TOEIC scores are one of essential factors to nearly 600,000 job applicants in Korea engaging in fierce “specs (specifications)” competition in the job market. The 50,000 won test fee is never a small amount to most of them. What if they can get rewards for solving TOEIC questions? Furthermore, what if they make money in proportion to the rise in TOEIC scores?
Education startup Riiid’s AI (artificial intelligence)-based application “Santa TOEIC” is trying to translate these ideas into reality. The company expects to prompt TOEIC students to be more enthusiastic about studying by issuing the “Santa TOEIC coin (STOEIC).”
The company’s name Riiid comes from “rid” meaning “remove” or “liberate.” Stanta TOEIC, Riiid’s one-on-one tailor-made TOEIC solution, made debut in 2014. Riiid is offering a data-based AI tutor service on the basis of 670,000 members and 90 million learning data. Riiid CEO Jang Young-jun says his company is seeking to remove inconveniences in learning and provide a customized solution for every one of the users through AI-based tutoring.
Santa TOEIC figures out what type of questions students are vulnerable to based on accumulated data and enables them to attain goals quickly. Specifically, the learning app makes it possible for learners to figure out their weak points quickly and study efficiently by offering adequate questions, ranging from TOEIC split into 7 parts to grammar patterns in detail. “Santa TOEIC predicts with 90% accuracy expected scores, vulnerable types and which questions would be answered rightly or wrongly,” said Jang.
“It will be possible to stimulate each learner’s desire to accomplish and encourage him or her to attain goals by introducing a token economy.”
Then one can wonder what prompted the AI-based education startup to issue tokens. Jang said, “The token economy is a concept that has existed in the education sector before the emergence of Bitcoin.”
“Assuming that something given to induce an action is called token, research into the token economy began in the 1960s first,” said Won Jong-jin, a team leader at Riiid. “The token economy educationally means what prompts repetitive actions by inducing a sense of deprivation or a sense of accomplishment through token compensation as if one gets reward points or penalty points.” This means that the Santa TOEIC token will prompt learners to act.
STOEIC can be obtained if users solve TOEIC questions offered in the Santa TOEIC app or scores pick up. Bruiting and friend invitations that contribute to the invigoration of the Santa TOEIC ecosystem are rewarded too. Tokens obtained in these ways will be exchanged for cash in crypto exchanges where STOEIC is listed in the second half of this year.
“Realistic benefits are more important than the future value of the token,” Jang said. “For example, students can earn tuition fees by studying TOEIC hard during summer vacation. We will make up a story by providing students engaging in intense studies with direct commercial value.”
Jang believes coins can be a differentiated element of competition in the conventional education market. “All in this market sell similar products and so late participants never fail to lose if they compete with same strategies,” said Jang, adding that “Riiid’s product is not publication but AI tutor. To make a difference further, we offered a new method.”
Riiid plans to apply AI and a token economy to other areas of education business following Santa TOEIC. The company will expand its scope to multiple choice tests like SAT and ultimately aim to offer lifelong education services. “You need TOEIC after entering university and have to obtain licenses to get hired. Or you have to prepare for SAT and GRE to go abroad for studying,” Jang said. “Riiid’s vision is to offer lifelong education services broadly.” /wonjaeyeon@decenter.kr
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