Adult learners prefer university degrees, but short courses gaining popularity too
New Delhi: A certificate from a college is still the most important thing for Indian learners, but many in the country would now consider taking up short online courses too, according to data from a survey of more than 1,000 Indians by British multinational publishing and education firm Pearson.
One in three Indian learners would consider doing a university master’s degree in the next three years, but one in four learners would also consider taking up short courses, either free or paid, ..
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Sequoia India Led $40 Mn Series C Funding Round In Edtech Company Eruditus
Existing investor Bertelsmann India Investments also participated in the round
The funding will be used to increase its course offerings in technical subjects
It also plans to expand its multilingual offerings
Edtech company the Eruditus group
which runs Eruditus Executive Education and its online division Emeritus
has raised $40Mn (INR 281 Cr) in a Series C funding round which was led
by Sequoia India. The round also saw participation from existing
investor Bertelsmann India Investments.
The company will use this funding to
increase its course offerings in technical subjects such as data
science, machine learning, blockchain and cybersecurity. It also plans
to expand its language offerings to include Portuguese and Mandarin, in
addition to English and Spanish.
“We will use the proceeds of this
latest fundraise to create a more immersive and adaptive learning
platform, to expand our multilingual capabilities, and to ensure that
our omnichannel offerings are readily available to our students
on-the-go,†said Ashwin Damera, cofounder of Eruditus and director at
Emeritus.
Eruditus: Targeting A 10X Hike In Student Enrollment
Eruditus, founded in 2010 by Chaitanya Kalipatnapu and Ashwin Damera,
provides executive education programmes in association with global
business schools such as MIT, Columbia, Harvard Business School, INSEAD,
Tuck at Dartmouth, Wharton, UC Berkeley and London Business School.
These programs are held for six to eight months and can be available via on campus, off campus and online modes.
The company is looking to enroll 30K
students from more than 80 countries in the current financial year. It
also aims to increase its enrollment by more than 10 times within the
next five years across certificate courses and online degrees.
Eruditus had earlier raised $8.16 Mn (INR 57.4 Cr) in a Series B funding round led by Bertelsmann India Investments in 2017. Earlier in July, it had raised $2.2 Mn (INR 16 Cr) in a debt financing round from Innoven Capital.
Edtech Funding In India
The edtech sector has been recently
gaining popularity among the investors. In 2017, edtech witnessed a 30%
hike in terms of investments with international funding touching a new record of $9.52 Bn (INR 67,010 Cr).
Last month, Hyderabad-based edtech startup Toppr has raised funding
of $35 Mn (INR 246.13 Cr) from Kaizen Private Equity and existing
investors SAIF Partners, Helion Ventures, Kaizen PE and Eight Roads
Ventures.
Edtech unicorn BYJU’S raised $540 Mn
(INR 3,800 Cr) in Series F funding from Canada Pension board’s
investment arm CPPIB Investment Board Private Holdings, Naspers Ventures
BV and General Atlantic Singapore TL Pvt Ltd, boosting its valuation to
$4 Bn (INR 28,155 Cr).
According to a report
by the India Didactics Association, the online education industry in
India is projected to grow almost eight times to hit $1.96 Bn (INR
13,795 Cr) by 2021. It also added that the number of paid users in the
segment is expected to grow six-fold to reach 9.6 Bn by 2021.
A report
by Google-KPMG said that reskilling and online certification courses
accounted for about 38% of the total online education market as of 2017.
Indian e-learning startup Byju’s eyes US deals after raising $540m
Indian online tutorial startup Byju’s, which recently received $540 million in investment from South African fund Naspers and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, has begun talks with four or five U.S. peers toward an acquisition to speed its global expansion.
World’s most valuable education tech unicorn has global expansion plans, CEO says ROSEMARY MARANDI, Nikkei staff writer January 04, 2019 14:22 JST
MUMBAI — Indian online tutorial startup Byju’s, which recently
received $540 million in investment from South African fund Naspers and
the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, has begun talks with four or
five U.S. peers toward an acquisition to speed its global expansion.
