This company pays kids to do their math homework | Mohamad Jebara

Prevodilac: Marija Cvijic Lektor: Tijana Mihajlović

For as long as I remember, I've loved mathematics.

Otkad znam za sebe, volim matematiku.

Actually, it's not 100 percent true.

U stvari, to nije baš 100 posto tačno.

I've loved mathematics for all but a two-week period

Voleo sam matematiku sve vreme osim neke dve nedelje

in senior high school.

u četvrtom srednje.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

I was top of my class,

Bio sam najbolji u razredu

and we were about to start the Extension Maths course.

kada je trebalo da počnemo da učimo naprednu matematiku.

I was really excited about this brand new topic coming up,

Bio sam veoma uzbuđen zbog ove potpuno nove oblasti -

complex numbers.

kompleksnih brojeva.

I like complex.

Ja volim složene stvari.

My teacher was priming us for the concepts

Profesorka nas je pripremala za ovaj koncept

with some questions about square roots.

postavljajući pitanja o kvadratnim korenovima.

Square of nine -- three;

Koren iz 9 - tri;

square of 256 -- sixteen.

koren iz 256 - šesnaest.

Too easy.

Prelako.

Then she asked the trick question:

Onda je postavila trik pitanje:

What about the square root of negative one?

koliko bi iznosio koren iz -1?

Of course, we were all over it --

Naravno, svi smo uzviknuli:

"Come on, Miss!

„Dajte, profesorice!

We all know you can't take the square root of a negative."

Svi znamo da ne možete izvući koren iz negativnog broja.”

"That's true in the real world," she said.

„To je tačno u stvarnom svetu”, kazala je.

"But in the complex world,

„Ali, u kompleksnom svetu,

the square root of negative one is the imaginary number i."

kvadratni koren broja -1 je imaginarni broj i.”

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

That day,

Tog dana,

my entire mathematical world came crashing down on me.

moj ceo matematički svet se sručio na mene.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

"Imaginary numbers?

„Imaginarni brojevi?

Seriously?

Zaista?

But mathematics is a source of truth,

Ali matematika je izvor istine;

please don't go abstract on me.

nemojte mi pričati o apstraktnosti, molim vas.

I would have studied art

Studirao bih umetnost

if I wanted to play with imaginary numbers."

da sam želeo da se igram imaginarnim brojevima.”

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

"This is Extension Maths, let's get back with our program!"

„Ovo je produbljena matematika, vratimo se na prethodnu.”

She didn't,

Nije se vratila,

and over the next couple of weeks,

te sam sledećih par nedelja

I reluctantly performed meaningless calculations,

preko volje vršio besmislene proračune,

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

finding imaginary solutions to quadratic equations.

tražeći imaginarna rešenja kvadratnih jednačina.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But then something amazing happened.

Ali, onda se nešto neverovatno desilo.

We began finding elegant solutions

Počeli smo da nalazimo elegantna rešenja

to real-world problems we previously had no answers to,

problema iz stvarnog života za koja pre toga nismo imali rešenja,

starting with the complex world of imaginary numbers.

a koja su počinjala kompleksnim svetom imaginarnih brojeva.

So some mathematician 500 years ago

Neki matematičar se pre 500 godina

decides to have some fun and make up these imaginary numbers,

odlučio da se zabavi, te je izmislio ove imaginarne brojeve

and because of that we can now derive these amazing identities

i zbog toga možemo da izvodimo ove neverovatne transformacije

with applications in the real world,

koje imaju primenu u stvarnom svetu,

in fields like electrical engineering.

kao, na primer, u polju elektroinžinjerstva.

Wow!

Strava!

I gained a whole new level of appreciation for mathematics.

Počeo sam da se divim matematici na potpuno drugačijem nivou.

And after my brief mistrust,

Nakon svog kratkog nepoverenja,

I was now in love with the subject more than ever.

bio sam zaljubljen u ovaj predmet više nego ikada do tad.

