Education is trying to keep pace with the surge in the use of technology. Just as company meetings have shifted out of conference halls and moved to the virtual domain of video-conferencing and live window chats, not to mention the emergence of smart phones, those in the learning trade, hearteningly even students, too are trying to make the technological cut. Here is a look at how a few students leveraged technology to be entrepreneurs for the benefit of the student community.
Balaraju used to visit Hyderabad every week to access some of the best of knowledge resources while studying in a college in Warangal as he was preparing to crack IIT-JEE. But IIT-Madras, from where he has passed out, turned out to be a complete contrast with information at hand's reach.
“I felt this gap between the best of institutes and rural colleges had to be bridged. With the incubation support of C-TIDES, I launched www.btechguru.com — a knowledge-sharing platform,” he says. The website has 40,000 visitors and is tied-up with 600 institutions across the country.
Constantly innovating the content, Balaraju realised that video-based learning will be the most effective medium of sharing information. For this they have collated videos that have been shot and also other available open resources to provide a well-compiled study material. “We focus on compiling content for engineering subjects and also improving soft skills of students. The content is largely contributed by students and also by subject experts we have roped in from top-institutions,” he says. His motto — Learn, share and if possible eventually earn.
For second-year engineering student N. Sivanesh necessity is the mother of invention. His search for online question papers and lecture notes turned futile. And he decided to do something about it. With his basic computer and HTML knowledge he created the www.VidyarthiPlus.in, which has become quite popular within two months of its launch.
“My friends and some faculty members in various colleges in Chennai, Coimbatore and Tiruchi send material to be uploaded,” says this student of Sri Krishna Engineering College, Tambaram. The website offers lecture notes, lab manual, question papers and question banks.
“We recently started college reviews of three to four colleges and plan to expand it to more colleges,” says Sivanesh. Besides, the website offers news and announcement from various campuses, university results and timetable. The simple layout and look of the website might come across as a crude attempt by students. But it has become so popular that Sivanesh is already getting requests from students of universities in other States. “Students from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University have already requested us to upload material for their use. We are looking for contacts there to help us out,” he says.
Mohit Gundecha, CEO, yournextleap.com visits newspaper offices, flanked by two PR girls, promoting his venture. Suruchi Wagh is the founder of the Pune-based company and the 26-year old Stanford-educated Gundecha was roped in to lead the operations.
After a formal introduction, he lets you know that the Patni family is backing the start-up and comes to the point. The website has a branch suggestor to attract students. All the students will have to do is answer a few sets of psychometric questions. The answer is in the form of a graph showing which branch could be best suited for a student's personality and skills. (Students must remember, it is only a suggestor). The branch suggestor is free for students logging in. “The business model on the Net is simple. You bring in a lot of users, students in this case, and then you charge for premium content,” says Gundecha. His team is working on ‘college finder' to be ready next academic year as a premium content.
This is not a promotional story for the above mentioned websites but has been written to tell the students where the market, and with it opportunities, are heading. If you had heard Guardian Editor Alan Rusbridger at the Museum Theatre some months ago, he said the future market is on the virtual space and slowly moving towards mobile space.
Global surveys on mobile phone usage clearly indicate that voice is not the preference of users anymore. It is the content. And solutions, for everyone with a cell phone. If you are smart enough, the future is in your pocket.