The world’s top education technology unicorn, valued at $3.8 billion,
seeks to finalize a deal within six months, using part of the money
from its recent fundraising round, founder and CEO Byju Raveendran told
the Nikkei Asian Review in an interview.
Byju’s wants to make an acquisition “that will eventually help us
launch in a new market,” Raveendran said. “We are also looking for
products that will have a global offering because we don’t know today
which country we want to launch in.”
The company also is considering tie-ups with, as well as acquisitions of, content distribution companies for its platform.
“If both can come together, nothing like it, but there are not many
options where you get a good product offering and a significant amount
of reach,” the CEO said.
Byju’s, formally known as Think & Learn, has seen rapid growth in
India, where it has reached 2 million paid subscribers and over 30
million general users.
The company, which began as a provider of preparation for competitive
exams such as the GMAT and GRE, also enjoys backing from investors such
as Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings,
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s multibillion-dollar philanthropy
venture and the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp. Together,
they have invested around $800 million in several rounds of funding.
Byju’s doubled its revenue over the past three years and expects to
triple the amount to 15 billion rupees ($209 million) during the fiscal
year that ends in March.
Byju’s founder and CEO Byju Raveendran is
eager for a U.S. deal that would mark the startup’s fourth acquisiton
since it began in 2015. (Photo by Rosemary Marandi)
By the July-September quarter, Byju’s will make its app available in
the U.S. and some Commonwealth countries such as the U.K., Australia and
New Zealand to test its traction in these markets.
The startup will introduce its signature high-production-value videos
and content — which simplify subjects such as math and science for
Indian students as young as kindergarten age — for 5- to 8-year-olds in
these countries.
Byju’s has brought in teachers from across English-speaking countries
to record videos in its studios in Bangalore. These teachers are chosen
from popular educators on YouTube, and Byju’s is hoping their fans will
follow them to its learning app.
Byju’s “has aggressive plans for international market expansion and
will make bold investments in technology that will help to further
personalize learning for students,” according to the company.
A U.S. deal would mark Byju’s fourth acquisition since its launch in
2015. In July, the unicorn acquired Bangalore-based education
startup Math Adventures for an undisclosed amount. The team of Math
Adventures now forms a part of Byju’s content and research and
development team.
In 2017, it acquired two companies, TutorVista and Edurite, from
London-based education group Pearson, the former owner of the Financial
Times. It also bought student assessment platform Vidyartha that year.
Other Indian e-learning startups are moving beyond the country’s borders to boost their revenue.
Education technology startup Mindler, for instance, is already
present in five countries, including Russia and Singapore. Fellow
startup Aspiring Minds has entered countries such as China and the U.S.,
while Xseed Education is present in the Philippines, Singapore and the
Middle East.
These startups believe in the fitness of their products to attract markets abroad.
According to a study by Google and accounting group KPMG, India’s
online education industry is expected to grow eightfold to $1.96 billion
by 2021, with the number of paid users rising sixfold to 9.6
million from 1.6 million now.
3 Reasons Why India Will Be A Leader in the EdTech Industry in the 21st Century
According to a joint report by KPMG and Google, the online education industry is expected to grow at a healthy rate of 8 times to become a $1.96B industry by 2021
Five categories of education in India have been cited as the ones with great potential for considerable online adoption
According to a joint report
by KPMG and Google, the online education industry is expected to grow
at a healthy rate of 8 times to become a $1.96B industry by 2021. Five
categories of education in India have been cited as the ones with great
potential for considerable online adoption. These include primary and
secondary supplemental education, test preparation, reskilling and
online certification, higher education, and language and casual
learning.
The important question here is – what’s driving the considerable
growth of education technology in India? Well, the following are the 3
key reasons why India will be a leader in EdTech in the 21st century:
E-learning Boost via the Digital India Initiative
With an aim to transform the country into a digitally empowered
society, the Indian government launched The Digital India Initiative.
This was a huge move that had a substantial impact on the country’s
technology industry, bringing a wave of revolution in every aspect. The education sector is one of the sectors that are benefiting from this initiative.
