1. A method, comprising: maintaining for a plurality of users of an online education system, profiles, wherein the profile maintained for each of the plurality of users describes one or more education-related attributes associated with the corresponding user of the plurality of users; in response to a request, from a first user of the plurality of users, to interact with one or more other users of the plurality of users: detecting which particular subject matter the first user is currently working on; identifying a particular set of other users that are currently working on the particular subject matter or subject matter related to the particular subject matter; based on a comparison between a first profile that is associated with the first user and a second profile that is associated with a second user of the particular set of users, determining that attribute values of the first profile are similar to attribute values of the second profile; selecting the second user from among the particular set of users based, at least in part, on the determination that that attribute values of the first profile are similar to attribute values of the second profile; facilitating interaction between the first user and the second user; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.