Duolingo - The World's Largest Learning Lab: 03.06.2015 at ETH Zurich
Innovation under 35: Severin Hacker is a Swiss computer scientist and the cofounder and CTO of Duolingo, the largest language-learning platform in the world.
Having never taught a language class in their lives, co-founders Luis von Ahn and Severin Hacker read basic language education books to understand how to best teach languages online. Upon realizing that popular language education theories contradicted each other, the co-founders decided to launch the platform and study Duolingo's users in action to optimize learning effectiveness through data. The goal: to provide high quality language education to the world.
The results have been positive: a recent independent study has shown that 34 hours of Duolingo are equivalent to an entire university semester of language education. Duolingo has grown from 0 to 85 million users in 3 years, making it the most popular language learning platform worldwide today.
Now, the Duolingo team is employing machine learning techniques to personalize Duolingo for each user. The goal: to allow everyone to have a personal tutor through technology in order to maximize their learning potential.
Severin Hacker will discuss how consistent experimentation and access to the data of 85 million users has allowed the Duolingo team to impact the way people learn languages in and outside of classrooms around the world.