Detailed Plan
I am a physics professor at the University of Arizona (http://u.arizona.edu/~sgralla/). I love my job, both research and teaching, and I think my university is a great institution. Still, I have always had the feeling that education is too expensive, and riddled with unnecessary middlemen. I am a big fan of academic tutoring for students of all levels, from those needing help to those seeking enrichment. But again, something is wrong with the market. Tutoring is outrageously expensive and yet not attractive as a career because it pays so little compared to what a qualified tutor could make elsewhere. Why is this? I'm not totally sure, but I think crypto can help fix it.
You can read about my full ambitions on my aspirational website for Tutorchain (tutorchain.io), or watch the video I included with this proposal (https://youtu.be/EsTPC5JMFQs). I have a grand vision which I really think can change the face of tutoring and knowledge exchange more generally. But before diving into Tutorchain, I want to test out smart contract tutoring in the context of my current business, Tutor Terrace (tutorterrace.com). Tutor Terrace is a high end service putting the very best tutors in touch with students who can afford their services, and letting tutors keep most of their rates. We really operate more as a coop than a business. Still, our prices are high, and this is driven in part by all the fees associated with processing and holding fiat (KYC, credit card fees and disputes, 1099 forms… it adds up). And we are limited to tutors eligible to work in the USA – a huge restriction.
This proposal would fund the addition of smart contract tutoring to Tutor Terrace. In our current system, the student leaves a credit card on file when booking the session, Tutor Terrace charges the card after completing, and finally Tutor Terrace pays the tutor a few days later. In the smart contract version, we will create a simple 3-party contract between the student, the tutor and Tutor Terrace as mediator. This way payment goes directly from student to tutor and is irreversible. This saves us a lot of headache with KYC, credit cards, taxes, etc., and places the burden of tax reporting squarely where it belongs: with the students and tutors. This will let us lower prices and source tutors globally, vastly improving the efficiency of this oldest, and arguably best form of learning: one on one instruction direct from expert to learner.
Tutor Terrace is a python/django app that I coded myself and actively maintain and develop. I will be handling the front end interface and integration with our centralized backend, but I need a Cardano expert to help with wallet integration and smart contract development. This is a rapidly changing space, but right now it looks like Nami is the best option for integration. (When is that Yoroi DApp connector coming out?) While Marlowe is sufficient for our purposes, I would prefer finding a Plutus expert so that we can scale up to some of my more ambitious ideas for Tutorchain, such as on-chain reviews as metadata. For these reasons, I am requesting the full $10,000 in funds to contract one or two developers to help with the smart contract and wallet integration. I will not take a cent of this money as salary for myself, even though I will be actively committing my time.
This project is easily accomplished in the 3-month timeline expected for this category. Please consider lending us your support!