I'm building a community for self-learners to be better at organizing, tracking, and retaining their online learning
Hi everyone, I'm building an app called Newt that aims to help people organize, track, and retain everything they learn -- whether it's from books, videos, online courses, podcasts, interactive games.
I've made a little neat diagram on the desktop version of the website that I think explains the idea well (https://www.newtlearning.com)
But essentially, I think that there is a LOT of awesome education content out there, but:
- it can be difficult to find the right one
- it's difficult to organize across media types
- it would be great to track everything in one place
- ever feel like you forget what you've read/watched after a while? Retaining takes time and effort -- wouldn't it be great if someone did the heavy-lifting?
I have a very basic mobile app that I'd like to test out with a few people, so if this interests you or if it's a problem you've had as well, please sign up on the website, comment, or reach out to me in any way.
Also I post screenshots/screen recordings on Twitter.
Thanks for reading!
Sounds interesting!
How do you plan to monetize? - What features would users be paying for?
Thank you!
I'm not completely sure yet. I've thought of a few options, like a freemium model where the retention features (quizzes, spaced repetition, etc.) for paid content only (like books, for example) would have a small fee, or a subscription where everything is available (if the content is free, everything associated will also be free). But ultimately, my goal is to get good at understanding and combining technology and education from a practical standpoint (there's tons of research already). That way, I can use the experience to re-package the product and sell it as a learning management system for schools/universities (which is what Newt actually started as).
Interesting concept Nehal! Whenever I find articles that are a great resource, I add to my Chrome bookmark folder, books get added to my Amazon wish-list (huge already), download PDF's onto my computer into a "training" folder by subject matter, etc. All over the place. So yes, having some kind of centralized "hub" where any previously curated training or information content can be easily accessed in one place (desktop or mobile app) would be very interesting to me!
Oh, and BTW, I got an error message when I went to try to add my email to the early access.
Hi David, thanks for sharing! I'm so glad you feel this way too; likewise my stuff is all over the place and I haven't found a tool that organizes it well enough to my satisfaction.
Thanks for letting me know about the error message, I'll take a look. But in the meantime, please email me (nehal@newtlearning.com) or DM me on Twitter with your email address and I'll add you to the list!
Hi Nehal, are you still working on this idea?
This sounds great! I signed up for updates. I totally get your use-case, because it's been one of my primary driving use-cases for years already. I've been gradually conceiving a knowledge-management platform for about 17 (!) years, it's the top project of many that drove me to start learning web design & development 7 years ago - I just couldn't find what I'm looking for.
Now, there are many more good options available, that individually are doing great jobs at addressing a number of the features and use-cases I've made note of - like Notion, Roam Research, Walling.app, etc. But having explored hundreds of apps over the past 20 years, with over 17k notes in Evernote and thousands more across dozens of apps, I've got a big vision for what I'm trying to accomplish. I'm aiming for a universal use-case. "Who's your target market?" - "Everyone!" yeah, the thing that almost everyone says is a terrible idea :)
I haven't jumped in here yet at IndieHackers, nor have I got an MVP or even landing page up, but I've been dipping my toes in. My #1 obstacle is honestly personal life - being a single Dad (she turns 7 tomorrow) with some serious chronic health issues = exhaustion and too many migraines.
Anyhow, personal issues aside, I'm excited to see what you're up to and followed you, and I'd be glad to connect and chat. Your learning management ideas are spot-on and important, no matter anyone who doesn't understand it at first glance. It's really important, as I believe we have a great need as individuals and collectively as society to increase our intelligence and relevant knowledge (we've got big problems to deal with).
FYI for a small example of my dedication to the space, here's a landing page I made five years ago after my first and only Startup Weekend - www.lifewardlabs.com
I don't think your long-term vision for mass marketing is bad at all. Totally fine, in fact.