To boost e-education, all schools and universities are set to be
connected with broadband and free Wi-Fi. Also to be put in place is a
Digital Literacy Program, as well as the development of pilot Massive
Online Open Courses. Once the goals of the Digital India Initiative are
realized, India will certainly be ahead in the EdTech game.
Vast User Base of Mobile Device Use
There are more than 850 million mobile phone subscribers in India.
According to a report by the Internet and Mobile Association of India
(IAMAI), mobile internet is largely used by youngsters. With an increase
rate of over 10M users a month, there’s no doubt that mobile devices
are the classrooms of tomorrow. Current user base for e-learning
predominantly consists of school students and working professionals.
Not only are Indians realizing the potential for mobile learning, but
major technology and publishing companies are also increasingly
becoming aware of the potential of the education services delivered
through mobile services. So, it’s only a matter of time and there will
be a gold rush into the Indian mobile education market that will put the
country at the top as far as EdTech is concerned.
Low Cost Alternative to Offline Learning
Even though the average tuition for online courses varies from one
program to another, it’s clear like night and day that online courses
are much cheaper compared to the ones offered in classroom settings.
Online skill enhancement courses are estimated to be about 53% cheaper
compared to offline alternatives. Larger student base and lower
infrastructure cost help leverage on the economies of scale, thus the
reduced costs via the online channel.
It’s apparent that the EdTech industry in India is one of the
blooming sectors with a lot to offer to stakeholders. There’s no doubt
that edtech will undergo an evolution and set the stage for the
momentous growth that will be witnessed in the forthcoming years not
just in India, but all around the world.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 2:34 PM on Thursday, January 3rd, 2019
SPONSOR:Â Betteru Education Corp. Connecting global leading educators to the mass population of India. BetterU Education has ability to reach 100 MILLION potential learners each week. Click here for more information.
——–
Google and KPMG estimates India’s online education industry to grow eight-fold to reach $1.96 billion by 2021
Growing EdTech Market in India: Key Catalyst
India is witnessing demographic dividends, implying more and more
people, students and professionals alike are undertaking smart courses
in order to improve knowledge base to gain a competitive edge in their
careers.
This phenomenon has convinced analysts of the immense growth prospects of the burgeoning EdTech industry in India.
Reducing internet costs and increasing internet penetration in the
country are other notable factors favoring the growth prospects of
EdTech industry.
In fact, a research report
from Google and KPMG estimates India’s online education industry to
grow eight-fold to reach $1.96 billion by 2021. Further, the study
projects paid users in EdTech to grow six times from 1.6 million in 2016
to 9.6 million in 2021.
MicrosoftMSFT has introduced Surface Go tablet in India exclusively through Bengaluru, India-based e-commerce company, Flipkart. Recently, the company commenced shipping of the device, with prices ranging from INR 38,599 to INR 50,999.
The different variants of the new tablet series come with storage
capacity of 64 GB and 128 GB, with 4 GB and 8 GB RAM, respectively.
Notably, Surface Go was introduced by Microsoft in a bid to explore
the low-priced tablet market to take on Apple’s budget iPads, and
Alphabet’s lower-priced Chromebook.
The company had unveiled Surface Go device around Jul 10, 2018 which
was made available in early August, with prices ranging from $399 to
$549 in the United States.
We believe that availability of Surface Go in India will position the
company well to capitalize on the emerging EdTech market. Furthermore,
the enhanced security and performance features hold promise in the
growing enterprise market in the country.
Microsoft is likely to benefit from the competitive pricing of its
Surface Go device. The latest Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 with 64 GB capacity
is priced approximately at INR 57,900.
In the words of Country General Manager, Consumer & Devices at
Microsoft India, Priyadarshi Mohapatra, “Globally and in India, it’s
encouraging to see the rapidly growing Surface community in both
consumer and enterprise.”
Enhanced Security & Performance Features Hold Key
The compact Surface Go features a 10-inch screen and weighs 522 grams
(or 1.15 pounds), lighter than its prevailing Surface counterparts.
Further, the latest series is equipped with Intel’s INTC processor and graphic chips.
