The Course Hero Knowledge Drive has a simple yet powerful mission: to build a brighter academic future for students all over the world.
To accomplish that, Course Hero, an online learning platform that empowers millions of students and educators to succeed, joined forces with Books for Africa in November of 2010 and pledged to donate 1 book to a child abroad for every 10 academic documents contributed to the Knowledge Drive on CourseHero.com.
The largest shipper of donated text and library books to the African continent, Books for Africa has shipped over 35 million books to 49 different countries since 1988, shipping 2.4 million books and large numbers of computers valued at over $33 million to 25 African countries in 2015.
The books, donated through Course Hero's Knowledge Drive initiative, are having a direct impact on the lives of students there, giving the next generation of Gambian parents, teachers, and leaders the tools they need to excel in school.
The Knowledge Drive works to build and provide books for a number of schools, libraries and medical teaching facilities throughout Africa. Course Hero selected Books for Africa as the partner for the Knowledge Drive because of its unrivaled commitment to the entire landscape of education.
Course Hero believes that books have a powerful ability to open a student's mind to new ideas and possibilities, and can lend support in struggling regions, which need its bright young minds to strengthen them from the inside out. With the help of students and teachers across the globe, Course Hero is adding to the powerful academic resource they already provide, while giving children in Africa the gift of education and the opportunity for a better quality of life. By supplying books and ensuring that they actually make it to these facilities, this partnership supports and amplifies long–lasting, sustainable change, instead of promoting broken short–term solutions or simply throwing money at problems and hoping they go away.
After taking into account the curriculum and school plans that have been developed, books are provided to directly assist what is being taught in the classroom. Math, Science, and English are by far the most common subjects that are supported with textbooks, and the books provided are in English, as that is the official language of Gambia. Various other books, from children's books to novels, are also provided to help support the range of each curriculum, and the children and students within them.
Since the beginning of the partnership between Course Hero and Books for Africa, Course Hero has donated over a quarter of a million books to Africa and has become one of the most consistent and substantial donors.
The Knowledge Drive is a representation of Course Hero's total commitment to improving the entire educational landscape, both here and abroad. Beyond just providing great resources and donating books, Course Hero wants to make sure they are doing everything possible to benefit the children and students we are supporting abroad.
One of Course Hero's team members traveled to Gambia to help hand deliver 44,000 books to the schools, libraries, and medical facilities that we are working to support. The trip spanned the entire country, and the delivery team walked across a major portion of Gambia to deliver books and raise education awareness.
Course Hero hopes to make another trip again in the near future to help deliver even more books to the facilities that we are helping. We also want to view the progress that has been made and to see if there is any way we can do an even better job supporting education abroad. It is our hope that trips become a regular event and that our top interns and leaders are able to join us on our ventures abroad.