Francis Su, the mathematician, sums it up beautifully when he says,

Frensis Su, matematičar, je to najlepše sumirao kada je rekao:

"We study mathematics for play, for beauty,

„Učimo matematiku iz zabave, zbog lepote,

for truth,

radi istine,

for justice and for love."

zbog pravde i iz ljubavi.”

But if you ask a student today,

Ali, ako biste pitali današnje učenike,

you'll probably hear a different story.

verovatno biste čuli drugačiji odgovor.

You might hear "difficult" and "boring."

Čuli biste možda reči „teško” i „dosadno”.

And they might be right about difficult.

Možda i jesu u pravu da je teško.

But it's certainly not boring.

Ali definitivno nije dosadno.

In fact, I'd say being difficult to master

Rekao bih da je baš činjenica da je teško savladiva

is part of what makes it beautiful.

ono što je čini prelepom.

Because nothing worth doing is easy.

Jer ništa što zaista vredi nije lako raditi.

So we need students to stick around long enough through the difficult parts

Nama treba da okupiramo učenike dovoljno dugo da prođu teške delove

to appreciate the beauty when it all ties together.

kako bi cenili lepotu kada se sve poveže.

Much like I did for that brief couple of weeks in high school.

Otprilike kao što sam i ja radio tih par nedelja u srednjoj školi.

Unfortunately, our school systems --

Nažalost, u našem školskom sistemu

we move students through mathematics in a lockstep process.

svi učenici zajedno uče matematiku.

So those who fall a little behind

Stoga, oni koji malo zaostanu

find it near impossible to ever catch up and appreciate that beauty.

pronalaze da je skoro nemoguće da ikada ponovo sve pohvataju i cene tu lepotu.

But why is this a problem?

Zbog čega je ovo problem?

Why should we care?

Zašto bismo brinuli o tome?

Well today, more than ever,

Danas više nego ikada pre,

our world needs every citizen to be skilled in mathematics.

našem svetu je potrebno da svaki građanin bude vešt u matematici.

With the advent of artificial intelligence and automation,

Sa dolaskom veštačke inteligencije i automatizacije,

many of the jobs we see today will either not exist

veliki broj poslova koji postoje danas će ili nestati

or be transformed to require less routine work

ili biti transformisani tako da zahtevaju manje rutinskog posla,

and more analysis and application of expertise.

a više analiziranja i primena veština.

But we're not producing the extra mathematics students

Ali, mi ne proizvodimo dodatne učenike matematike

koji će ispuniti ove uloge.

to fill these new roles.

This graph shows the number of students

Ovaj grafikon prikazuje broj učenika

taking Standard Mathematics

koji pohađaju običnu matematiku

and Advanced Mathematics

i naprednu matematiku

over a period of 20 years in Australia.

u periodu od preko 20 godina u Australiji.

It's clear that while we have demand for mathematics skills rapidly increasing,

Jasno je da, dok potražnja za matematičkim veštinama ubrzano raste,

supply is in steady decline.

ponuda je u stalnom opadanju.

To put things in perspective,

Kako bismo to sagledali,

half of the students completing high school today in Australia

polovina učenika koji završavaju srednju školu danas u Australiji

are not prepared to understand any argument

nisu spremni da razumeju nijedan argument

about rates of change in data.

vezan za stopu promena u podacima.

In this digital age

U ovom digitalnom dobu,

where fake news can influence election results,

gde lažne veste mogu uticati na rezultate izbora,

this is very concerning.

ovo je veoma zabrinjavajuće.

Let me give you a concrete example.

Daću vam konkretan primer.

Let's take a closer look at that graph.

Hajde da bolje proučimo ovaj grafikon.

Can everyone see what I've done there to stress my point?

Da li svi vidite šta sam uradio kako bih naglasio svoju poentu?

If you can't, let me show you now,

Ako ne vidite, dozvolite da vam to sada pokažem,

with the vertical axis starting at zero, where it should be.

na vertikalnoj osi sa početkom na nuli, gde i treba da bude.

