YTeach was created by a student who knew that just like him, students constantly had questions, and there likely was someone within his school who could help him understand how to find the answers. He understood that students seeking help often face not knowing who to ask or have trouble trying to find the time to schedule with private tutors, who in turn can place a financial burden on families. On the same token, schools are looking for ways to provide supplemental learning and resources to their students, are spending money often hiring outside private tutors or learning programs to assist their students, and despite teachers best
efforts there is only one of them and so much time to help as many of their students as possible. YTeach is a resource to help resolve these problems.
YTeach is a peer to peer tutoring and scheduling app that creates a network amongst the students within a school. This allows many more students to receive assistance at a fraction of the cost. Schools, along with its students, offer their greatest learning resource: each other.
The studies as to the benefits of peer learning are endless. Although at first glance, the focus is often on academic achievement, peer learning has so much more to offer. Studies show that collaborative learning with peers is playing a major role with emotional intelligence. Students are better equipped to regulate their emotions and therefore, promote intellectual growth. It also increases self-esteem, attitude towards the subject matter, as well as communication and social skills. In addition, this style of learning by sharing knowledge, provides a mutual benefit. Of course, the student who is having the material explained to them benefits by understanding but also the student who explains can further develop their knowledge and gain self-confidence.
Most educators and schools are very familiar with all the benefits of peer learning. With a very fast paced and ever changing world, especially with the current state, it is clear that collaboration is instrumental in promoting students growth and positive development. In an effort to support this, many schools have placed the burdensome task on an overloaded
teacher or faculty coordinator to manually match students to a peer. This requires everyone to take up more time to track schedules and coordinate sessions.
YTeach helps lessen the burden to not only make peer learning effective but also efficient. With the current state of affairs, a student recently commented, “This is an absolute game changer for tutoring especially with what’s going on right now. I can meet up with great tutors virtually and they can help me with anything I need. I recommend for any student with access to this app to take advantage of it.”
YTeach provides a safe network within the school where students can get out of math class having trouble understanding the material, and with the assistance of the app, they can find a peer tutor within their school, who has mastered the subject matter and is able to explain it to them that very day. Or maybe that very day does not work with their schedule, they can
schedule a session on a future date that does work for them. It provides the students a log of their learning or tutoring sessions that they can keep track of. Furthermore, students who tutor have provided their log and can receive community service hours. It is a great way to give back while making a meaningful impact. We have not only seen the effect it has had on
academic achievement but also camaraderie among the student body, and mentorship. As one student at Belen Jesuit put it, “YTeach offers a new way of learning for students…Getting tutored by someone who is in the same class as you or has had the same teacher is a much different experience than learning from outside tutors who know nothing of the class situation.
Also, it encourages students to tutor while receiving service hours. It is something I personally enjoy doing anyway so, plus plus!”
The student who created YTeach also happens to be my son. At a very young age, in an effort to not solely focus on academic achievement, every day I would ask him what he did to help someone. Until finally, he came to me and said he had an idea on not how he could help one person, but many people every day. Our mission is to provide as many students as possible
with a resource that allows them to take initiative for their education. They are given the ability to take the lead and decide when and how to collaborate with their peers. We believe that by giving students autonomy directly, they build a culture of collaboration. Essentially, they become not only each other's learning resource but each other's motivators. Even during these trying times, the versatility of YTeach has been a tool to help encourage student’s resilience and assist even with virtual learning. Whether peer learning happens in person or online, they motivate creative learning by sharing ideas, collaborating on projects, offering support,
providing encouragement, and creating a sense of connection and community. YTeach is the tool students can use to help one another to build positive relationships and foster a network for learning.
If you would like to learn more about YTeach, please feel free to check out our site at www.yteach.com or email us at info@yteach.com.
Lourdes Aviñó is an attorney and entrepreneur. She received her bachelors in International
Relations from American University and J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law. Lourdes is co-founder of YTeach, a peer-to-peer tutoring and scheduling app, and is obsessed with making a positive impact.
