students have really been great at getting this website out there,” said Eid.
Cooplearn is now mostly geared towards Canadian colleges and universities. It’s also available in some schools in the U.K. and the U.S., while the founders expect it to continue to grow in the future. So far, there are only a few students at Concordia using Cooplearn.
“[A] cool feature is that we have control over everything we do,” said Concordia economics student Kevin Smith. “We create the Studyroom, we add in the assignments, we invite our friends.”
Smith said seven of his friends collaborated in a Studyroom to complete an assignment but he hopes more people will join the website so that more students can help each other out.
Eid stressed that Cooplearn is different from other websites like Yahoo! Answers, Ask.com and Allexperts.com because of its focus.
“While other [websites] just offer a free-for-all of questions and answers, we offer organized study with friends and classmates in a centralized location,” said Eid.
Cooplearn is for students in any area of study, from economics to drawing. There’s a math toolbar and image uploader on the website for students in technical and arts programs.
“This is a website created by students for students. It is created so that we can have control over our own education,” said Eid.
Students can sign up at cooplearn.com.
