101 Edu

101 Edu builds mobile-first teaching and assessment tools specifically for college STEM courses

101 builds mobile-first teaching and assessment tools specifically for college STEM courses. The tools that college students use to learn math and science haven’t fundamentally changed in 100 years. Today, students have a myriad of textbooks, online homework, and response clickers, which mostly rely on static content and generic multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank problems. Instead, we are delivering uniquely tailored, touch-based tools that create new ways for students to visualize and experience abstract math and science topics. Our first app, Chem101, replaces the clicker and provides tools for chemistry professors to engage their students in the classroom. Chem101 features a module that allows students to intuitively draw and visualize Lewis structures on their mobile devices. Rather than multiple choice questions, students draw and submit molecular structures in assignments that professors create inside the app. When students submit structures, professors see what their students are drawing in real time and Chem101 automatically pulls out the most common mistakes. Chem101 was piloted during the Fall 2016 semester at 10 U.S. colleges/universities including Carnegie Mellon University, Columbia University, and the University of Cincinnati. We are growing a team of visionary scientists and engineers to expand our approach into a broad range of math and science topics that cause pain to many of the 4.5M U.S. college students who take STEM courses every year. With more engaged students, we aim to reduce the college STEM major dropout rate, fill the workforce gap, and help create the next generation of scientists, engineers, and technologists.