The concept of MOOC or ‘massive open online course’ as they’re commonly referred to is not new to Chinese techies as more domestic enterprises like NetEase, Guokr and Douban are tapping online education sector with this model. The contents offered by these platforms are mostly focused on higher education courses, mainly because the model entails a self-learning process in nature and the students in basic education phases hardly have the capability or the motivation to learn by themselves.
Kuxuexi, a MOOC e-learning platform, is applying the model to K-12 sector. It offers free video courses for K-12 students on subjects that are included in existing school system, like mathematics, physics, chemistry, English, biology and geography. In order to motivate and train the self-learning capabilities of students, the platform is trying to make the courses interesting and fun by integrating contents relevant to daily life and topics students are interested in, said Li Xuhui, founder of the company in an interview with TechNode.
In addition, parents will be able to follow the learning process of their children to either prepare or review the courses with them, rather than hiring private teachers, he said.
Li Xuhui, a former employee at video site Youku-Tudou, started the company in 2013 under the inspiration of US non-profit education website Khan Academy, as well as the demand for educating his child as a caring father. The site’s syllabus design team mainly consisted of students and teachers from renowned universities in China, like Fudan University and Shanghai Jiaotong University.
In addition to the website, the company recently launched apps for both iOS and Android terminals. Li noted that they planned to introduce more interactive features in the future to enhance user engagement.
Gong Haiyan, the founder of US-listed online dating service Jiayuan, also unveiled a K-12 education platform Tizi after releasing online English teaching service 91Waijiao last year. Li added the two services are different in that Kuxuexi is based on video courses, while Tizi is focused on teacher-student interaction based on questions.
image credit: Kuxuexi
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