Additionally, the device has a decent nine hour battery life and canfunction with optional keyboard, mouse and Surface Pen 2.
Surface Go’s Windows Hello facial recognition option feature for logging-in and Windows 10 S mode, makes it a compelling option.
In a bid to enhance security and performance, users can utilize Microsoft Store appsincluding Microsoft Edge to browse safely.
Enterprises may avail Windows 10 Proto safeguard business
infrastructure with robust security features. Windows Autopilot enables
users to configure Surface Go from the cloud, in turn simplifying the IT
processes a great deal.
Growing EdTech Market in India: Key Catalyst
India is witnessing demographic dividends, implying more and more
people, students and professionals alike are undertaking smart courses
in order to improve knowledge base to gain a competitive edge in their
careers. This phenomenon has convinced analysts of the immense growth
prospects of the burgeoning EdTech industry in India.
Reducing internet costs and increasing internet penetration in the
country are other notable factors favoring the growth prospects of
EdTech industry.
In fact, a research report from Google and KPMG estimates India’s
online education industry to grow eight-fold to reach $1.96 billion by
2021. Further, the study projects paid users in EdTech to grow six times
from 1.6 million in 2016 to 9.6 million in 2021.
Enemy’s Enemy an Ally?
One important point to note in this latest development is that
Microsoft selected Flipkart’s e-commerce platform to launch Surface Go
in India. Notably, Amazon AMZN and Flipkart are the two major players in Indian e-commerce market. Additionally, Walmart WMTacquired a 77% stake in Flipkart.
Microsoft Azure directly competes with Amazon’s cloud platform Amazon
Web Services (“AWS”) in the cloud market. Walmart which competes with
Amazon in the retail and e-commerce market has selected Azure cloud platform.
When we join the loose ends, it makes sense to say that “my enemy’s enemy is my friend.”
Our Take
Microsoft is well poised to benefit from robust adoption of Surface
Go on the back of improving EdTech and enterprise scenario in India.
We believe the availability of Surface Go will aid the company in
bolstering competitive strength in the direct consumer market, primarily
in EdTech market in India.
Notably, Surface revenues increased 14% (same at cc) in first-quarter
fiscal 2019 on a year-over-year basis on the back of strong performance
of the latest editions – Surface Book 2 and Surface Go.
Moreover, Microsoft Surface series of devices have registered
considerable double-digit growth in India in this year, as per
Priyadarshi Mohapatra’s statement to IANS. The incremental sales from
India will eventually benefit the top line.
A learning crisis in India seems imminent even as educational reforms
surge ahead. Provision of schools does not guarantee the availability
of necessary facilities in schools. The gap is still wide when compared
to the enrolment of children in the school and learning outcome.
Captain Indraani Singh, Founder, and CEO, Literacy India talks about
online education in India, technological advancements and Literacy India
helping out students with the educational program.
How can online education transform the Indian education sector?
Education in India is a dire need to help reduce unemployment and
increase economic activity in the country. The setting up of physical
schools is a time taking and expensive process, thereby slowing down the
pace of eradicating education gap. While online education helps to
reach more students in the least amount of time and is not expensive
either. Therefore, online education can increase the speed of education
in our country where digitization is spreading rapidly as well.
Besides, online learning enables students to engage with the subject
matter, interact with course videos and learn at their own pace, which
also reduces dropouts as its more engaging, interesting and makes
students more familiar with using computers. On the other hand, it
allows teachers to assign, monitor and evaluate coursework remotely,
apart from highlighting the areas of students which need improvement.
How does Literacy India help drop-out students in the transition to education?
Literacy India’s technology-enabled remedial education program
Gyantantra Udbhav has helped mainstream thousands of drop-out students.
The program essentially enables these drop-out students who do not
respond well to the confines of traditional classrooms and experience
lack of access to education. The education program combines practical,
intellectual and social attributes to create composite learning modules
to help students complete school curriculum till Class 5. Embedded with
an interactive multimedia interface, the modules are designed with a
systematic instructional approach that makes learning fun, even for
those who lack basic reading and writing skills. The tool tracks minimum
levels of learning based on assessments and outcomes. Once students
complete the program, they are eligible to join any other government
school.