There, you see it now, right?

Eto, vidite sad?

It's the exact same data

To je identičan podatak,

but I've manipulated the representation to influence you.

ali sam izmanipulisao prikaz kako bih uticao na vas.

And that's cool, that's my job up here.

I to je sjajno. To je moj posao ovde.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

But in all seriousness,

Ali, sada ozbiljno,

unless we do something

ukoliko ne uradimo nešto

to drastically improve student engagement with mathematics,

kako bismo drastično poboljšali zanimanje učenika za matematiku,

we'll not only have a huge skills shortage crisis

ne samo da ćemo imati veliku krizu manjka veština,

but a fickle population,

već i nestalnu populaciju

easily manipulated by whoever can get the most air time.

kojom lako manipuliše onaj ko dobije najviše prostora u medijima.

So what's the solution?

Dakle, šta je rešenje?

There are a lot of things we have to do.

Postoji mnogo stvari koje treba da uradimo.

We need curriculum reform.

Treba nam reforma nastavnog plana.

We need our best and brightest encouraged to become teachers.

Treba da ohrabrimo naše najbolje i najpametnije da postanu učitelji.

We need to put an end to high-stakes tests

Treba da ukinemo testove od kojih mnogo stvari zavisi

and instead follow a mastery-based learning approach.

i umesto njih uvedemo orijentacione testove znanja.

But all these things take time.

Ali sve ove stvari zahtevaju vreme.

And I'm impatient.

A ja sam nestrpljiv.

See, I've been thinking about this for eight years now.

Razmišljam o ovome već osam godina.

Ever since I left my job as a derivative trader

Otkako sam napustio posao trgovca zalihama

to build a web application to help students learn mathematics.

kako bih izgradio aplikaciju kojom bih pomogao učenicima oko matematike.

Today, our app is used by schools across the globe.

Danas se ona koristi u školama širom sveta

And we're seeing big improvements

i vidimo veliki napredak

for students who use the program regularly.

kod učenika koji koriste program redovno.

But here's the thing --

Međutim, evo u čemu je stvar -

we're only seeing it for students who use the program regularly.

primećujemo ga samo kod učenika koji program koriste redovno.

And most of them don't.

A to nije slučaj sa većinom njih.

So after years of developing and refining the application,

Nakon godina razvoja i prerade aplikacije,

our biggest challenge was not so much product related,

naš najveći izazov nije bio toliko vezan za proizvod.

our biggest challenge was motivating students

Naš najveći izazov bio je motivisanje učenika

to want to work on their gaps in understanding.

da žele da popune rupe u svom znanju i razumevanju.

You can imagine in today's attention economy,

Možete zamisliti koliko je teško sa današnjom ekonomijom pažnje,

we're competing against Facebook, Snapchat and PlayStation

kada se takmičimo protiv Fejsbuka, Snepčeta i Plejstejšna,

to try and get these students' time.

izboriti se za vreme učenika.

So we went back to the drawing board

Stoga smo se vratili na početak

and started to think about how we could make it worthwhile

i počeli da razmišljamo o tome kako da ga učinimo vrednijim

for students to spend some of their "attention budget"

za učenike da bismo ih naveli da potroše malo od postojeće pažnje

on their education.

na svoje obrazovanje.

We tinkered with gamification elements

Razmatrali smo da uvedemo elemente igre

like points, badges and avatars,

kao što su bodovi, značke i avatari,

and we'd see a temporary spike in engagement

nakon čega bismo videli kratkotrajni skok u uključenju,

but things would go back to normal as soon as the novelty wore off.

ali čim bi ta novina izbledela, stvari bi se vratile u normalu.

Then one day, my cofounder, Alvin,

Onda je jednog dana moj suosnivač, Alvin,

came across a study of students in Chicago

naišao na grupu studenata u Čikagu

led by the behavioral economist, Steven Levitt,

koju je vodio bihejvioralni ekonomista, Stiven Levit,

where they paid students who improved on their test scores.

u kojoj su plaćali studentima koji su poboljšali svoje ocene.

