"If they were just writing for me, they wouldn't be as careful," Pauchnick said. "But they're writing for a student in another country. It's not drudgery for them. They buy in and they enjoy it."
Zolt, the chief program architect of ePals, endorsed the for-profit route but insisted that the digital network also provide a free searchable database for educational research.
"The promise here is to be able to study, with vast amounts of real-time data, how children learn," she said.
Scholars are enthusiastic.
"Its potential is very exciting," said Linda Gambrell, a professor of education at Clemson University, who is one of the academic advisers of ePals. "This should help us quicken the pace of translating innovative research into best practices in the classroom."
Like many startup companies, the revamped ePals is still working on its business model. Gilburne, the chairman, says it will pursue corporate sponsors for certain project areas. These could be part of a company's community and social responsibility activities, providing approved adult experts to help students online.
For example, General Electric might sponsor ePals' global warming section by providing environmental experts as online mentors, Gilburne said, or perhaps Intel or IBM would help in engineering projects.
There are commerce opportunities, Gilburne added, for education publishers who might want to market books or curriculum materials for home-school students over ePals.
Eventually, Gilburne said, advertising will be part of the mix.
"But we'll go gingerly to figure out what is appropriate and doesn't impose on the classroom," he said.
Failure rates for entrepreneurs -- whether social or purely capitalist -- are high. Still, ePals' backers are betting that it is worth the risk.
"These kinds of opportunities to do well and do good at the same time don't grow on trees," said Kapor, the ePals investor and a philanthropist. "But I do think that ePals could be one of them."
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