How AI is being used in the system?
Gyantantra Udbhav is an interactive multimedia interface, which
includes modules designed with a systematic instructional approach that
makes learning fun, even for those who lack basic reading and writing
skills. The tool tracks minimum levels of learning based on assessments
and outcomes. It leverages gaming technology embedded with cartoon
characters thereby ensuring effective retention of the information. As
such the program is customized to bridge the learning gap which is of
common existence among this set of children, who either are
out-of-school or in-school children faltering on fundamental concepts.
Understandably, technology and innovation with its various verticals
such as IoT and AI have the ability to ably support the education
mediums and increase efficiency and productivity of those involved like
these children. Thus, it is with the integration of such new age
technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning or virtual
reality that the learning experience will be more interactive and
personalized thereby enhancing and improving access to education and
learning.
Can technology improve engagement and result in better learning outcomes?
The most obvious benefit of technology run education is that it is
subjective to the learner’s ability and level. Through virtual
interactive engagement, it teaches students with different speeds
depending on their backgrounds and more importantly different starting
points. Also, technological education platform is cost-effective and
time-efficient and is flexible to the needs of every single student— be
it on-the-go, class of one, on-demand, gamified or crowdsourced.
How can online education impact India’s education and development landscape?
Education is an important part of a country’s growth and development.
It is not only about employment but also empowerment. Education serves
as the front-runner in transforming the society, economy, and polity for
better. Accompanied with technological advancements, that is online
education, is then a game changer for a nation like India, which has an
enormous population, with approximately 28 percent of children in the
age group 0-14. Gyantantra program has been conceived to meet these very
needs of the country, that is mass education and creating awareness
about social and economic identity in a world marked by technological
innovation. Ultimately, the future of education is to converge into the
India’s new economy, which notably is fast on track to digitization.
Online learning is then a natural step for the future generations and
workforce in order to survive future technological disruptions.
Naspers To Invest Almost $1bn In Indian Online Businesses
A day after it said it would lead a $540 million investment in education startup BYJU’S, Naspers announced it was making a $660 million investment in Swiggy, India’s largest food delivery platform
It is leading a nearly $1 billion Series H round in Swiggy, along with existing investors DST Global, Meituan Dianping and Coatue Management, and new investors Tencent, Hillhouse Capital and Wellington Management.
Naspers is the most valuable listed company in Africa.Naspers
It’s been a busy week for Naspers, the largest public company in
Africa, as it announced its listing on a secondary exchange in South
Africa and nearly $1 billion in two significant online investments in
India.
A day after it said it would lead a $540 million investment in
education startup BYJU’S, Naspers announced it was making a $660 million
investment in Swiggy, India’s largest food delivery platform. It is
leading a nearly $1 billion Series H round in Swiggy, along with
existing investors DST Global, Meituan Dianping and Coatue Management,
and new investors Tencent, Hillhouse Capital and Wellington Management.
The BYJU’S investment – which includes a “significant portion” by the
Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) – aims to grows the
learning app, which has seen over 30 million students use it. It has
over 2 million cumulative annual paid subscriptions, with an average
engagement of 64 minutes per student daily.
Although it began as a newspaper business over 100 years ago, Naspers
has diversified into pay television, ecommerce and owns a third of
Tencent, the Chinese messaging and gaming giant. It is the largest
emerging markets media and internet company in the world.
It has a large portfolio of investments in India, including online
classifieds business OLX, leading online travel company MakeMyTrip, and
payments company, PayU.
“Indian online consumers will be a significant driver of online
growth in the world, and in addition to food and education,” Naspers
said. “The quality of the best Indian entrepreneurs and their ability to
build innovative businesses that address the unique needs of the Indian
consumer offer unparalleled growth opportunities.”
Naspers is the largest listed company on the Johannesburg Stock
Exchange (JSE), and was the first company in Africa to reach the magical
R1 trillion figure. It is headquartered in Cape Town.
The secondary listing on 27 December on the A2X Markets exchange,
which does not carry additional costs for companies listed in South
Africa, is because A2X offers cheaper transaction fees and is more
tech-savvy.
