Free community lessons
Learn for free by sharing what you know
Community lessons are free, live, one-to-one lessons between members of 8Billionminds. It is a skill swap: you share something you know, and learn something you want from other people around the world, all without money.
How community lessons work
- Create a free account. Everyone who joins is part of the free learning community.
- Add what you can share. Pick a subject and choose “I can informally talk about it”. You do not need to be a professional.
- Add what you want to learn. Tell us the subjects you are curious about.
- Find people on Explore. Use the lesson type filter to show community lessons, and narrow the results by location and skill level.
- Request a lesson. Open their profile and request a lesson in the subject you want. There is nothing to pay.
- Meet in the virtual classroom for a live, one-to-one conversation with video, audio and a whiteboard.
The more you share, the more you get to learn from the community.
What could you share?
Everyone has something to share. It might be:
- a language you speak
- an instrument you play
- cooking, coding or a sport you love
- help with an exam you have already passed
- a hobby, a passion or a skill
- a life experience or a story worth hearing
You can offer each subject as a free community lesson, and also as a paid lesson if you choose to teach for money.
Free community lessons or paid lessons?
Both are live and one-to-one, and both use the same virtual classroom. The difference is the exchange.
- Community lessons are free. You share your knowledge with the community, and learn whatever you want from them too.
- Paid lessons are personalised lessons from a human at the teacher's chosen price. Enjoying lessons through 8Billionminds supports our platform and social mission.
You do not have to choose. If you would like to be paid for teaching, see teaching on 8Billionminds, or explore the teachers who are already here.
Good to know
- Please teach and learn inside the built-in virtual classroom, rather than moving to another app or link.
- You can cancel a lesson free of charge at any time before it starts. Please do it as early as you can, out of respect for the other person.
- We want learning and teaching on 8Billionminds to be safe, simple and enjoyable for everyone. Please be respectful of every other human that you meet.
Questions
Is it really free?
Yes. Community lessons are included for everyone and involve no payment. You do not need a Stripe account for them, because Stripe is only needed for paid lessons.
Do I have to be a teacher?
No. When you add a subject you can choose that you can informally talk about it. Community lessons are about sharing what you know, not about being a qualified teacher.
Can I offer both free and paid lessons?
Yes. You can offer each subject once as a paid lesson and once as a community lesson. To offer paid lessons you also need to set up and verify a Stripe account.
Where do the lessons take place?
In our built-in virtual classroom, which is free to use. It has video, audio, screen sharing, a whiteboard with annotation tools, file sharing and chat. You can read more on how 8Billionminds works.