LyvaTeach

Website

Students select their city and search for tutors, filtering by desired subject, and the tutors are sorted by experience (total minutes) or quality, based on tutor evaluations. Each tutor has an info page, including the subjects they teach, along with experience level and quality level for each subject. The info page also includes major intersection (closest to where they live) and availability times (days of week, mornings, afternoons, and/or evenings). When contacting a prospective tutor, the student selects the desired subject(s), enters an optional message, and clicks on Contact. The tutor then receives an automatic email, and logs on to the website and responds, if desired. Every lesson is delivered to the student in a form which is easily displayed on a smartphone.

Revenue and Expenses

All revenue comes from the 7 percent cut of the paid tutors' earnings. Fixed expenses include web hosting fees and Google AdWords advertising. All partners (the highest ranking of the 6 classes of users) as well as the senior developer (the founder) receive an equal share of the profits. For the first 6 months only volunteer tutors in Toronto will be recruited.

LyvaTags Curriculum

All curricula exists in the form of Wiki-style documents, similar to Wikipedia articles. My own Wiki-style markup language (called LyvaTags) is used to both read and write the lessons. Content-creators use the Windows Writer App, and students use the Android/iOS Reader Apps to display the lessons. Content is encrypted to prevent plagiarism. LyvaTags adds support for tables, grids, and multiple columns. Grids are used for entering mathematical expressions, and adjacent grid cells may be merged to accommodate oversized characters (superscripts/subscripts are handled by adding a vertical offset of half a character). Educators use the built-in Lyvathon scripting language (similar to Python) to develop web-based educational software hosted at LyvaTeach.org. Both Lyvathon and LyvaTags are open source projects written in Java, and the rest of LyvaTeach is also written in Java.

Mentors

LyvaTeach has 6 classes of users: developers like me who maintain the website, partners who decide which tutors can become mentors, mentors who are tutors which supervise content creators and other tutors, content creators who write the lessons (and educational software) used by the tutors, tutors who are supervised by mentors, and students. Every tutor who is not a mentor is assigned a mentor. Those tutors who have logged the most hours (in the top 20 percent) and with superior ratings as given by their students (in the top 40 percent) are eligible to become mentors. When tutors are assigned to mentors, preference is given to those mentors who have the fewest tutors assigned to them. Mentors don't have to pay 7 percent of their earnings to LyvaTeach. Those mentors who have logged the most hours (in the top 20 percent) and with superior ratings as given by their students (in the top 40 percent) automatically become partners.

Business Plan: Steps

1. Learn server-side Java programming
2. Implement Java version of Plicathon.com, which is an image-collection organizer
3. Approach West Neighbourhood House as partner organization
4. If successful, go to Step 6
5. Approach 3 contacts who are educators (Ellen Davis, Eric Davis, Carla Silver)
6. Partner organization/contact helps recruit CCD
7. Hire Core Curriculum Developer (CCD)
8. CCD (a volunteer) writes literacy curriculum
9. Mike or CCD writes math curriculum
10. Curriculum written using Word, then converted to PDF
11. Continue developing website
12. Convert curriculum to LyvaTags
13. Develop LyvaTags Reader, an Android app (eventually develop iOS version)
14. Launch website
15. Develop LyvaTags Writer, a Windows app
16. Revenue Sources (Royalties):
    1. Paid tutors pay LyvaTeach consisting of 7 percent of the amount they charge to their students
17. Operating Expenses:
    1. Web hosting + Google AdWords advertising + Partner remuneration
18. Calculation of partner remuneration:
    1. Let k = 52 weeks/year x 7 percent = 3.64
    2. Let h = hrs/week = 5
    3. Let r = rate/hr = 25
    4. Let x1 = no. of tutors/mentor = 6
    5. Let x2 = no. of mentors/partner = 10
    6. Let p = no. of tutors/partner = (x1)(x2) = 60
    7. Let n = no. of partners
    8. Let t = no. of paid tutors = 1000
    9. Then t = pn = 60n
    10. Let f = fixed costs = web + adv = 2000 + 5000 = 7000 (for n = 1 up to 5)
    11. And f = 7500 + 5000 = 12,500 (for n > 5)
    12. Gross revenue = 5 hours/week/tutor x $25/hour x 52 weeks/year x 0.07 = $455/year/tutor
    13. Gross annual revenue/partner = $455/tutor x 6 tutors/mentor x 10 mentors/partner = $27,300
    14. Assume that 600 paid tutors exist
    15. Gross revenue = $455/year/tutor x 600 tutors = $273,000/year
    16. Operating expenses = web hosting + AdWords advertising = $7500 + 5000 = $12,500/year
    17. Profit = $273,000/year - $12,500/year = $260,500/year
    18. No. of partners = 600 tutors / (6 tutors/mentor x 10 mentors/partner) = 10
    19. Adjusted no. of partners = 10 + 2 = 12 (Mike and the partner organization count as 2 partners)
    20. Let R = Net annual revenue/partner = profit divided by 12 = $260,500 / 12 = $21,708
    21. n = (1,2,3,4,5,10)
    22. n' = n + 2 = adjusted value of n (Mike and the partner organization count as 2 partners)
    23. R = khrp(n / n') - (f / n')
    24. R = khrp(n / (n + 2)) - (f / (n + 2))
    25. khrp = 27,300
    26. R1 = (27,300 x (1/3)) - (7,000 / 3) = 6,767
    27. R2 = (27,300 x (2/4)) - (7,000 / 4) = 11,900
    28. R3 = (27,300 x (3/5)) - (7,000 / 5) = 14,980
    29. R4 = (27,300 x (4/6)) - (7,000 / 6) = 17,033
    30. R5 = (27,300 x (5/7)) - (7,000 / 7) = 18,500
    31. R10 = (27,300 x (10/12)) - (12,500 / 12) = 21,708
    32. R1000 = (27,300 x (1000/1002)) - (12,500 / 1002) = 27,233 < 27,300 for all n
19. Partner Definition:
    1. Mentors are tutors who supervise content creators and other tutors
    2. Content creators write the lessons used by the tutors
    3. Partners decide which tutors can become mentors
    4. Those tutors who are in the top 20 percent of hours logged, and in the top 40 percent of the ratings given by students, are eligible to become mentors
    5. Those mentors who are in the top 20 percent of hours logged, and in the top 40 percent of the ratings given by students, automatically become partners

