A 24-hour online system providing academic assistance called BrainMass is helping stressed undergrads by offering a network of teaching assistants who can help a student in need of some extra brain cells when crunch time sets in.
Based in Kingston, Ont., BrainMass.com is comprised of more than 650 graduate students from universities all over North America, including U of T, Harvard, MIT and Columbia, and offers help in 42 subjects. More than 40 grad students from U of T are participating.
“We are a for-student-by-student organization,” said Grant Goodwin, founder and general manager for BrainMass, as well as a former Queen’s University student.
Goodwin said the driving force is to help grad students earn extra cash.
“We don’t provide just the answers…it’s not for cheating purposes but an academic one,” said Goodwin. “For essays, for example, OTAs [online teaching assistants] would check for flow, thesis cohesion, argument, and suggestions for other angles. We have high moral integrity…it’s not to give them an easy ride.”
The idea of the company emerged about two years ago with Goodwin and his colleagues and they have been operating for about one year, testing the waters to see how effective their services are.
Goodwin said they have an excellent user rate, with many return users submitting essays and queries.
For Canadian students, the cost is $5 for a step-by-step explanation to a problem, $3 for an essay review, and $1.50 to access a solutions bank where students can download previous solved problems in various subjects. A student pays after the OTA has responded. To pay for the services, students can purchase credits through a company called InternetSecure, an onsline credit card processing system.
Eighty per cent of the money goes directly to the OTAs, with 20 per cent going to hosting and website development, and administration.
BrainMass doesn’t claim to replace professors or teaching assistants, but rather exists to assist students in dire need of help when a deadline is approaching and office hours are not available. According to Goodwin, the OTAs are available 24 hours a day and seven days a week, and log onto the system regularly to check for postings.
Student group supporters for BrainMass include U of T’s Students’ Administrative Council (SAC) and Queen’s University’s Arts and Science Undergraduate Society.
John Lea, SAC’s vice president of operations, has used the service and was impressed with the response.
“The grad explained in detail several different aspects to my problem and I received my response in just a few hours,” Lea said in a press release.
SAC will not receive any revenue from the service.
