OUR MISSION
Technology is creating new possibilities every day, changing the way we work, interact, and learn. However, access to high quality education is limited in many parts of the world. Gooru harnesses the power of the web by organizing free, online education resources into searchable collections, accessible from any web or mobile platform. Gooru is developed by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to honor the human right to education and make high quality education free and accessible to the world's one billion students by 2013.
HOW WILL GOORU HELP?
Gooru makes it easy for students and teachers to find the best online educational resources. Using machine learning and human judgment, Gooru curates, auto-tags and contextualizes collections of web resources to accommodate personalized learning pathways. Gooru collections are aligned to US Common Core Standards for Math and to California Science Curriculum Standards. Collections facilitate the search for relevant, engaging resources for all 5th-12th grade math and science classes. Multimedia resources available on Gooru dramatically increase student engagement and motivation to learn by connecting topics with 21st century resources and real life applications. Gooru also offers adaptive assessments that allow students to test their knowledge on topics with formative quizzes. Students have the ability to interact with peers and teachers on Gooru by posting questions, studying with groups and collaborating in real-time. Gooru, supported by the best learning resources on the web, has the potential to provide a high-quality education experience for every student in the world.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Amara, Palo Alto
Amber, Ann Arbor
Andrew, Palo Alto
Angie, Los Angeles
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Ben, Palo Alto
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Megan, Palo Alto
Paul, Santa Cruz
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Raja, Chennai
Richard, Los Angeles
Rob, New York
Robbie, Berkeley
Saket, Palo Alto
Sarah, Berkeley
Shannon, Berkeley
Sharmila, Delhi
Sheeban, Chennai
Siva, Chennai
Sophia, Ann Arbor
Sunjay, Edinburgh
Thomas, Ann Arbor
Tyler, Ann Arbor
Vijay, Chennai
Will, Bay Area
Xenia, Palo Alto
The Board
Prasad Ram
Prasad Ram (aka Pram) is the Founder, CEO and Chairman of Gooru. While working at Google, Pram devised a prototype to address his problem of finding age and topic appropriate educational resources on the web. What began as a "20% effort" evolved into a year-long pilot in India that included 1,000 students across 25 classrooms. Pram subsequently left Google to pursue Gooru as a non-profit education technology start-up that would develop Gooru, a search engine for learning. Pram has previously worked at Xerox Research, Dynamx Technology (co-founder), Yahoo! and Google. Pram has a Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science from UCLA, and he obtained his B.Tech. in Computer Science from IIT-Bombay.
Barry Fishman
Barry Fishman is a member of the Board of Advisors at Gooru. He is an Associate Professor at the School of Education and School of Information at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He is a principal investigator in the Center for Highly Interactive Computing in Education and serves as an associate editor of The Journal of the Learning Sciences. His current research is an NSF-funded experimental study of teacher learning in face-to-face and online conditions that examines the relationship between professional development modality and changes in teacher knowledge, practice, and student learning. Barry was the 2010 recipient of the University of Michigan Provost's Teaching Innovation Prize, the 2001 recipient of the Jan Hawkins Award for Early Career Contributions to Humanistic Research and Scholarship in Learning Technologies and the 2003 Pattishall Junior Faculty Research Award from the University of Michigan. His work with the Center for Learning Technologies in Urban Schools was recognized with an Urban Impact Award from the Council of Great City Schools and as a Computerworld/Smithsonian Laureate. He received his AB from Brown University in English and American literature in 1989, his MS from Indiana University in instructional systems technology in 1992, and his PhD in learning sciences from Northwestern University in 1996.
Carol Risher
Carol Risher is a member of the Board of Directors at Gooru. As Vice President of the Association of American Publishers, Carol directed copyright and technology issues for 25 years. She coordinated anti-piracy lawsuits, helped develop publishing industry standards for coding manuscripts, and was project manager for the digital object identifier. She left AAP to cofound Savantech, a data federation software company, with Dr. Prasad Ram and Rob Schuler. She is currently working in Human Resources and Benefits but has never lost her interest in how technology can support and further lifelong learning.
John Seely Brown
John Seely Brown is a member of the Board of Advisors at Gooru. He is a visiting scholar at USC and the independent co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge. Previously, he was the Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation and the director of its Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). He was deeply involved in the management of radical innovation and in the formation of corporate strategy and strategic positioning of Xerox as The Document Company. John has also received a few honorary degrees along the way, and in 2004 he was inducted into the Industry Hall of Fame. In 2009, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Rob Schuler
Rob Schuler is a member of the Board of Directors at Gooru. Rob is a senior systems developer for the USC Information Sciences Institute. He has worked in a variety of academic research and technology industry roles over the past 15 years, including previous positions with Xerox Research, Dynamx Technology, and Candle Corp. Rob has a M.S. and B.S. in Computer Science from USC, where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate.
