MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name:

Epiphanie AI Tutoring

One-line solution summary:

Epiphanie provides web-based automated tutoring that helps students, teachers, and parents work together to gain confidence in their skills.

Pitch your solution.

Epiphanie's goal is to help every student feel confident in their ability to use math and mathematical reasoning to solve real-world problems. As a long-time tutor, I've noticed that most of my students' mistakes aren't because they don't understand the material. Most of my Calculus students' mistakes aren't Calculus mistakesm they're mistakes with exponents, fractions, sign errors, or understanding the questions. And I’ve seen first-hand the frustration and pain in students’ eyes when they can’t "get it” as math topics build consecutively on previous material that they struggled with… and the elation they feel when they do get it!

Epiphanie students can have help when they need during daily homework or practice problems. The Epiphanie system will work with students' teachers, parents, and learning community to address areas where students need help.

We also plan to donate 10% of our subscriptions to economically disadvantaged individuals and schools in underperforming areas.

Film your elevator pitch.

What specific problem are you solving?

Our goal at Epiphanie is to improve how math and science students engage in their daily work. Some students have parents who are able to sit down and walk them through how to solve a complex math problem at the high school level; others struggle with fractions and basic algebra. Our system allows students to get feedback and input to guide them as they're doing their homework and daily studying to gain confidence in their own ability to solve problems and remain engaged in the subject.

The Epiphanie tutoring system is also designed to share that information with parents, teachers, and tutors, and to provide recommendations and material to help students work on foundational or current topics where they're struggling. Epiphanie will enable teachers use their limited per-student time to customize the teaching experience to each student's challenges. (So while our primary focus is increasing engagement of remote and hybrid learners, our system also helps support teachers in adapting their pedagogy and personalizing instruction for students and families.)

What is your solution?

Epiphanie's math tutoring solution provides advice to students each step along the way as they solve problems. There are already "automatic math solvers" on the market that do the problem for them, but these don't help students learn. Epiphanie will analyze the student's work each step along the way and help them understand exactly where they're making mistakes, learn how to catch them, and gain confidence in their own abilities. Psychological support for students as they struggle to improve is a key part of the system - there's a self-fulfilling aspect to math skill, and when a student falls a little bit behind they often feel hopeless and stop trying, reinforcing their own belief. We plan to break that pattern.

Epiphanie will integrate with math textbooks and other material to ensure easy access to the system and help. Our system's feedback can be shared with parents, teachers, tutors, and others in the student's broader learning community. This includes specific recommendations about material and topics where they need to brush up.

Our system is an online web-based solution that runs on the SymPy math engine including custom Python, Django, and other web-based languages.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Epiphanie's AI tutoring solution is designed for students - to help them understand where they're making mistakes in math and analytical problems while they're working on them. But our solution is also designed to help their greater learning community - parents, teachers, tutors, and administrators - as they strive to help students excel in these subjects.

Epiphanie's goal is to help every student feel confident in their ability to use math and mathematical reasoning to solve real-world problems. During my career in the software industry, I've continued to tutor math, chemistry, and physics both as a volunteer and for pay. I've noticed that most of my students' mistakes aren't because they don't understand the material - for example 90% of my Calculus students' mistakes aren't Calculus mistakes - they're mistakes with exponents, fractions, sign errors, or understanding the questions. And I’ve seen first-hand the frustration and pain in students’ eyes when they can’t “get it” as math topics build consecutively on previous material that they struggled with… and the elation they feel when they do get it!

We strive to help span the gap between the limited number of families that can afford weekly tutoring services with a subject expert and the needs of all students and families. At a reasonable cost, students can have help when they need it as they work on their daily homework or practice problems or study for exams. Our students will have 24/7 access to their own personalized AI tutor; even well-off students can't have tutors available that often. Human tutors and teachers will always be important to help students work through complex topics, and we plan to partner with (and also provide) supplementary material and tutoring services where needed. The Epiphanie system will work with students' teachers, parents, and tutors, partnering to help identify and address areas where students need help.

For teachers and administrators, the Epiphanie system will help them understand how to target their teaching to each individual student. Teachers have hundreds of homework assignments to grade every night, and they can rarely spend more than a few minutes on each one. What if the very first thing they saw was a summary of this specific student's math challenges and what they need to work on? Epiphanie will enable teachers to target specific student foundational deficits and move past those to the current material. Administrators will be able to see the big picture too about how classes and curriculums are performing for the overall student population.

We also plan to donate 10% of our subscriptions to economically disadvantaged individuals and schools in underperforming areas. Students in these communities are the ones that would benefit the most from strong math and analytical skills - the best way out of poverty is a solid foundation in math.

I feel blessed to have a gift for math, and I want everyone to know the confidence that comes with understanding a subject that many feel they cannot master and that’s critical for success in our technology-focused world.

Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Increase the engagement of learners in remote, hybrid, and physical environments, including strategies and tools for parental support, peer interaction, and guided independent work.

Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.

Our AI math tutoring solution is specifically designed for students to use remotely and independently, sharing key information with their learning communities. Almost every student worldwide has a need for analytical math skills, and they often give up before they start due to feelings of inadequacy or falling behind.

Our solution helps students understand where they’re making mistakes as they go, and shares key information with teachers, parents, and tutors about areas where they need to work on foundational material. We hope the result will be much greater confidence and skill in analytical problem solving among our students worldwide!

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?

Concord, CA, USA

What is your solution’s stage of development?

Prototype: A venture or organization building and testing its product, service, or business model.

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.

We finished our proof-of-concept several months ago and are in the process of completing our prototype now. We expect to begin the Pilot phase of our system in August with initial student engagements in the greater San Francisco Bay area (East bay), among my current and previous Algebra students.

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?

Kevin Moore, Founder and CEO