He started telling me about some of the things they tested for

Počeo je da mi priča o nekim stvarima koje su testirali,

and the interesting findings they had.

kao i novim interesantnim otkrićima.

Na primer, otkrili su da je motivisanje studenata zbog njihovog ulaganja,

For instance, they found that incentivizing students for inputs,

like effort,

kao što je trud,

worked a lot better than incentivizing for outputs,

funkcionisalo mnogo bolje od motivisanja, kada je reč o učinku,

like test scores.

kao što su ocene sa testova.

They found that for younger students, you could win them over with a trophy

Otkrili su da su mlađe studente mogli da stimulišu trofejima,

but for older students,

ali za starije studente

you really needed cash.

trebao vam je novac.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And the amount of cash mattered -- 10 dollars was good,

Čak je i količina novca značila - 10 dolara je bilo dobro,

20 dollars -- even better.

20 dolara - još bolje.

But perhaps most importantly,

Ali, možda je ono najbitnije

they found that the rewards had to be instant

da su otkrili da nagrade moraju da budu momentalne

rather than promised at a later date.

umesto da se daju naknadno.

They went as far as to give the students 20 dollars and say,

Otišli su toliko daleko da su dali studentima 20 dolara i rekli:

"Touch it, feel it, smell it --"

„Dodirnite ih, osetite ih, pomirišite ih -”

(Sniffing)

(Njušenje)

"It's all yours.

„Sve je vaše.

But if you fail, I'm going to take it back."

Ali, ukoliko padnete, uzimam ih nazad.”

And that worked really well.

I to je uspevalo prilično dobro.

I immediately got excited

Momentalno sam se uzbudio

about the possibilities of implementing this in our program.

pri pomisli na mogućnost uključivanja ovog načina u naš program.

But once the excitement settled down,

Ali, kada se uzbuđenje stišalo,

there were a few concerns that crept in our minds.

par briga nam se prišunjalo.

Firstly,

Prvo,

was this ethical?

da li je ovo etično?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Secondly, how would we fund this thing?

Drugo, kako ćemo ovo finansirati?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And finally,

I, naposletku,

would the results be sustained if the students were no longer paid?

da li bi se rezultati održali ukoliko bismo prestali plaćati učenicima?

Now, let's look at the ethical part first.

Hajde prvo da se pozabavimo etičkim delom.

I'm a bit of a mathematical purist.

Ja sam pomalo matematički čistunac.

So I'd be one of the first people to say that we should study mathematics

Stoga bih bio jedan od prvih koji bi rekli kako treba da učimo matematiku

for the sake of mathematics.

zbog nje same.

Remember -- for play, for beauty, for truth, for justice and for love!

Sećate se - iz zabave, zbog lepote, istine, pravičnosti i iz ljubavi!

Not for money!

Ne zbog novca!

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

As I struggled with this, I came to see that,

Dok sam se mučio sa ovim, shvatio sam da je jedini razlog

while it's a way I look at mathematics now,

zbog kog ovako vidim matematiku

it's only because I studied it long enough to appreciate it.

to što sam je dovoljno dugo učio kako bih je cenio.

It's very difficult to tell a student struggling with mathematics today

Veoma je teško reći učeniku koji se danas muči sa matematikom

to work hard for a payoff in the distant future.

da vredno radi jer će se trud isplatiti u dalekoj budućnosti.

And it's not so much bribery that's at work here,

Ni podmićivanje nije toliko uspešno ovde,

because I could bribe students

zato što bih ih mogao podmititi

by telling them about my big bonuses in my derivative trading days

pričajući im o velikim bonusima

koje sam dobijao dok sam radio sa finansijama

as a reward for doing well at maths.

kao nagradu za dobro znanje matematike.

But it doesn't pay off for a very long time.

Ali se ne isplati veoma dugo.

So it's practically naught.

Stoga je praktično bezvredno.