Vijay Shriram
Vijay Shriram is a member of the Board of Advisors at Gooru. She serves on the Board of Stanford New Schools Corporation, which oversees the East Palo Alto Academy. She also runs the Ram Shriram family foundation, called the Dhanam Foundation, which is focused on supporting innovation in K-12 education. The foundation has invested in the Level Playing Field Institute's (LPFI) residential summer program at Stanford and The Magic Bus Learning Institute in Mumbai, India. More recently, it has invested in Gooru to support the development and roll-out of Gooru. Vijay started her career as a Pre-Kindergarten teacher and went on to become an active participant in the Saratoga Public Schools, CA. Vijay received an M.A. in History from Bharatiyar University, India.
Zohre Elahian
Zohre Elahian is a member of the Board of Advisors at Gooru. She has been actively involved in international development for over 10 years. With her husband, she started Schools Online, a not-for-profit organization that has brought computers to schools and introduced ICT in education in many countries around the world and within the US. As the Managing Director of Global Catalyst Foundation, she has also evaluated many projects, addressing critical needs in education, ICT and microfinance; her Foundation has provided funding to such projects in many countries. She has also served on the board of directors of Relief International for over 8 years, working on different developmental and humanitarian projects in countries such as Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and more. Prior to her humanitarian activities, she co-managed a successful private business for 15 years. In 2009, Zohre received the Unsung Heroes of Compassion award and special blessing from His Holiness, The Dalai Lama.
One billion.
That's the number of students there are in the world, and that's how many opportunities you have to make a difference. View your opportunities
That's the number of students there are in the world, and that's how many opportunities you have to make a difference. View your opportunities
Gooru is building a team of passionate, committed individuals to design and develop a search engine for learning for the world’s one billion students. As we continue to scale, we are looking for flexible and self-motivated thinkers who intend to grow into education technology leadership roles.
At Gooru, we hire people with aptitude and passion to lead change. As part of the Gooru team, you will help build a rich social learning system that benefits students and teachers. If your entrepreneurial spirit leads you to branch out, you will gain the skills, relationships and support from Gooru to launch your own venture.
At Gooru, we hire people with aptitude and passion to lead change. As part of the Gooru team, you will help build a rich social learning system that benefits students and teachers. If your entrepreneurial spirit leads you to branch out, you will gain the skills, relationships and support from Gooru to launch your own venture.
BE PART OF SOMETHING BIG
Gooru is located in Silicon Valley, the heart of technological innovation and the unofficial hub of startup companies. But Gooru is vastly different from all of the other startups in the Valley -- while we are developing a high-tech product, we are, first and foremost, making education free and accessible to the world’s one billion students.
Every day, students and teachers from around the world visit Gooru to explore, discover, study and teach from open education resources and multimedia collections. If you are passionate about education and want the opportunity to contribute to every aspect of an organization, Gooru is the place for you.
We support leaders & entrepreneurs.
If you like to take charge and lead a pack, here’s your chance. You won’t just be a face in the crowd at Gooru. You’ll work with a small but dedicated team, and you’ll have the opportunity to take on a leadership role in a rapidly expanding organization. Also, if you’ve always dreamed of founding your own startup, what better way to start than by getting hands-on experience in one?We value passion over experience.
We won’t turn our noses up at you if you want to ignite change in the education world but don’t have years of experience behind you. In fact, we value a commitment to improving education and a strong work ethic over years and years of experience. Gooru team members have a diverse array of talents, and we celebrate them all.We practice what we preach.
We love what we do, and we take advantage of every opportunity we have to immerse ourselves in the education world. We regularly visit local schools, host free tutor nights in our office, and participate in as many education-related events as we can fit into our schedules. We also get to rub elbows with some of the top minds in education research.FELLOWS
At Gooru, we believe that true innovation is inspired by the collaboration of forward thinkers. The Gooru Fellowship provides a unique opportunity for education-minded visionaries to work together to make a tangible, positive impact on the world.
Gooru Fellows
DEVELOPERS
We’re searching for talent to join our team in the positions listed below (click to view the description). We invite creative, well-rounded individuals to apply for our open positions.
Front-End Engineer
Software Developer
INTERNS
How are you spending your summer? Gooru is currently hiring exceptional students for our summer internship program. Here are the positions available:
Academic Operations Intern
Design Intern
Software Engineer
We’re hiring a software engineer to join Gooru in our mission to honor the human right to education. Your responsibilities will include developing new components to complement existing Gooru features. You will build backend systems with key search, social and recommendation algorithms, and you will work in different web technologies. You will also be expected to write maintainable code that is understandable to people that have never read it before. We work in a very collaborative environment, so being able to change gears and work on someone else’s code is important. We rewrite, refactor and refine our code continuously, so flexibility is important.
Key Requirements:
Must consider yourself a self-starter and be willing to learn and work in new technologies. You should be comfortable picking up any technologies, front end or back end, as required.
Experience building large java based web applications, direct experience dealing with large data sets.
Breadth of knowledge in machine learning, Map/Reduce, Hadoop and recommendation systems.
