By Hannah Klarner
For The Diamondback
One education technology company is giving away $1 million worth of its online tutoring services to students in colleges nationwide — including those at the University of Maryland.
Students can now enter into a drawing for a chance to win $100 toward tutoring services with Course Hero, just under the $120 cost of a yearlong Premier membership with the company. Course Hero will select the winners randomly on Feb. 29.
The online tutoring resource is available 24/7 and offers tutoring services tailored to specific courses at this university and at more than 20 others across the country. It provides millennials with on-demand services they might be used to using, such as online chat sessions and easy access to notes, study guides and flash cards.
“We believe that everyone deserves a personal tutor, and this could be a way to make that more of a reality,” Course Hero CEO Andrew Grauer said. “Even the people who don’t win the giveaway, we’re excited for those students to discover the other study resources, advice and flashbacks on [Course Hero].”
Creating easy access to materials is one of Course Hero’s goals as a company, he said. The dream is “to be able to help any student, in any course in the world, ask and answer any question.”
Grauer said the goal of this giveaway is to bump up access to personal tutoring.
“Course Hero helps more because it’s easier to access. I don’t have to leave my room,” said Tonie Johnstone, a sophomore finance major.
This university offers about 30 different tutoring resources, most of which are free, and offer major-specific programs.
This $1 million giveaway is the first offer of its kind that Course Hero has started, but Grauer said Course Hero is unsure of how many students will enter and use the platform.
Kevin Harris, a sophomore computer science major, said he has used Course Hero periodically, but not often because of the restrictions on free material. But if he won the drawing, he said, the extra money would be nice.
Harris said he’s aware of the on-campus resources but “convenience-wise, [Course Hero] might be helpful.”
While Course Hero’s 24/7 online availability appeals to some, other university students have mentioned they prefer personal interaction for tutoring.
Lambert Aryee, a sophomore economics major, said he thinks tutoring done “face to face is more practical.”
Course Hero has 300,000 users, including students, tutors and teachers who visit the website daily, Grauer said. The thousands of tutors on the site mean that students can get a response from them in fifteen minutes.
“[Course Hero is] so powerful for busy students, students who are taking multiple courses at the same time, doing an internship, writing for the newspaper, in a sports club, in a music group, working an internship or job, having a family or commuting,” Grauer said. “There’s so much going on in the lives of the students.”