“A2X is one of a growing number of new exchanges that are leveraging
technology in an effort to reduce trading costs and increase market
transparency,” said Naspers CEO Bob van Dijk. “As one of the world’s
leading technology investors we understand the value of technology and
are pleased to support these efforts by also listing on A2X. We believe
our shareholders will appreciate the added choice of trading venues.â€
Earlier this year Naspers sold a 2% stake in Tencent for nearly $10 billion – to invest in more ecommerce ventures it said at the time – and announced in September it would spin off its MultiChoice satellite television unit
into a separate company, to be called MultiChoice Africa. MultiChoice’s
DStv is the largest satellite pay-television operator in Africa, using a
network of satellites to deliver its signal across the continent.
I write about how innovation is better in Africa. I define innovation
as solving problems, like the real problems we have in Africa. And
solving those problems, solves them for the rest of the world. Africa
isn’t just mobile-first, it’s mobile-only. I spoke about this at TED…
Shapshak is editor-in-chief and publisher of Stuff magazine. Based in Johannesburg, his TED talk on innovation in Africa has had more than 1.4m views.
Ever since the 2012 report stated that India needed thousands of new colleges and universities, it has been evident that India should instead focus on building disruptive innovations to rethink education by offering a service that is far more affordable, accessible, and convenient than the existing options.
That meant using online learning to serve people who would otherwise have no access to higher education.
In 2012, the government of India stated
that it would need to build 1,000 new universities and an astounding
50,000 new colleges by 2020 to meet expected demand as its population
and workforce continued to grow.
With over 750 universities and more than 38,000 colleges today—compared to roughly 650 universities and 25,000 colleges in 2012—the country looks unsurprisingly unlikely to meet that objective.
And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Surveys and sources suggest many college graduates are unprepared for the workforce. For example, according to the All India Council for Technical Education, a whopping 60 percent of engineering graduates from India’s technical colleges remain unemployed each year.
Instead of replicating systems of higher education found elsewhere,
India ought to be taking this opportunity to leapfrog the current state
of higher education.
Ever since the 2012 report stated that India needed thousands of new colleges and universities, it has been evident that India should instead focus on building disruptive innovations
to rethink education by offering a service that is far more affordable,
accessible, and convenient than the existing options. That meant using
online learning to serve people who would otherwise have no access to
higher education.
And India did initially leverage online learning by allowing its
universities and colleges to launch a wide range of online programs. But
there were two problems. First, because existing higher-ed institutions
drove the launch, their programs replicated aspects of Indian higher
education online, rather than invent new ways to serve students who had
no access previously—similar to what has happened in the United States
in many cases.
Second, the initial online programs were of widely varying quality. Some reports suggested students didn’t learn much of anything, and were certainly not prepared to tackle real-world problems.
As a result, India cracked down on all online learning, with a
moratorium on accredited universities offering online degrees in
December of 2016.
Although this halted universities from innovating, it didn’t stop
other Indian entities from innovating in online learning across the
education spectrum. Corporations continued to offer online certificates,
particularly in the coding and data analytics realms, and India’s
largest education company, Byju’s,
developed everything from next-generation interactive online simulations
to top-of-the-line animation online video lessons. India’s
higher-education system fell further behind when it came to leveraging
online learning innovations.
This past August, India dipped its toe back into the online learning regulatory waters. But just its little toe.
The University Grants Commission, the national regulatory body for
higher education that helps maintain standards and delegates funds to
recognized universities and colleges, announced
it will permit certain institutions to offer fully online certificate,
diploma and degree programs in the 2018–2019 academic year.
To be eligible, institutions must be at least five years old, awarded
a minimum score by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council,
and rank among the top 100 colleges and universities, based on a national evaluative framework,
for two of the past three years. The degree program must also mirror
pre-made, face-to-face courses that have already graduated a cohort of
students and have been previously approved by the statutory councils—in
other words, replicate the existing system.
These new rules sound like those of yesteryear’s—and that’s a problem.
