13-year-old Deepshika Sharma is a top performer at school, but often finds that classroom lectures lack a personal touch. A year ago, she enrolled for online tutorials and has discovered that her grades have seen an uptake. She is not the only one, as many Indian students are moving the process of learning from books to tablets, with the assistance of ed-tech platforms that offer solutions ranging from online tutorials to career guidance.
Educational tech in India is getting the attention of investors in the West as well. Byju’s, one of the pioneers in the field, recently got a round of funding from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative – one of the first Indian companies to receive the backing of the foundation.
Another company that operates in this space is Edutor, that offers the Edutor Student Tab, an Android tablet pre-loaded with a learning platform called Ignitor. Ram Gollamudi, one of the co-founders of the firm, is bullish about educational tech becoming big in India. “From childhood, children are becoming more comfortable using tablets and other devices, alongside online platforms such as YouTube and Google. Using apps, kids can learn in a more interactive manner. We can use the data to understand which student is focusing on what section, what are the pressure points that the child needs to focus on and so on. Technology and the data collected help us make informed choices. Schools are already experimenting with PowerPoint presentations and online assignments. I feel that it is only a matter of time before educational tech devices make a fundamental change in the way learning is approached.”
This is an assessment that Vamsi Krishna, one of the co-founders of online learning platform Vedantu, agrees with. “Data and the spread of the Internet will make the need for physical schools as a centre for learning unnecessary in the long run. Schools will exist, as a place where kids can learn social skills and play, but the learning aspect will move online. Kids and teachers will connect virtually, eliminating the need for them to travel to meet at a specific place on a daily basis.”
Vedantu was started by four friends who ran a brick-and-mortar coaching centre from 2006. In 2014, they decided to take education online, and now have more than 29,000 registered students on the platform. “We felt that moving online and providing live tutoring would be the logical extension of our platform. Any working professional with time to spare can take classes, once they clear our screening process,” says Krishna.
What this essentially translates into is that tutors get the flexibility to decide on the hours they work and the syllabus they teach. Vedantu also decided to junk recorded lectures and increased their focus on one-on-one classes. They have also launched an engagement quotient that aids students and teachers alike. Students can select the teachers of their choice, based on the reviews of a particular teacher. “We feel that this personalisation helps in enhancing the academic scores and ensures that the children get individual attention, as opposed to huge classrooms and tutoring centres offline,” explains Krishna.
Byju Raveendran, Founder and CEO of Byju’s, weighs in, “Data plays a key role in identifying and understanding usage and consumption patterns, effectiveness of the programme etc. The app constantly uses data to better learning experiences and provide actionable feedback to help students become lifelong learners.”
This use of data is what made things easier for Deepshika. She says, “Most learning platforms give you the option of choosing your teachers. In schools and offline tuition centres, that is a decision you cannot possibly take. Recordings of the classes also help in revision.”
Priya Mohan, co-founder of Vidyartha, an online platform that offers guidance to help schools and students create academic profiles and highlight learning styles says, “The data collected by ed-tech platforms will aid schools, students and parents in identifying the areas in which they can work on improving performance. “For instance, Vidyartha will be able to point out the areas or subjects you are good at and the subjects you need to improve on, based on inputs from your overall performance and skill sets.” The model appears to hold promise, as Vidyartha was recently acquired by Byju’s.
Ravinder Nautiyal, a school teacher at a government school in Delhi, is not very confident about technology overhauling the traditional system. “Technology is very important in helping teachers and students. I feel that a physical classroom is the best place for learning. It is not always about getting the right answer. It is important to understand how one gets to that point. It is easy for an adult to say that a virtual classroom will get the desired results. I am not sure if it works for schools.”
He argues, “If there are no classrooms and everything went virtual, creativity and imagination, which are important life skills, may suffer. Using tech tools is good, but too much dependence will not be a smart move.”
As data finds the gaps in the learning experience and makes the process more interactive, SchoolCom, a Bengaluru-based start-up, is using tablets to make the age-old practice of the attendance call a thing of the past. Saurabh Saxena, one of the founders, explains, “The teacher can send instant reminders to the parents, in case a child is absent. We aim at capturing relevant data and providing effective analysis to simplify decision-making processes in schools.”
Saxena points out, “The SmartTab is a device pre-fed with data of a particular school, like student records, modules, teachers, sections, and other details. It has inbuilt Wi-Fi connectivity and syncing technology, and allows teachers to record data, that can be converted into simpler formats such as tables and graphics to help them keep track of student performance and communicate with parents. We have more than 2,50,000 students on the platform.”
For his part, Saxena is positive about ed-tech making its way to more schools.
“As Internet penetration increases, things will change. No one expected school assignments to be all about making PowerPoints and filling spreadsheets. Things are bound to change soon.”
Schools adapting to these tech tools and devices will take time in India, feels Mohan.
“The school system in India is very different from the West, where you can implement these tools in a school district and do not have to approach schools separately.”