Behavioral economists call this hyperbolic discounting.

Bihejvioralni ekonomisti ovo nazivaju hiperboličkim diskontovanjem.

And Levitt goes as far as to say

Levit ide toliko daleko da kaže

that all motivating power vanishes

da sva motivaciona moć nestaje

when rewards are handed out with a delay.

kada se nagrade dele sa zakašnjenjem.

So, from a purely economic point of view:

Stoga, sa čisto ekonomske tačke gledišta:

if we don't use immediate incentives,

ukoliko ne koristimo momentalne podsticaje,

we are underinvesting in student outcomes.

ne uspevamo da uložimo dovoljno u krajnji ishod.

I took heart from that, and came to see that as a society,

To me je ohrabrilo jer, kada posmatramo društvo, vidimo

we're actually quite used to financial incentives.

da smo prilično naviknuti na finansijske podsticaje.

Whether it be by the government, by employers or at home.

Bilo od strane vlade, poslodavca ili kod kuće.

For instance, many parents would pay their children

Na primer, mnogi roditelji bi dali svojoj deci

an allowance or pocket money for doing chores in the house.

džeparac u zamenu za kućne poslove.

So it wasn't really all that controversial.

Stoga ovo nije baš toliko kontroverzno.

As I thought about that,

Dok sam razmišljao o tome,

it started to answer that second question of how we were going to fund this.

počeo je da mi se javlja odgovor na pitanje kako ćemo to finansirati.

Naturally, parents are the most invested in their children's education.

Prirodno, roditelji su najviše uključeni u obrazovanje svoje dece.

So, let's charge them a weekly subscription fee

Stoga, zašto im ne bismo uveli nedeljnu pretplatu

to use our program,

kako bi koristili naš program,

but --

ali -

if the students complete their weekly maths goal,

ukoliko učenici ispune svoj nedeljni cilj u matematici,

we'll refund the subscription amount directly into the child's bank account.

mi ćemo refundirati taj iznos direktno na bankovni račun deteta.

We chose three exercises completed

Izabrali smo cilj od tri zadatka

over a one week period

nedeljno

for a 10 dollar reward.

nakon kojih će dobiti nagradu od 10 dolara.

That way we're incentivizing effort rather than performance

Na taj način više podstičemo trud nego učinak

over a short enough period

u dovoljno kratkom periodu

and with a substantial enough payout for the students to care.

i sa dovoljnom isplatom kako bi učenicima stalo do toga.

Now, I remember when I first told my wife about this new business model.

Sećam se kada sam prvi put ispričao svojoj ženi

o ovom novom načinu poslovanja.

If she had any doubt left that I've gone completely mad,

Ukoliko je imalo sumnjala da sam skrenuo sa uma,

that pretty much confirmed it for her.

ovo je bila dovoljna potvrda za nju.

She said to me, "Mo ...

Kazala mi je: „Mo,

you realize that if everybody does their homework, which you want,

shvataš da ukoliko svi budu radili domaći, što je upravo ono što ti želiš,

you're not going to make any revenue, which you don't want.

nećeš imati nikakve zarade, što je ono što ne želiš.

Great business model."

Sjajan primer poslovanja.”

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

I say it's more like an antibusiness model,

Rekao bih da je više suprotno od poslovnog modela.

Ako ga koristiš, besplatan je, ali plaćaš ako ga ne koristiš.

it's free if you use it, but you pay if you don't.

Now, I knew from experience

Iz iskustva sam znao da neće svi u državi da se upecaju

that not everybody in the country was going to jump on

i rade svoj domaći iz matematike.

and do their maths homework every week.

Kada bi to radili, doživeli bismo neuspeh prilično brzo

And if they did, sure we'd go bust pretty quickly,

but hey, we would have solved the country's maths skills crisis.

ali, hej, rešili bismo matematičku krizu u državi.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

As a company, we've always run a double bottom line,

Kao kompanija uvek izračunamo profit i uticaj na društvo,

looking to both make a return for investors

pokušavajući da vratimo investitorima,

as well as improve student outcomes.

kao i da unapredimo rezultate učenika.

