derrickkwa: First, could you tell us more about your Supercool School?

SteliEfti: Of course 🙂

Think about wikipedia and how they have changed the encyclopedia world. That’s what Supercool School is aiming for to accomplish in the online education world. We want to build a platform for people to create the first true global school online. We want to give the power of education to the people. We want to give them all the tools they need to interact with each other over a live environment. And we want to give the world access to all knowledge through people. And together – we can accomplish this dream.

derrickkwa: You’ve mentioned about how you think that the current education system is broken. In what ways do you think it is broken?

SteliEfti: All around the world there where no systems of public education till the beginning of the 19th century. They all came into being to meet the needs of industrialism. And what did they try to teach beyond reading and writing?

1. Repeating is more important then thinking

2. You have to obey and not to question a higher authority

3. To be present is more important then what you do with your presence

4. There is a learning hierarchy – some things are more important then other things

5 Learning has a start and a ending

6. Knowledge is more important then imagination

7. You have to avoid mistakes

8. There is one right way for everything

9. What you believe is irrelevant only what you know counts

derrickkwa: In a world where people take education almost as a means to get certified, how do you think a school that doesn’t give certification will succeed?

SteliEfti: I love learning. Most people I surround myself with feel the same. But I’m aware that most people out there don’t. And I remember well how it feels to hate learning. It took me almost 17 years to read my first book and it needed a life-changing event to transform my relationship to learning. So we think alot about this and came up with a solution. Unfortunately, I can’t tell you the details right now but I can tell you that we will focus on a small passionate audience first and then grow to a mainstream platform.

derrickkwa: Could you tell us more about the experience of setting up your Supercool School? What were the biggest challenges you faced, etc.

SteliEfti: The biggest challenge was the fear of doing something I had no experience about. I’m not a geek and had no idea how to build what I’ve dreamed about. Since then, it’s been a wild and crazy ride…with many fealures, some success, alot of new friends and a re-location from Germany to Silicon Valley. I’m looking forward to all the adventures and challenges after our launch…because challenge is the ultimate learning currency!

derrickkwa: You’ve said that you’re launching a prototype on Facebook. Any particular reason for doing so?

SteliEfti: We want to get the sauce tasty. I often use the analogy of inventing tomato sauce. Tomato sauce was a huge invention – a great idea per se. But if you got the recipe wrong – it’s not tasty and people won’t eat it. So in our case, we believe that what we wanna do is a great idea and it will succeed. But we’re not 100% positive that the recipe is perfect right now so what we want to do is get it out there to as many people as possible and get feedback. If people say “mmmhhh…tasy” that’s great. If not, that means back to the kitchen table and more experimenting till we get it right. Facebook as a platform is a perfect way for us to launch and get access to a wide audience of gourmet testers before we launch on our own platform.

derrickkwa: How big an impact do you think the Supercool School will make on education in general?

SteliEfti: It will change education forever and with it the world. I believe that the world is ready for the next step from the information age to the education age and we’re gonna provide the people with a platform to be the change themselves. These are exciting times.

derrickkwa: Any advice that you want to give to students or teachers out there?

SteliEfti: Accelerate your learning by shifting your believe system to empowering concepts like…

1.Failure is the ultimate teacher

2.Learn how to learn before you do anything else

3.Get in touch with your unconscious power

4.Believing is creating new realities

derrickkwa: Finally, anything else you want to say to the readers out there?

SteliEfti: If you’re looking for a project that could really change the world – you found it. Join us at Supercool School and help us help the world become a better place. Gimme a beep at steliefti [at] gmail.com if you’re interested in putting your talent, energy and potential into something meaningful.