As one of his two daughters progresses through university, Eidan Apelbaum is constantly reminded of why he launched Spitball in 2015.
“Not much has changed in schools [universities] between the time I was there and now my daughter,” says the CEO of a company that helps students to share content.
“Technology has developed but not at universities or colleges. They’ve been left behind.”
Spitball 2.0, a new version of the platform, allows students to earn a cryptocurrency by sharing content or answering questions to buy study resources and possessions, as well as place advertisements for tutoring and student accommodation.
In so doing, Spitball disrupts the U.S. $165 billion global e-learning market by allowing students themselves to compete with many of the existing paid-for educational content providers.
It has recently been tested in the U.S., where over 500,000 users have earnt 850,000 tokens in just two months, and is due to be launched in Israel and then Europe this autumn.
Market drivers
Over two-thirds of students in the U.S. have to work their way through tertiary education and, of those, a third of them are working full-time, according to research by Georgetown University.
It is one of the drivers for a global e-learning market that is expected to grow to U.S. $275 billion by 2022, up from U.S. $165 billion in 2015, according to last year’s Orbis Research published by Reuters.
“Learning online saves me time so I don’t need to waste hours in traffic going to the university,” says Chen Kremer, a student at Bar Ilan University, Israel (see below), who works full-time and does parts of her studies online.
Prototype
“When I was at university, you took the same exam that could be handed out year after year. Now students distribute content immediately via Facebook or Google Docs,” says Apelbaum.
Students constantly referred to the practical difficulties of sharing with fellow students, often resorting to sharing logins and passwords for Gmail.
Another problem was how to revoke access to content if they wished, once it had been shared. He had also noticed that whenever he hired people from university, they regurgitated what they had learnt. But what he wanted, from his employees, was the complete opposite.
“We expect them to collaborate, to solve problems, to come up with solutions with others, to post discussions on work groups, post questions, to be original in their thoughts,” he says.
Origin
Apelbaum was raised in an academic family. His father taught biology and physiology in the Hebrew University, Israel.
He went to the same university to study economics, after completing his military service in the Israeli Navy and travelling in South America.
A Ph.D. in economics followed, taken at the University of California, before Apelbaum landed a job at Yahoo as the director of product management and strategy for its front page, mail and messenger.
He only returned to Israel in 2007, after ten years in the U.S., setting up ZBang, a platform for companies to manage and share content, which he sold in 2013.
The disposal left Apelbaum with time for reflection.
“I was thinking about problems around storage of and ownership of content, in particular, academic content,” he says.
Spitball 1.0
Apelbaum launched an original version of Spitball 1.0 in Israel with funding from investor Benson Oak Ventures which has totalled U.S. $4 million since 2015.
It encourages students to ask questions of people in the same class or from a previous year through a social interface.
And it aggregates third-party products, such as class notes and used books, and services, such as finding a tutor or a job, for students.
Over a million students use Spitball globally, with 70% of the Israeli student population alone using the platform.
But it was only as Apelbaum explored what features U.S. students wanted - compared to their peers in Israel and Asia - that he identified an unmet need.
Spitball 2.0
U.S. students wanted more anonymity, particularly from their teachers. But what they really wanted was free access to educational content.
There are many big companies providing e-learning for students in the U.S. charging a hefty fee per month to educational content. Spitball already offered access free to classmates’ content but students still had to pay for content from third parties.
“Students gather it, why not get money for it?”
“Why not expand Spitball to offer students peer-to-peer marketplace in which they can buy and sell directly among themselves, thereby removing the middleman,” thought Apelbaum.
The currency of exchange would be a cryptocurrency with a customised personal wallet for each student.
Spitball 2.0 has been trialled in ten universities in the U.S. since August. Word of mouth marketing and games by one hundred and fifty student ambassadors have been used to engage with a generation that does not respond to traditional advertising.
Finally
“We launched the first ever blockchain-based student economy,” says Apelbaum.
“A decentralised economy where students can buy and sell services and knowledge to and from their peers.”
View by a student – Chen Kramer
What do you study and where?
I just finished my first degree in behavioural science and am now into my second degree in organisational development, both at Bar Ilan University, Israel.
What is the approach of your university?
We have both traditional lectures where the professor talks to 30/40 students. The class gets divided into smaller groups where we solve problems brought to us by business people.
What role has online learning played in your life until now?
I can do the courses at my own pace.
What has changed that has made it more relevant?
Learning online saves me time so I don’t need to waste hours in traffic going to the university.
How do you use Spitball?
I’m using it to prepare for classes and tests. Also when I’m stuck with homework, it helps me find the right answers quickly.
How did you finance your present studies?
I work full-time to pay half of my studies and my parents help me by paying the other half.
What social media do you use and why?
We have a Facebook study group, set up in 2015 to help each other with sharing information, and Instagram to keep up to date with my friends
View by a student – Talha Baig
What do you study and where?
I'm doing a Bachelor of Software Engineering at Iqra University in Karachi, Pakistan.
What is the approach of your university?
The teaching style is quite traditional, except for some faculty members' unique teaching style.
What role has online learning played in your life until now?
I personally use the internet all the time to verify and to understand programming concepts because, as a software engineering student, online learning is very, very important for self-development.
What has changed that has made it more relevant?
I can learn and understand more through online learning, especially with my interest in ethical hacking.
How do you use Spitball?
I use it to answer the questions of other students. And the questions and answers of other people can sometimes be really informative.
How did you finance your present studies?
My father manages all my expenditure.
What social media do you use and why?
I use Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to talk to my friends on social media, to look at memes and to learn from some social media groups.