We know that our path to long-term profitability

Znamo da je put ka našoj dugoročnoj profitabilnosti

is through improving student outcomes.

povezan sa poboljšanjem rezultata učenika.

So our dual objectives should never be at odds.

Stoga ta dva cilja ne bi trebalo suprotstavljati.

So we're always looking

Uvek pokušavamo da donesemo

to make our product decisions

odluke vezane za proizvod

around helping students reach their weekly maths goal,

koje pomažu učenicima da postignu svoj nedeljni cilj u matematici,

effectively ensuring that they get paid

čime ćemo efikasno osigurati da oni budu plaćeni,

and not us.

a ne mi.

Now you must be wondering: How is this crazy business model going?

Verovatno se pitate kako ovaj nenormalni poslovni sistem funkcioniše.

You'll be glad to know we're still in business.

Biće vam drago da čujete da i dalje radimo.

We've been testing this now for the last five months

Proteklih pet meseci ovo sprovodimo

on just our personal home users in Australia

na našim privatnim korisnicima u Australiji

before we think about rolling it out to schools.

pre nego što počnemo da ga puštamo u škole.

And here are the early results.

I evo ranih rezultata.

The green represents students who are completing their weekly maths goal

Zeleno predstavlja učenike

koji su ispunili svoj nedeljni cilj iz matematike,

and the red those who aren't.

a crveno one koji nisu.

You can see a lot more completing their homework than not.

Vidite da ima mnogo više onih koji su uradili domaći od onih koji nisu.

In fact, as our user base has grown,

U stvari, uz porast naše korisničke baze,

we found the percentage to be pretty steady, at around 75 percent.

otkrili smo da je procenat prilično stabilan, oko 75 posto.

So on average, we receive our weekly subscription fee

Dakle, u proseku, mi primimo našu nedeljnu naknadu za pretplatu

once every four weeks,

jednom u svake četiri nedelje,

and the other three weeks, we're rewarding the students.

a tokom ostale tri nedelje nagrađujemo učenike.

Now of course we're leaving some money on the table here,

Naravno da jedan deo novca ostavljamo i nama, ali znate šta?

but guess what?

It turns out these students

Ispostavlja se da su ovi učenici

are 70 percent more engaged than students not on the reward program.

oko 70 procenata više angažovani od onih koji nisu korisnici programa.

Check.

Odrađeno.

From a business perspective,

Sa poslovne tačke gledišta,

they are less likely to churn

manja je verovatnoća da će se predomisliti,

and more likely to refer friends,

a veća da će nas preporučiti prijateljima.

so we're hoping to trade off a lower revenue per user

Stoga se nadamo da ćemo izbalansirati manju zaradu po korisniku

for a bigger and more engaged user base.

sa većom i angažovanijom korisničkom bazom.

Check and check.

Odrađeno i odrađeno.

Now for that final question.

Sada, poslednje pitanje.

Would they keep coming back if they were no longer paid?

Da li bi nastavili da ga koriste ukoliko im se više ne bi plaćalo?

Mathematics is so much more than just a subject you study at school.

Matematika je mnogo više od predmeta koji učite u školi.

It's a human endeavor.

Ona je ljudski trud.

It's what helps us to understand the world around us.

Ono što nam pomaže da razumemo svet oko nas.

And the more you know, the more you want to know.

I što više znate, više želite da saznate.

So yes, we've triggered initial engagement

Stoga da, pokrenuli smo početno angažovanje

with a financial reward.

sa novčanom nagradom.

But in the long run,

Ali, na duge staze,

the money won't matter anymore.

novac više neće biti važan.

Because in the long run,

Jer na duge staze,

the wonder of mathematics will be the incentive

matematička čuda će biti podsticaj,

and understanding it

a njihovo razumevanje

will be the reward.

će biti nagrada.

Thank you.

Hvala.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)