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Show HN: Moocable – find people studying the same online course/book (moocable.com)

161 points by junaid_97 ↗ HN
Hey, everyone

I made a website that lets you find study partners/groups based on the specific course/book you are studying.

It's 100% free + no registration required.

Why: I know there are many subreddits for finding study partners. But, one of the biggest reasons we can't find the right partner/group is lack of clarity.

Most posts that I read on Reddit were something like: "I'm interested in programming. Let's study Python together..." - That's not a clear goal.

But, when you say "Let's study the Python for Everybody course on Coursera. I'm from Mumbai, India, and I'm looking for study partners in the* timezone (UTC+5:30). I'm fluent in Hindi language. I have 2 years of experience in C++, so I understand the fundamentals of programming. Happy to host the group and contribute" - that will lead to higher quality engagement.

It's also difficult to search + filter posts on Reddit, based on my learning requirements.

Keeping all these pain points in mind, I've built Moocable, where you can search & filter posts based on the course/book you're learning + timezones + languages + level of experience.

Lastly, you can use it to discover new learning materials. Some of you might have used https://www.classcentral.com/

I'm building a similar library for Moocable, you can easily search and discover new learning materials.

If you are looking for study partners, give it a try!

P.S.: I've manually filled the first ~100 posts. Each post is 100% authentic, scraped from subreddits/Coursera forums/niche websites.

38 comments

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brudgers
In the early days, MOOC's were provided synchronously and there was a cohort. When MOOC's scaled, that mostly fell by the wayside. So I can see why someone would want this to exist.

They hard part will be building critical mass. Good luck.

junaid_97
Exactly. What's more, you can potentially study books as a cohort-based course: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/studying-books-courses-junaid...

Regarding critical mass - you are right, it will take time.

I'm also trying to provide users a solo-player experience, where you can Moocable as a directory/search website for new learning material, just like Classcentral.com

Hopefully, that will bring decent traffic and users can start posting study groups

port19
Some kind of rating / ranking system could be a nice enhancement for the solo-player experience. But best focus on the marketing for now so we can find the study partners :)
junaid_97
Rating sounds good. I intentionally didn't build it for this version, because I wanted to stay lean + really dial on our value proposition (finding partners).

As you said, I now want to focus on marketing and getting more users.

sshine
What a great idea.

I literally had this idea in the last week.

I have an abundance of helpers (friends, local meetup, IRC, Discord) for what I’m learning, but I’m driving them tired. LLMs help but hallucinate.

junaid_97
Thanks :)

I have come across multiple subreddits + niche forums/websites that try to solve this problem. But, I felt something was missing. I couldn't put my finger on it.

Then, I realized...it was "specificity". By adding constrains (course/book, timezones...) you can have clear goals - and, hopefully - better outcomes.

Y_Y
Moo-cable
junaid_97
ha!

I keep explaining the name to my friends. I guess most people don't know the abbreviation "MOOC".

They are like "Oh, it's Moo-cable?..."

I'm like "No, it's MOOC-able"

Cause you are able to complete the MOOCs.

Then, they ask "Oh, I see. Now, what's a MOOC?"

dr_kiszonka
We had electric sheep, why not electric cows?!

Maybe it would help some folks if you consistently capitalized MOOC and only MOOC in the name of your website (in the text and logo).

junaid_97
Yes, I considered it. But, MOOCable didn't look good as a logo. I guess with time, there will be more awareness about it
_jcrossley
Well, cross off another from my ever-growing list of “someday” projects. Looks excellent, well done!
SamBorick
I've been trying to put together a study group all week!

Is it possible to add a new course to the library? I'd like to make a group for CSS for JavaScript Developers by Josh W Comeau [1] but it seems like I can only make a group for courses in the library.

1: https://css-for-js.dev/

raybb
Congrats on the launch. Have you personally ever had success getting a study partner on one of these sites? Might work for you if you get a subreddit to recommend your site as a way to find study buddies.
junaid_97
I've personally experienced the problem of search + filter. As mentioned, I manually found and scraped the first 100 posts on Moocable, and finding/filtering them wasn't super easy.

Thanks for the subreddit idea. I intend to share Moocable on multiple subreddits. Don't know if a subreddit will recommend us, but I'll try :)

port19
Great idea, I hope this takes of big time. I'll be sure to add a post, as I'm trying to learn PHP by reading the "Programming PHP" book
junaid_97
Thank you so much! Definitely add the post :)
humanlity
cool, but I can't post [Crafting Interpreters](https://craftinginterpreters.com/)
supuun
Haha, exactly the book I was searching
junaid_97
I added the book :) It seems you two can make study partners
supuun
Are there any established alternatives to this? I couldn't seems to find them even though it's such a good idea and I think there is demand for this. Thank you.
sophyphreak
This is awesome. Thank you!
junaid_97
:)

I'm so happy with all your responses. Thank you.