By replicating a system that India’s citizens and employers already
say doesn’t produce workforce-ready graduates, it’s not clear why this
wave of online learning will work better than the last. Although the
Commission is allowing only the top 100 institutions in India in an
effort to control quality, it’s really just cementing in place the
current system of higher education.
That input-based approach to regulation,
in which the resources and processes of a class are controlled, will,
by definition, freeze innovation because it limits how programs may
deliver their services. It also ignores the question of student outcomes
at the program level, such that there will be little accountability.
There’s a better approach.
Lost amidst the changing rules and regulations is a focus on student
outcomes—and, in this case, critical measures that connect education to
the economy. (Some of these measures are outlined in a quality assurance framework
that we researched and developed.) The government of India ought to
incentivize institutions to compete on delivering what’s best for
students, while keeping costs down to increase value and promote access.
By maintaining a quality threshold, the Commission could invite many
players to enter the online higher education market and innovate around
quality and access, which could help India meet its demand to educate
more citizens for the workforce.
India could also be the first in the world to pioneer such a
progressive approach—and it could do so by first targeting the policy at
online universities, not the entire system, which would be far too
revolutionary at this stage.
The Commission ought to reconsider its choice. They can stay with the
status quo and implement piecemeal adjustments in the hope that the
outcomes match their intentions, or they can adopt a strategy of bold
innovation with robust student-outcome protocols that don’t leave
students’ success up to chance. From our standpoint, that shouldn’t be a
choice.
Michael Horn (@michaelbhorn) is an EdSurge columnist and Principal Consultant for Entangled Solutions. Brian Warren is a consultant at Entangled Solutions.
Edtech unicorn Byju’s raise $400 million from Canada’s CPP Investment Board, Naspers Ventures, General Atlantic and some existing investors, according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
The transaction is expected to value the startup at around $4 billion, making it one of the top five most valuable startups in India, along with Flipkart ($22 billion), Paytm ($16 billion), Oyo ($5 billion) and Ola ($4 billion).
The transaction has made Byju’s one of the top five most valuable startups in India along with Flipkart, Paytm, Oyo and Ola.Â
Edtech unicorn Byju’s raise $400 million from Canada’s CPP Investment
Board, Naspers Ventures, General Atlantic and some existing investors,
according to documents filed with the Registrar of Companies (RoC).
The transaction is expected to value the startup at around $4
billion, making it one of the top five most valuable startups in India,
along with Flipkart ($22 billion), Paytm ($16 billion), Oyo ($5 billion)
and Ola ($4 billion).
Byju Raveendran
According to other media sources, the company is expected to use the newly infused funds to expand its presence overseas.
Byju’s was launched in 2009 as an online video-based learning for CAT
through VSAT. The Byju’s app creates personalised learning programmes
for individual students based on their proficiency levels and
capabilities, which help them learn at their own pace and style.
Since then Byju’s has raised more than $240 million from Tencent,
Verlinvest, Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative, Sequoia Capital, Lightspeed
Venture Partners, Aarin Capital and others.
In June 2018, the company turned profitable after crossing Rs 100 crore in monthly revenues. In July, it acquired learning platform Math Adventures, and in September this year, Byju’s raised $100 million in a private equity round.
The e-learning market is vast in India with corporate professionals
and startups alike doing well in the market. According to a report,the online education market in India is poised to grow at a CAGR of 20.02 percent during the period 2017-2021.
Byju’s claims that its learning app has 22 million registered
students and 1.4 million annual paid subscribers. The app also sees an
addition of 1.5 million registered students every month. Byju’s has been
growing at 100 percent annually since its learning app was launched in
2015, and has a renewal rate of 85 percent from its subscribers.
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at 9:49 AM on Friday, December 7th, 2018
SPONSOR:Â Betteru Education Corp.Connecting global leading educators to the mass population of India. BetterU Education has ability to reach 100 MILLION potential learners each week.
Online Education for India
Online education has become popular among working professionals and
students in higher education. These categories of online learners find
immense benefit in the autonomy, and flexibility, that these courses
offer.
Online courses can be planned into their schedule, which may include full-time employment, internships and caring for a family. It can also help them take out quiet time to study.
