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The Community That Teaches Languages and Powers Duolingo

Published: Nov. 9, 2020, 6:36 a.m.

As classrooms have gone virtual and people are spending more time online,\xa0Duolingo\xa0has seen an influx of students and educators on their platform. Luckily, Duolingo has a structured ambassador program to help those new users find their way and achieve their language learning and teaching goals.

Kevin Reaves, a community support specialist at Duolingo, talks extensively about who these ambassadors are, what motivates them, and how they exhibit ownership in areas from forum moderation to event management, course creation, and more. Their program has thousands of volunteer ambassadors and with that, quality assurance protocols to ensure that everyone is advancing Duolingo\u2019s mission of bringing free language education to the world.

Patrick and Kevin discuss:

The structure of Duolingo\u2019s ambassador program
How Duolingo empowers and rewards superusers
Ensuring quality in community-authored courses
Their \u201cdream\u201d community features and tools

Our Podcast is Made Possible By\u2026

If you enjoy our show, please know that it\u2019s only possible with the generous support of our sponsors:\xa0Vanilla, a one-stop shop for online community and\xa0Localist, plan, promote, and measure events for your community.

Big Quotes

Rewarding power users with insider features (7:48): \u201cSome people have 900+ day streaks, 2,000 day streaks [on Duolingo]. Those people are amazing. They really put forth the effort to learn. We try to reward that as much as we can [with special extras].\u201d \u2013@Ksquall1

Language learning brings families closer (11:43):\xa0\u201cWe have warm stories [from the Duolingp community]. \u2018I can now communicate with my grandma using her native language.\u2019 \u2026 It really goes to show a lot of what language learning as a whole can do for people.\u201d \u2013@Ksquall1

Course health as an indicator for community health (25:47):\xa0\u201c[We want] at least 90% of our courses [to be] active at any given time. If we notice that a course is inactive\u2026 we check in with the team and say, \u2018Are there any blockers? \u2026 Is there something that we can do to help in the building of this course?\u2019\u201d \u2013@Ksquall1

Taking care of yourself as a volunteer or community professional (44:15):\xa0\u201cThe impact of seeing [self-harm and] abuse, it can wear on the body a bit. It can wear on you emotionally, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s important to take that break, get yourself a drink of water, walk around a bit \u2026 lean on each other and give each other advice, because [that] goes a long way.\u201d \u2013@Ksquall1

About Kevin Reaves

Kevin Reaves has been working in community management for 7 years and, since late 2017, he\u2019s been a contractor at Duolingo\xa0as a community support specialist. Previously, he spent time at Space Ape Games, Enthusiast Gaming, and The Huffington Post.