EdWrk looking to help students excel with personalised lessons

What began as a selfless gesture to assist fellow students has blossomed into a thriving online platform solving many issues affecting the educational sector currently.

The brainchild of Patrico Tyrell, EdWrk Limited connects students who struggle in various subjects with teachers and tutors to help them master these areas.

A native of Pear Tree River in St Thomas, Tyrell told The Gleaner that the first seed to develop the learning platform was planted in 2017 while he was assisting more than 20 nursing students at The University of West Indies, Mona, where he was also studying at the time.

“It was almost midnight and I had to leave. Some students started having a panic attack, and that’s when I thought there must be a better way to assist more students,” the EdWrk founder and CEO recalled, adding that since its official launch, the platform has helped more than 5,000 people.

He said that EdWrk has connected students from various countries to local tutors, helping Jamaican instructors to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars in income.

“Although our focus was initially the local market, we have seen where there is a great interest from overseas students who would love to have a qualified Jamaican tutor. We have been purposefully growing and improving in a way that benefits both parties in the best way possible,” said Tyrell, who now serves as the only epidemiologist in the Schenectady County in New York,

With the resumption of in-person learning as the local COVID-19 outbreak eases, the EdWrk founder is hopeful that it will also help to bridge the learning gap caused by the pandemic.

Citing figures released last May that more than 120,000 students had been absent from classes in the first year of the pandemic, Tyrell noted that experts in the sector believe it could take two to three years – or even more – to reverse most of the learning loss.

“Jamaican schools also have a high student-to-teacher ratio, which makes it very difficult for students to get personalised attention that can help them to understand concepts they are struggling with,” he further noted, adding that that’s where EdWrk can help.

“With personalised tutoring, students have the ability learn at their own pace and are more comfortable to share what they don’t understand,” he said.

Admitting that private lessons can be expensive, Tyrell noted that the services offered by EdWrk aim to improve access to education and competent teachers and at affordable prices.

“On the other side of the market are educators who are willing to provide their services, but there is no current marketplace for tutors in Jamaica. EdWrk plans on providing more visibility for these tutors, and in doing so, handle their marketing, booking, and payment needs,” he said, sharing that the platform benefits both students and teachers.

“The aim is to offer enough tutors and subjects to attract individuals from the kindergarten to university level. As a student myself, who has gone through every aspect of the school system and is currently pursuing my PhD in epidemiology in the United States, I understand the challenges faced by students,” he said.

“I’ve personally tutored more than 1,000 students globally and have used tutoring as an additional source of income. This has helped me throughout college,” Tyrell added.

He intends to form partnerships with schools to provide one-on-learning experiences to assist those students who are in dire need of academic help, noting that a long-term goal is to develop live tutoring sessions and self-paced learning systems that will allow students an opportunity to log on to the platform and learn independently of a teacher.

shanna.monteith@gleanerjm.com