Excerpt from ClassConnect > About Us (the quote I’m referencing in the title of this blog posting is in bold text below)
I couldn’t stay focused in school, I wasn’t interested in homework, and I wasn’t motivated by grades.
This dismayed my parents and frustrated my teachers. Then, during my junior year of high school (almost two years ago), my chemistry teacher pulled me aside and asked the question that changed the focus of my life: “What would make you interested in learning what I’m teaching?” I was stumped. She didn’t ask me to try harder, she didn’t ask me to stay after for help or study more – she asked me to figure out how she could grab my interest. No one had ever bothered to ask me that before. A few moments later I replied, “let’s get everyone working together on computers – I’ll even build the software for us to use”.
And that was the start of ClassConnect. For the next two years I designed, tested, and redesigned the software, getting teacher and peer input along the way. Suddenly, I couldn’t learn enough about how teachers teach and how students learn. Education, once my nemesis, became my passion. I became obsessed with trying to figure out how to share knowledge more efficiently. I realized as students we learned better when we worked together using videos and websites – and we even enjoyed it!