Online learning in an education system
Distance learning has been around for a long time, even before
technology made it extremely accessible. Traditional schooling is now
seeing an increased proliferation of virtual training materials and
online courses. Even in a world of tried and tested schooling
systems and curricula, the most successful schools are the ones who
adapt to the changing times, as well as to the expectations of students,
parents and the society.
If online education is here to stay, then what are its implications
for traditional learning? Instead of focusing on pros and cons, the
conversation we should be having today is about leveraging online
learning to make our education system more conductive to learning.
Setting goals, tracking progress and meeting deadlines
Online courses involve setting our own goals, tracking progress and meeting deadlines
Online courses call for a greater amount of motivation and
self-discipline than a classroom-based course. A classroom has one or
more instructors and peers, who can hold a student accountable for their
course-work. In contrast, online courses involve setting our own goals,
tracking progress and meeting deadlines.
One does not learn in isolation, so online courses do offer
discussion forums, email, and one-on-one support. Technology also adds
on to the visual experience by incorporating animations, that can be
used interactively for effective teaching, and communication.
The classroom advantage
A school provides structure, support, and a system of rewards and penalties to groom its students. Classroom education has the benefit of face-to-face interactions with peers, which are typically moderated by a teacher.
It provides children, especially those in their early developmental
years, with a stable environment for social interactions, helping them
develop skills like boundary setting, empathy, and cooperation. This
also allows plenty of room for spontaneity, unlike a virtual learning
setup.
Online education in the context of schooling
As students’ progress to higher classes, they seek more autonomy and
intellectual freedom. Online learning can help them pursue highly
individualized learning programmes, possibly even college-level courses.
These, combined with hands-on exercises, real-world exploration, and
thorough assessments, can be highly beneficial to their learning
progress.
Here’s what the Managing Director of Trio World Academy said:
“They can explore their options, by trying out introductory topics
from different fields, before committing to a specialization. Online
learning platforms can help these students become more independent
learners before they make their way into college,” said Naveen K M.
“I believe that we must not hold students back from picking any
online course, but instead act as their guide as they navigate through
it,” he added.
Teachers and parents should act as anchors and mentors
Teachers and parents should be anchors and mentors
Mobile apps that provide enhanced learning opportunities for school
children have become mainstream. Since mobile phones have already found
their way into their hands, these apps are being used to supplement
classroom learning.
Teachers and parents need to act as anchors and mentors, curating the
kind of educational content students are exposed to, during the tricky
phase of finding the right career to pursue.
Programmes to support families wishing home-school
Virtual public schools, that offer a full scale K12 education, have
already sprung up in some parts of the world. They even offer a
combination of the traditional system with online education. There are
programmes that provide support to families that wish to home-school
their children, in the form of online course material.
These programmes bring parents and teachers into the fold, by
involving them into their child’s education from the get-go. However,
their effectiveness in the long term needs to be studied.
Online programmes for weaker communities
Online programmes for weaker sections
Online learning programmes will also open up opportunities for
children from weaker socio-economic communities, who possess a limited
access to learning resources i.e. teachers, textbooks and
infrastructure.
It will connect them to a global network of online learners, exposing
them to new perspectives. The ideas that they receive, will not be
limited by the number of heads in one classroom.
Online education can also be designed to be accommodating of a variety of learning styles among students.
“As educators, it is likely that we will have to put in additional
efforts to incorporate online learning programmes into the curriculum,
in the most suitable manner,” said the managing director.
Online training programmes are helping teachers/educators advance
their skills in curriculum implementation, policy, education systems and
leadership, both independently and with the support of their
institutions.
It lets them collaborate with their peers, and learn new
instructional skills, that are relevant to their career. These
programmes can help them develop new skills and capabilities in their
students, with the help of technology and interdisciplinary approaches.
Education for future
As the overlap of the traditional and online educational worlds is
becoming more and more inevitable, we owe it to our students to make
their education relevant to their future, through our own ingenuity,
passion and careful planning.
-Authored article by Naveen K M, Managing Director, Trio World Academy
