Education start-up PenPal Schools offers courses that combine technology with a human element by pairing students with pen pals from a pool of over 90 participating countries around the world.

Going beyond textbooks and news articles, learners in PenPal Schools "are paired up with a pen pal from another state or country who is taking the same course. Through correspondence that revolves around a guided curriculum, learners can exchange ideas and perspectives around certain topics and content,” says Gigaom.com.

Courses through PenPal Schools provide students with weekly assignments, videos, and prompts that are meant to kick-start conversation with their respective pen pals, who are communicated with over a “chat-like interface.”

Although this chat-like interface is the current only form of communication offered to PenPal Schools students, the start-up is hoping to offer video messaging soon.

And perhaps one of the best parts about the courses is: they’re free. While the company will most likely offer a premium, paid version in the near future, "all of PenPal Schools’ original courses will remain on offer for free,” the article said.

As of right now, PenPal Schools courses cover just history, culture, and current events to provide students with multiple perspectives on such topics from fellow learners across the world.

In the future, however, the start-up aims to offer courses in language arts and non-traditional subjects like music.

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

12/2/2015