Far more important: Can you just phone, email, DM, or physically visit 100 potential users and find among them your first user? Then, can you create a solution - probably manually / concierge-style, NOT software - that turns them into a fanatical, raving user? This is the standard advice of doing things that don't scale (Link 1, Link 2] and focusing on sales.
If that person is a true fanatic and you build something they love, they will bring more users to you, and now you will know what to build and code.
Obviously, your parenting situation is a tough one to deal with. The question, I think, is do you have enough time to just make those phone calls and send those emails? I think each individual outreach could be about 90% scripted and 10% custom, meaning you could send out dozens each day.
Here is an example script you can use, from the book "Nail It, Then Scale It" that got 50% of its cold calls returned.
Good luck!
Hey, just caught up to your comment, thanks! I appreciate the positive & constructive feedback. I'm familiar with that approach and, as is my habit, I'll consider it more deeply having received the advice.
I agree with you. I've taken the "do things that don't scale" message to heart from Gary Vaynerchuck, whom I respect and followed for awhile a couple of years ago. I'm not a young buck any more, I've got experience in the trenches of life, doing the grind. I wasted many years and opportunities (not wasted, but learned hard lessons) chasing shortcuts.
My initial approach though is already decided: I'm building an MVP. The reason is simple: I'm building this for myself, first and foremost. At the least, it is an excellent learning project. At the most, I'll obsolete and dominate the knowledge-management space, and perhaps spawn a better operating system for human thought :)
On a practical note: I like the "starting a fire" metaphor in the link you shared, as I have a personal affinity for fire and firestarting. I have a number of MVP/niche applications of my general concept, and intend to promote it for targeted use cases initially - and then BAM, it's like a magic trick! "You thought these were distinct, modern niche apps? Nope! It's all one platform!" ("Oooo, Aahhhh"). Hah, I joke with myself. But that's the idea.
Organization is by far the hardest challenge in this space. There are countless programming and CS tutorials, MOOCs, etc out there. But is there a great roadmap that will take a student from zero though all the material in a CS degree such that they could be confident taking a CS graduate program entrance test? Nope, not really except possibly going through a full degree track on OCW, perhaps.
Spaced Repetition Systems are tempting because it's so easy to make one, but they're all over the place and Anki/Quizlet have a fortified position that would be hard to compete with.
Tracking... sounds interesting.
Very cool idea. I look forward to hearing more.
One thing to consider: If you look at Learning Scientists or many other cognitive scientists, you find that the activities that are decisively proven to cause retention are the ones most learners avoid. Learners hear about such techniques and overwhelmingly believe "That doesn't apply to me." They instead pick learning techniques that cause illusions of learning and retention, not actual learning and retention.
It's a case of base rate neglect, such as when a young, financially unstable couple that hasn't known each other for long gets married. You can tell them that about 85% of such marriages end in divorce, but almost no couples will believe it. The same thing will likely happen here.
Hey, thank you for commenting and posting those links. I've had a chance to skim them, but I'll definitely take a closer look at them later.
I agree with what you've said, and it's actually one of the reasons I'm building this. The reason learners avoid techniques such as spaced repetition, interleaving, and retrieval, even if they know what and how effective they are, is because of how much effort it takes. If someone finishes a book and wishes to retain it, they'd have to create their own quizzes, do their own retrieval practice, and space them over a period of time. That's really, really hard, so people (including me) fall back to easier options like highlighting, or nothing at all. (I highly recommend the book Making it Stick -- which is where I learned this stuff from).
My goal with Newt is to build software that handles this stuff for you (what I meant by "heavy-lifting"). Learning techniques are in-built, so all the learner has to do is follow along.
Finally, I'm no expert on marriages and divorces, but to use your example, you can think of Newt as a virtual counsellor that says "If you do this, this, and this, we can bring down that probability to 25%".
What "heavy-lifting" exactly will it handle? Will it use AI to create quizzes and flash cards for the user? Or just space the repetition of exercises the user makes? If it's the latter, there are already spaced repetition software packages out there, such as Anki and idorecall.
