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"The World at Work is powered by GE. This new series highlights the people, projects and startups that are driving innovation and making the world a better place.\nName: Skillshare\nBig Idea: Provide an online hub for people to sign up to teach or attend offline classes. \nWhy It's Working: Skillshare allows anyone to teach a class \u2014 and make money while doing so. Users choose to learn topics in five main categories at very little cost: creative arts, culinary arts, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and technology. \nSkillshare, an online marketplace for learning and teaching, is entering its second year with momentum. \nSince its launch in April 2011, Skillshare has grown from three to 13 team members, roped in $3.1 million in funding, expanded class offerings outside of New York City and, most recently, hosted its first conference. \nThe startup's easy-to-navigate website lets anyone with specialized skills to teach a class and anyone to attend a class at very little cost \u2014 on average between $20 and $25. Some skills require multiple classes, which will cost from $50 to hundreds of dollars. \nSkillshare Community Manager Danya Cheskis-Gold says she and colleagues get a kick out of \"seeing students getting new jobs and teachers making enough money to quit their current ones.\" \n\n\n\n\nThe classes taught through Skillshare fall within five categories: creative arts, culinary arts, entrepreneurship, lifestyle and technology. Within those categories, students can choose specific topics such as programming, business development, cocktail making, branding and personal finance, among a slew of other skills. \nSkillshare's most active communities are in NYC, San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles, but the service is open for people to use across the U.S.\nOn each class page, users can assess the legitimacy of each teacher in the \"Trust and Reputation\" section. \"Be One of the Cool Kids: An Introduction to Ruby on Rails\" teacher Avi Flombaum, for example, has taught 220 students who have endorsed him 35 times and left 30 reviews.\nTeachers' profile pages also show how many hours they have taught and spent learning. \n\"The best learning experiences are meaningful and collaborative, and that happens when people learn together with others who share their passions and when teachers constantly improve.\"\n\"Skillshare is nothing without its community, which is why social aspects like endorsements and student-led study groups are so crucial,\" Cheskis-Gold says. \"The best learning experiences are meaningful and collaborative, and that happens when people learn together with others who share their passions and when teachers constantly improve.\" \nTeachers take home 85% of what students pay to absorb new skills, while Skillshare nets 15% of the class fees. That money, along with the $3.1 million funding infusion from August, helps Skillshare scale its business, community and staff.\nMoney collected for some classes go to charities. For example, designers from Kickstarter, Twitter and Quora will teach design classes in May and June to benefit the non-profit Project H Design. \nThis April, Skillshare held the Penny Conference \u2014 a one-day discussion on ways to re-invent the education system. Skillshare CEO Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Codecademy co-founder Zach Sims and Pencils of Promise founder Adam Braun were among the speakers. \n\n\n\n\nSeries presented by GE\n\n\nThe World at Work is powered by GE. GE Works focuses on the people who make the things that move, power, build and help to cure the world.\nThumbnail image courtesy of iStockphoto, wildpixel"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/04/23/skillshare-teaching-learning/>