Awareness, literacy and creativity are the essential requisites for the work force in our country. By 2015 a large number of Indians, who may or may not possess these, will be essentially employed globally. Of these a majority, over seven lakhs, will be from engineering colleges. Ironically the demand for qualified technical workforce is growing at a pace faster than the rate at which the engineering graduates are produced. It is widely echoed by the industries too that only 20 per cent of the engineers produced are employable.
“This is because there is a gap between technical education imparted in the universities and the expectation of the industry. We at ‘Classle Knowledge’ help to bridge this yawning gap,” says V. Vaidyanathan, its founder and CEO.
It is a social learning network with the target of educational learning. The site helps college students to enhance quality of learning and their ability to find jobs.
With the help of experts from all over the world it helps fresh graduates enter the workforce the industry way — creativity, team work, analytical approach and resourcefulness. The site www.classle.net will also enable the students to have an in depth understanding of the subject.
On the job front Classle tracks the usage of the enrolled candidates — how they engage themselves, how they interact, their area of interest, aptitude, attitude, academic interest, soft skills, problem solving ability so and so forth. The proprietary analytical engine of Classle will process all these information before recommending the candidate for a suitable job in reputed companies associated with the organisation.
The site
“The site is basically designed to work with students in tier II and tier III towns and colleges where they have social economic digital divide,” said Mr. Vaidyanathan. It is interactive where experts answer queries from students. It involves a lot of gamification — quiz, projects, workshops and library — structured in such a way so as to make it exciting for the students.
For example ‘Exam Fever’ is a popular gamification on the site. Experts created a contest like environment during the semester exams. Here they stimulated group studies, special classes, note sharing and all activities which a student generally involves in before exams. It was a nation wide project which saw a participation of about 20,000 students. “This helped them to prepare better for the exams,” said Mr. Vaidyanathan. Toppers were awarded prizes such as watches and t-shirts.
Unique concepts
Apart from these, Classle personnel act as the vehicle of popularising the site by conducting workshops and events in colleges. Campaigns are also held to make the learning process interesting and rewarding. “The intention is to make students aware that reading materials provided by experts are readily available and going through this will enable them to have a better grasp of the subject,” added Mr. Vaidyanathan.
Classle’s unique concepts and technical expertise has been made use of by business schools to provide social learning solutions. Called ‘Cloud; it is a single online platform where students, faculty and administrative staff, are connected, and where all classes, lectures, management simulation games, internships, placements and alumni activity are facilitated. The idea is to facilitate campus collaboration from anywhere and anytime connecting everyone and helping them learn and develop by accessing resources from all over the world.
The beginning
Classle was founded in 2009 by Mr. Vaidyanathan who was then VP, Chief Innovation Officer, Cognizant Technologies. “Our education process does not offer what the youth actually want. They believe that it would make them employable and always refer to it as an integral employability factor. To help them tide over the situation and make their goals more realistic, Classle was founded,” said Mr. Vaidyanathan. Initially it was just a technical platform. But with the help of engineers and after entering into partnerships with colleges, experts and students it was rapidly shaped up.
While the experts provided the content, the colleges brought in awareness among the students (which slowly increased the membership).
Partnership with companies brought in both experts and industry focus in the academics. The employees of companies also volunteer to help students online.
Classle (at 14, IV Seaward Road, Thiruvanmiyur. Ph: 4215 8623) hopes to extend its services to interested colleges. Educationists and experts willing to work with it can connect with M. Vaidyanathan (98407 20650).