The user doesn't make them, we do, and it'll be tied to the content. (In the future AI can make this process quicker and less laborious). Or it'll be a mixture of crowdsourcing and in-house editing (like Duolingo). I'm not completely sure yet, I'll figure it out as I go along.
Definitely! Retention is a big problem for me
Really interesting! This is weird, but I'm doing something similar, except it's more aimed at K-12.
I'm looking forward to seeing the early version!
Can you post a link to this?
It's https://dev.pinguni.org (for the newest version). It's far from perfect, so I would love to hear any suggestions/comments you have!
What problems in K-12 education is your website trying to solve?
It's mainly aimed at homeschoolers, although I'm sure other types of students would find it beneficial as well. (I know at least fifty different homeschool families across the United States, and others in different countries, so my idea(s) mostly formed while talking with the parents and students.)
Basically, many of them are now using online courses rather than traditional textbooks. However, just as with traditional textbooks, things don't always work out. Mostly the students complain to me about math - they don't get it, they don't like it, etc. Sometimes even Khan Academy doesn't help, and they don't know where else to look. Or, parents (mostly in other countries) are having trouble finding suitable materials for their kids.
So the basic idea is to collect and organize the best free learning resources within each subject (mostly websites). For example, math resources could include links to Khan Academy, School Yourself, Mathigon, Better Explained, and 3Blue1Brown. The rest of the idea is pretty vague; I'm thinking about organizing by skill level, creating learning paths, and allowing students to create their own paths (for example, if they're learning about the Holocaust, keeping track of materials they're using, notes they're taking, etc.), but I'm still trying to figure everything out.
I'm thinking of community building later on in the future, as many homeschoolers I know want their kids to be able to connect with other homeschool kids, but this is not my priority right now.
I haven't quite decided what will go on the landing page yet.
How will you know what the best resources actually are? I've been in the education field for a long time and without extensive, rigorous user-testing - both very rare - this is extremely hard to determine. From mom & pop tutoring shops all the way up to Bill Gates-funded Khan Academy, designers are shocked at how bad they are predicting how students will respond to their materials.
Like you said, it will depend on testing. So far I've only gathered resources that have worked for multiple homeschool students I know (or ones I find interesting, but I plan to remove resources that the majority of people do not find helpful; right now I'm trying to expose people to resources they haven't come across before; it will help me figure out what works and what doesn't). Are these resources the best? Maybe, maybe not, but the more people a particular resource works for, the better it probably is. I don't have a large user base, but starting small is better than not starting at all. Anyways, if it doesn't work, I'll at least have learned something from the experience.
Second, what works for one kid doesn't always work for another, so by "best resources" I don't mean labelling one single resource as "the best" in its subject/field. Just within my family (as an example), School Yourself worked for my younger siblings better than Khan Academy did, although I preferred using Khan Academy till I finished Calculus I and moved on to higher math. Better Explained, Mathigon, and 3Blue1Brown are resources I discovered a few years ago, so I don't know as much about them, but I recommended them to a few classmates/friends who were struggling with math and they found them very helpful.
Thank you! And that's awesome. I read the profile you wrote for Masa HaChaim, it's very inspiring. I actually got the idea for Newt after having a terrible experience with the education system as well, and I started by aiming at universities/higher-ed before switching to this version.
Please keep at it! If you're ever looking for some feedback or need someone to test something, or anything related really, feel free to reach out to me. I'm always happy to help.
I forgot that I renamed Masa HaChaim to Pinguni a couple months ago (I though a shorter name would be better). Your comment reminded me to update the page :D
I haven't built an MVP (in my opinion) yet, but when the alpha is ready, I'll definitely let you know! I enjoyed reading your updates on Newt as well; most of my experience in web development was also due to dissatisfaction with the current education system and a desire to build something better.
Wonderful! I look forward to trying it out once it's ready. There is a huge need/space for innovation in education so, the more edtech products and people working on them, the better.