Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with Ziad “Zee” Muhmood, one of the minds behind the still-in-development TTeach site. He called from his London base and we spoke for nearly an hour about both the technology and the vision behind TTeach (which he pronounced as just “teach”). For anyone curious, I thought I’d share some of what we discussed.

The idea is that anyone can be a “teacher” on the site, which predominantly means creating and offering “courses” from which others can learn. You don’t have to join the site to view public courses, but as a site member you can interact with others in the course and be invited to private courses. You start by joining the site and then building courses on topics about which you have some expertise. A range of technologies are available for you to use in building the course, and quality courses will make best use of them and link to helpful outside resources. These courses become part of your “school” … so I could direct interested learners to “Hoefler’s Public School,” for example. Users can even create groups that combine “teachers” and resources into “super courses.”
In addition to the natural incentive of sharing what you know with others, teachers can also earn money based on the popularity and ratings of the course. The money comes from ad revenues, and Zee assures me that the focus here isn’t on “making a quick buck.” (The company’s attention to detail, solicitation of opinions from a range of potential “teachers,” and long-term vision have me leaning in the direction of belief.) The monetary incentive combined with the rating and commenting from users should encourage quality courses, as should the persona that a “teacher” develops over time.
As a learner, I can browse or search for courses, “enroll” in courses that interest me, and work my way through each one at my own pace. In the process, I can interact with other learners and the teacher through comments and discussions. (In addition, TTeach will eventually offer “live” courses to premium members.) The connections I make within a course can also carry beyond the course, which becomes part of the learning network and a way to find other quality courses.

As an important side note: the excessive use of “quotes” throughout this post is intentional and connects to an important distinction about TTeach. While it is about teaching, learning, and education–and the site even bills itself as “School 2.0″–TTeach is not meant to be tied to any traditional educational institution. If you’re a homemaker with no education who wants to create a course on “Perfect Pastries” (because you’re a mean baker) or “Molecular Biology and Gardening” (because you happen to be obsessed with both gardening and molecular biology), you can do it. If you know your stuff, and your course is interesting, people will sign up and give good ratings. This also means that TTeach is not in competition with any accrediting agencies. This is about learning for learning’s sake from people who know and care about something you want to know and care about.
Zee described the basic workings of the site as something resembling a blend of the concepts behind Wikipedia, YouTube, and Yahoo Q&A, though it’s not merely a copy of those technologies. As the site is still in development, and some aspects involve creating new technology solutions, I’ve been asked to hold back on the specifics. I can tell you that each user will have his/her own homepage (which acts as an extended profile), and that the homepage includes a blog, a method for presenting your bio and “teaching” credentials, a list of the courses you’re “taking,” and a list of the courses in your “school.” Also, the layout and look of courses will be fully customizable. In addition, users can take notes and annotate the courses using tools supplied by the site, so no need for external note-taking systems.

I still have a few questions/concerns, the first of which is copyright. Who owns the content created on TTeach, and what regulations will be in place to prevent others from just “stealing” my course material and presenting it as their own? Zee didn’t yet have an answer for these questions yet, but the company has considered these issues. The other big question is, of course, will the technology be able to actually support the vision? Zee seems confident, and I hope he’s right.

The last thing Zee shared with me was TTeach’s goal to share their revenue not only with teachers on the site but with potential learners. Already they have plans to create centers in Ghana and the Sudan consisting of computers open for learners to come in, sit down, and learn from the TTeach site or create a course to share their own expertise or experiences. TTeach will also be dedicating five percent of their revenue to creating new centers, and another five percent for a scholarship program to accredited universities.
It’s easy to be pessimistic and cynical about all this, and certainly that position seems safer, but given what I’ve heard so far I’m climbing out on the limb of optimism. I’m very encouraged by what Zee had to say, and hope the reality of the project follows his vision. (And just to be clear: I’m in no way receiving any kind of compensation for this post.)
So when will the first demo be available? Look for a limited release mid-May.

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