In June 2010, what had begun as a mere 20% effort project at Google rolled out in full force in 25 fifth grade classrooms across northern India. Our founder, Dr. Prasad Ram (also known as “Pram”) introduced Gooru to 8 schools in New Delhi and 2 schools in Dharamsala as part of his pilot program.

But let’s back up a bit, to the time when Pram was still working at Google. He was interested in harnessing the web to provide high-quality, topic-relevant learning resources to students all over the world. However, he quickly discovered that a major hurdle stood in his way -- it was incredibly difficult to find age- and topic-appropriate educational resources on the web. Pram set out to develop an intuitive, engaging learning tool that would make it easy for students to discover and study from open education resources aligned to standards, and Gooru was born.

"Gooru’s pilot progam introduced it to 25 classrooms across New Delhi in a virtual classroom that met twice a week. At 9 am every Tuesday and Thursday, all of the classes tuned into Gooru for live video instruction from Los Angeles. In these sessions, students from different parts of India interacted with the video instructor and with each other, creating a virtual classroom that transcended their geographical boundaries. In total, Gooru reached 1,000 students that academic year."

As word of the Gooru lessons spread within the 10 schools in the program, students from other classes began showing up on Tuesday and Thursday mornings to catch a glimpse of the instructor and even participate in the sessions. But Gooru didn’t just generate excitement and enthusiasm in its pilot schools; students who consistently participated in the program through the academic year showed a 6.59-12.23% improvement on their ASSET standardized test scores.

Anyone who has struggled in school knows that a good tutor can mean the difference between a refrigerator-worthy grade and a failing one.

Meet Chante -- she’s one of the good tutors.

"I began tutoring in high school, as a member of the National Honor Society. After I graduated, I continued tutoring through college with various community service programs, and I still tutor today.

I love tutoring because it is really exciting to see the progress of my students in so many aspects of their lives. I’m able to watch them grow more confident in specific subjects and in their school work. I even see an increase in their excitement when it comes to studying and learning.

One of the consistently difficult things about tutoring is anticipating what my students will need help with each week. When I don’t know ahead of time what problems a student is having, I can’t brush up on a topic or subject that I have learned about many years ago. It can also be very frustrating when a student comes in with a short attention span and a lack of interest in the material. Learning can be tedious for anyone, so I feel bad when I don’t have the tools necessary to make tutoring an engaging experience.

When I started integrating Gooru into my tutoring, I noticed a change not only in my students, but also in my ability to tutor. Rather than simply sitting at a table and talking about a topic, I can now give students a way to apply what they’ve learned, and they can see how they are progressing. They aren’t simply memorizing words out of a textbook, but instead are gaining a deeper understanding of the topics they’re studying.

Not only do my students learn more actively with Gooru than with traditional tutoring methods, but they also seem to enjoy it more. They will sit through multiple videos, take numerous online quizzes, and continue to ask for more. In a group tutoring environment, we can all watch a video together or take an online quiz, and the students learn from each other to completely understand a topic. This creates a social peer-to-peer learning environment that the students enjoy and also thrive in.

I think Gooru has the ability to transform the quality of free tutoring dramatically. When a dedicated tutor can find the best information and the best resources the web has to offer with just one quick search, she is able to provide a high quality experience for the student who is struggling."

Across the country, tutors are using Gooru to find engaging learning resources and collections for their students. Unfortunately, not all schools are created equal, but Gooru is helping dedicated tutors like Chante close the achievement gap, one student at a time.

Are you a tutor who is interested in adding Gooru to your tutoring methods? Check out our Tutor Fact Sheet to get started.