BS in Computer Science, Mathematics or equivalent required (MA or PhD preferred) with a brilliant academic record.
LAMP
Java
HTML, CSS, and Javascript
Background in any of the following is a plus: Javascript libraries like JQueryAJAX, RESTful Web Services, Database Modeling, Open source tools/platforms, MVC framework and other Design Patterns, Spring MVC and Security technologies
Front-End Engineer
We’re hiring an entrepreneurial front-end engineer to join Gooru in our mission to honor the human right to education. The ideal candidate will be comfortable working with a variety of web technologies. As we value the entrepreneurial spirit at Gooru, this is an ideal position for an engineer looking to found his/her own company; you will gain the skills, relationships and support from Gooru to launch your own venture should you choose to branch out in the future.
Primary responsibilities:
Primary responsibilities:
Develop new components to complement existing Gooru features
Work with designers and backend engineers to build key search, social and recommendation features
Breadth of knowledge in machine learning, Map/Reduce, Hadoop and recommendation systems.
BS in Computer Science, Mathematics or equivalent required (MA or PhD preferred) with a brilliant academic record.
B.S. in Computer Science (MA or PhD in Computer Science, Mathematics or equivalent preferred) with a brilliant academic record and 3+ years of experience (project lead experience is a plus)
Experience building large Java-based web applications; direct experience dealing with large data sets
Strong background in HTML, CSS, Javascript required
Background in any of the following is a plus: Javascript libraries like JQueryAJAX, RESTful Web Services, Database Modeling, Open source tools/platforms, MVC framework and other Design Patterns, Spring MVC and Security technologies
Academic Operations Intern
The Academic Operations Intern will work closely with the Academic Operations Team to make high-quality online education material accessible to students worldwide. This is a great opportunity for students to learn about building a career in an exciting non-profit start-up environment and become familiar with the education technology space. This is a full-time, paid summer internship.
Primary responsibilities:
Requirements:
Create and organize high-quality, beautifully enriched assessment questions for 5th-12th grade math and science classes
Work with content organizers, teachers, engineers, designers and partner organizations to expand Gooru’s content library
Provide thoughtful user support
Requirements:
Currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts/Sciences program
Passionately committed to Gooru’s mission of improving the quality of education worldwide
Possess a strong work ethic and the ability to work efficiently towards tight deadlines
To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to careers@goorulearning.org.
Design Intern
The Design Intern will join the Design Team to work on a variety of projects. The ideal candidate thrives in a fast-paced environment and will arrive ready to produce spectacular work that will significantly impact students around the world. If you are interested in Social Entrepreneurship and are looking for hands-on start-up experience, this is the perfect opportunity for you. This is a full-time, paid summer internship.
To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to careers@goorulearning.org.
Primary responsibilities:
UI/UX design
Usability testing
Graphic design
Field research
Currently enrolled in a Bachelor of Arts/Sciences program
Experience with Photoshop, Illustrator and other Adobe Creative Suite programs
Detail-oriented, natural sense of clean design
Interested in User Experience and Interface design process
Passionate about education technology
To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to careers@goorulearning.org.
Gooru Fellows
Gooru Fellows work closely with content organizers, teachers, engineers, designers and partner organizations to make high-quality online education material accessible to students worldwide. The Fellowship is a 3-month, full-time, paid position located in Palo Alto, CA, and we encourage those who have specific skills in any of those areas to apply. You must be efficient, creative and process-oriented to match an exciting and fast-paced environment. Our ideal candidate is an effective leader and self-starter, someone who possesses both the aptitude and passion to lead change.
Fellows will receive training, mentoring and professional development throughout the program, and we welcome our Fellows’ skills in all areas -- social networking, designing new user experiences, building content -- the possiblities are endless! Candidates who demonstrate excellent work will be considered for a full-time position at the conclusion of the Fellowship.
Are you the next Gooru Fellow? To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to careers@goorulearning.org.
Gooru Fellows should possess:
A Bachelor's or equivalent degree
A “ready to help” attitude
A self-starter disposition with practical problem solving skills
An ability to prioritize, handle a variety of tasks and meet deadlines
Excellent time management skills and a proven track record of managing projects
A “team player” approach to the work environment (develop and maintain positive relationships with a wide variety of people, both internally and externally)
Excitement for and dedication to Gooru’s mission
Fellows will receive training, mentoring and professional development throughout the program, and we welcome our Fellows’ skills in all areas -- social networking, designing new user experiences, building content -- the possiblities are endless! Candidates who demonstrate excellent work will be considered for a full-time position at the conclusion of the Fellowship.
Are you the next Gooru Fellow? To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to careers@goorulearning.org.
Contact Us
Get in touch with our CEO
Questions about Gooru?
650.331.0219
Looking to join the team?
Visiting us?
1032 Elwell Court, Suite 210
Palo Alto, CA 94303
Palo Alto, CA 94303