Host: Romily Broad, Tech For Good
Guest: Felix Ohswald, founder, GoStudent
GoStudent is an online marketplace connecting qualified tutors with students needing additional educational support. Packed with educational tools and facilitating lessons via online video, it was first launched by founder Felix Ohswald in 2016. Back then, his focus was more on matchmaking students with teachers for in-person tuition. The outbreak of COVID-19 played a signifcant role in changing that focus.
The pandemic represented a seismic shift in how we all communicate. Suddenly the idea of talking to one another via live video became a standard, not an exception, particularly in the context of work. But one other section of society was forced to reckon with the medium as well: students.
While the days of joining school and college lessons exclusively online is thankfully over, the utility of online connection was proven as a new tool in the educational workshop. GoStudent has since grown to become Europe’s largest EdTech unicorn, operating in countries right across the globe.
It is now exploring the possibilities that AI presents in enhancing online education. From using data from real lessons to provide AI ‘teachers’ at far lower cost to students, to AI-enabled lesson summaries and research aids, GoStudent believes the technology could offer an opportunity to fundamentally upgrade the educational experience for both teachers and students.
Co-founder Felix Ohswald started GoStudent in Austria with his brother as a homework-focused group chat on WhatsApp, but he is now leading the copmpany’s charge with AI. He joins us in this episode of the Tech For Good podcast to discusss GoStudent’s journey from informal chat to EdTech darling, and to consider the risks and substantial rewards of AI-assisted learning.
Felix has also written for us on the topic here.
