Mixxer- mixes the languages

better day introduced Mixxer to me two months ago, and I have seen some Chinese bloggers discussing it recently.

Mixxer is a free matching system for language learners and teachers. It focuses on the skype users. It currently has near 3000 registered users.

The Mixxer’s UI is simple and intuitive, but it needs a rating system to help learners choose teachers. It is necessary to have a feedback and evaluation system too.

As some learners wrote in their profiles, they are willing to pay for a teaching service, but the Mixxer completely leaves the entire payment process to the users. It does not incorporate any on-line payment system to help the users in the money issue.

Mixxer is most probably setup for non-profit purpose. It is understandable that Mixxer does not have such commercial feature (nor does it have any annoying ads.)

However, should Mixxer be commercialized, how to cash in on the educational matching service would still be its biggest issue. Until now, we have not seen one successful business model for consumer e-learning in the market.

Internet is good for short-term tansaction; learning is a long-term process. These two things have a conflict in their natures.

The one who comes up with the first solution will rule the consumer e-learning market.

教育技术资讯介绍了Mixxer——寻找用Skype交流的外语学习伙伴。

Mixxer是一个免费的教育网站，为语言学习者和教师寻找语言交流的伙伴。“语言伙伴”被定义为：某人的母语是你要学习的外语，对方同时也在学习你的母语。寻找这样的伙伴交流就是本站要为语言学习者提供的服务。这样建立伙伴关系的双方可以通过在线互相帮助对方学习外语。除了个人伙伴外，网站也为教师提供发现班级伙伴的服务，这样不同语言的两个班级就可以互相帮助对方同学学习外语了。

的确，Mixxer提供了一个不错的学习语言的配对平台。

播客宝典在Mixxer—-用Skype和老外学外语还提出了一个有意思的构想：

如果能解决付费问题（Google checkout?），Skype还可以是个很好的网上私塾平台。

付费问题是困扰远程教育商业化的一大问题。我们已经有了比较成熟的付费工具，但缺乏可行的远程教育商业化模式。

就拿Mixxer来说吧。如果Mixxer商业化了，怎么赚钱呢？

最有可能的是把用户具体联络资料隐藏起来，要给钱才能看。但好的老师一旦有了点名气后就会离开，不再需要Mixxer了，因为一个人能教多少时间多少人基本上都是很有限的（在Private Tutoring的范畴），大量的广告或配对并没有好处。长期下去，留在Mixxer上的老师不会是高素质的，那么一旦收费Mixxer就很难有长期收益。

和better day讨论了很久了，但是大家都没有什么头绪。

Nuvvo是一个另一个很好的尝试。它允许教师上传课件，并帮助教师收费。但到目前为止还似乎不大成功。