ECPod Press Release

I found this today amongst my rovings on the net:

Release date: March 31st, 2008 at 09.30a.m. HKT

Language Tuition, Self Promotion, Learn By Videos – At No Cost

(Hong Kong) - A team of young entrepreneurs has launched a web site that enables people of all ages from all over the world to learn English and Mandarin – for free. Found at http://www.ECPod.com on the World Wide Web, the web site has more than 2000 user-submitted videos for the teaching of English and Mandarin.

The site however, is not just for learning.

Described as “a new concept in education,” by Adam Schiedler, an English teacher who helped found the project, this site provides a platform where users are able to choose what they learn (or teach) via the use of online video clips. Subject videos range from financial language to learning how to make a joke; from Chinese calligraphy to sex. Tutors also use the site to attract students wanting further private tuition by posting their own clips.

Based on this concept of user-generated videos, ECPod.com does not produce any videos of their own. Instead, they channel their resources into vetting the video contributions for correctness or suitability. “When we first started this project, the response we got was that users want to learn from people all over the world, people of different backgrounds, people with different accents,” says Warwick Hau, a founding member of the site. "We feel users learning from other users create warmer, more communal learning materials - something lacking in many traditional systems of learning," says Hau. Indeed, a contributor from one culture may choose what he wants other users to learn about his culture. The choice in itself speaks for the contributor’s cultural background. "You cannot get this from textbooks," Hau adds.

Confronted with the reality that user-generated clips could result in offensive material being presented, ECPod.com moderates all videos submitted. “It is a mammoth task given the limited staff we have, but we have to do it to ensure our core premise of providing entertaining education,” says Nathan Ng, Vice President, Sales and Marketing at ECPod. “Keeping in mind the wide demographic of the audience we are reaching, we recognise the possibility of offensive material being posted, and that we cannot allow.”

Still in its beta development stage, the site allows users to create a profile of themselves and make friends with other users through the site’s ECPal function. Users are able to comment on, rate, or share videos with friends as well as communicate with the video’s producers. Users are also encouraged to report errors, thus increasing the effectiveness of the language learning on the site – a user may comment on the grammatical correctness, thereby sparking more discussion and interaction. ECPod.com has also recently launched a contest for Most Creative Clip submitted during the duration of the contest. The winner will receive a new iPod Touch.

Thus far, the site has received a warm response from users in China. Fu Shou Bing, a popular producer on the site, says “ECPod.com has allowed me, a retired teacher, to
continue my passion, which is the teaching of Chinese language and culture.” The site has also allowed students in China the opportunity to hear more of the English language spoken by native speakers from all over the world. “It is difficult to learn English properly without hearing what the words sound like, coming from native speakers,” says Lingling Cao, a Chinese student studying in Chinese University of Hong Kong. "Moreover, hearing all the different accents takes learning to a whole new level - we learn not just how English should be spoken, but also how different English-speaking cultures speak it." Indeed, the site boasts diverse contributors from the UK, who contribute in Queen's English, to Germany and even South Africa, who contribute in a South African accent. A student learning via more traditional means would be hard-pressed to understand English spoken with different accents, thereby defeating their goal of being able to use the language widely.

“We envision ECPod becoming THE language learning/networking site, as Right Up There as YouTube, Facebook and Baidu are, in their respective fields. Since launching, traffic has been doubling steadily and is continuing to grow. Plus, with the feedback we’ve incorporated into Phase Two of our developments, we are highly excited about ECPod’s future,” says Nathan Ng. Phase Two will be launched during the course of 2008.

While still in beta development, http://www.ECPod.com is active and already has
two subsidiary sites, http://ct.ECPod.com and http://cn.ECPod.com, for faster video
streaming speeds in China.



For further information please contact:

Mr. Warwick Hau (Vice President, Communications and Marketing)
Office: +852 2488 9191
Mobile: +852 9550 8772
Email: warwick.hau@ECPod.com



About ECPod
Founded in June 2006, ECPod is an educational-cum-social networking website focused on driving higher levels of English and Mandarin proficiency via a member-teach-member community. Members share language expertise, colloquialisms and folklore using Web 2.0. ECPod allows people to easily upload and share educational video clips on www.ECPod.com.