Business Plan Background

Mike is currently a volunteer computer tutor at West Neighbourhood House, and was a volunteer tutor at Fred Victor for 5 years, teaching math, computers, and literacy. West Neighbourhood House also employs volunteer tutors who teach math and literacy.

Mike's contacts who are educators are: his cousin Ellen Davis, a retired ESL teacher; his cousin Eric Davis, a senior administrator at the University of the Fraser Valley; and Carla Silver, a high school music teacher.

Role of West Neighbourhood House

West Neighbourhood House would provide a location for quarterly board meetings of LyvaTeach. Also, WNH would recruit 2 LyvaTeach board members, who can be employees or volunteers with WNH, or even board members of WNH. I would chair the quarterly board meetings (which may be held more frequently than quarterly after LyvaTeach goes live), and I would also use Specialisterne to help me recruit a 4th board member who is on the autism spectrum. Specialisterne helps find IT jobs for those on the autism spectrum. The board meetings can be held after hours at Bang The Drum, or some other room that has WiFi or a computer connected to the Internet.

Benefits to West Neighbourhood House

1. West Neighbourhood House receives the same amount of money that each partner receives. Please see Steps 18.20 thru 18.32 in Business Plan: Steps for approximate value(s).
2. When tutors and students log in to the LyvaTeach website, a link to the Learning Programs web page at westnh.org is displayed, assuming that the person logging in lives in Toronto. All users can click on "Donate to Partner", which displays info about West Neighbourhood House and a link to its donation web page.
3. All WNH tutors have the option of becoming LyvaTeach tutors/content-creators, and all LyvaTeach tutors/content-creators who live in Toronto have the option of becoming WNH tutors.

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Competition

LyvaTeach faces at least 3 competitors: KhanAcademy.org, UniversityTutor.com, and Tutoring-Beyond-Borders.com. Khan Academy has thousands of online courses, but little or no face-to-face instruction. University Tutor has 100,000 tutors in 8500 cities, but no curriculum library (the tutors, paid only, are on their own). Tutoring Beyond Borders is free but only operates in the Kitchener area.

Implementation Steps

1. User Authentication
2. Classes of Users
3. Subject Tree
4. Skills Table
5. Lesson Table
6. Scheduling
7. Tutor Search
8. Tutor-Student Messaging
9. Tutor Evaluation/Timekeeping
10. Misc. Tables:
    1. Cities
    2. Prerequisites
    3. Grade Scores
    4. Table Edits
11. Tutor Royalties
12. Partner Remuneration
13. User Hierarchy
14. LyvaTags Reader App
15. LyvaTags Encryption
16. LyvaTags Writer App
17. Convert Reader to iOS

About Me

I am Mike Hahn, the founder of LyvaTeach.org. On August 9, 2014 I began working on Basyx.org (a tutoring website). I started developing Lyvathon.org (a new programming language) on January 4, 2015, after dabbling in its precursors (sporadically) since the mid 90s. On January 24, 2015 I resumed working on Basyx.org, and resumed working on Lyvathon on May 9, 2015. I started designing Lyspio.com (the master website of all Lyvathon apps) on November 16, 2015. I started PlicTalk.com, an image collection manager, on January 13, 2016. One month later I reverted to Lyspio.com on February 15, 2016. I started Twirthie.com (a small project to help me learn Java) on March 24, 2016, which was based on an earlier idea I fleshed out in 1987. I started LyvaTeach.org on April 22, 2016 (used to be Basyx).

I was previously employed at Brooklyn Computer Systems as a Delphi Programmer and a Technical Writer (I worked there between 1996 and 2013). Just prior to starting Lyvathon I quit my job as a volunteer tutor at Fred Victor on Tuesday afternoons, where for 5 years I taught math, computers, and literacy. I'm now a volunteer computer tutor at West Neighbourhood House. My hobbies are reading the news at cbc.ca and going for walks in my neighbourhood. About twice a year I get together with my sister who lives in Victoria. She comes here or I go out there usually in the summer. At those times I'm much more active, but most of the year I tend to lie on the couch a lot, and not be very active. I do, however, visit my brother once a month or so and belong to Out of Your Shell, a social-recreation group for shy people.

Contact Info

Mike Hahn
Founder
LyvaTeach.org
2495 Dundas St. West
Ste. 515
Toronto, ON  M6P 1X4
Canada

Phone: 416-533-4417
Email: hahnbytes (AT) gmail (DOT) com
Blog: lyvathon.blogspot.ca