Catholic Tutoring Institute (CTI)

Business Concept

• Creating an on-demand tutoring website for Catholics (primarily homeschooled Catholics)
• Targeting a niche market with a specific focus on Catholic education
• Using the domain name cti.institute (Catholic Tutoring Institute)

Features and Functionality

• Live video conferencing for tutoring sessions
• Dynamic/adaptive pricing based on scheduling time (e.g., more expensive for last-minute sessions)
• Adaptive pricing to incentivize friends to form tutoring groups
• Point system: CTI Points
• Marketplace-style platform for matching students with teachers

Inspiration and Research

• Catholic Home Schooling: A Handbook for Parents by Seton Home Study School founder Mary Kay Clark, Ph.D.
• Ivan Illich's learning networks idea in Deschooling Society (1971)
• Bloom, Benjamin S. “The 2 Sigma Problem: The Search for Methods of Group Instruction as Effective as One-to-One Tutoring.” Educational Researcher 13, no. 6 (1984): 4–16, on the effectiveness of one-on-one tutoring
• Amjad Masad's discussion on ₿, AI, and educational applications

Technical Implementation

• Using BTCPay Server and other FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software)
• Implementing a scheduling system to optimize tutor-student matches (using FET somehow?)
• Developing a platform for students to form classes and invite friends (making learning a social medium)
• ₿ ⚡ micropayments or fiat to buy CTI Points
• Screen sharing (using WebRTC?) and whiteboard with drawing features and MathJax for LaTeX equations input

Market Opportunity

• People are willing to pay $50-$100/hr for online tutoring
• States like Arizona pay for online tutoring (become an ESA vendor)
• Become an Arizona corporation
• Apply for Arizona educational tax credit (STO) status
• Potential for a large market demand for Catholic-focused online tutoring

Personal and Collaborative Aspects

• Needing help from friends and acquaintances to develop the business
• Desire to connect people with complementary skills to implement the idea
• Interest in having an "evangelist" to help promote the platform

Interested in helping? Contact me.

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