Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 4:03 PM on Thursday, January 16th, 2020
SPONSOR: BetterU Education Corp.
aims to provide access to quality education from around the world.
The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job
industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing
an integrated ecosystem. Click here for more information.
2020 vision: edtech in 2020 with John Ingram
Thursday 16th January 2020
Q. What should schools, colleges and universities be focusing on for 2020?
Certainly, from our experience working with schools, they need
to be supported more when it comes to training teachers to use
technology. We find that teachers are usually keen on the idea of using
new technologies in the classroom, but that implementation needs to be
handled with greater care. Tech in UK classrooms often goes unused,
which ultimately means that millions of pounds are potentially going to
waste. Colleges and universities are making better progress on training
teachers to use technology, so I’d like to see more improvement at
school level.
Q. What, if any, policy changes would you like to see in education this year?
It was encouraging to hear the government announce new measures
to help boost the nation’s skills and transform technical education,
such as providing up to £120m to establish up to eight more Institutes
of Technology. However, many of the measures aimed at boosting the UK’s
productivity and building a skilled workforce are targeted towards
further education, so it would be great to see some more focus given to
schools.
It would also be great to see some progress around the UK Youth Parliament’s campaign for A Curriculum for Life.
Young people are calling for the education system to do more to prepare
them for life after school and college – a critically important area
that often flies under the radar – and it’s important that they are
heard.
Q. If you could pinpoint one area of improvement for the education sector during 2020, what would it be?
If I had to choose one area, it would be improving the way we
treat and support teachers, addressing serious problem areas such as
excessive workloads and teacher retention.
There are many tools on the market that can help with
onerous non-teaching tasks such as marking, assessment and lesson
planning. The challenge is to ensure that schools are made aware of the
best of these, so that they can spend their tight budgets wisely.
Schools are often tasked with helping reduce teacher workload
and ensuring staff retention, but this can be difficult against a
backdrop of increasing budget cuts and Ofsted pressures.
I believe edtech can play a role here. There are many tools on
the market that can help with onerous non-teaching tasks such as
marking, assessment and lesson planning. The challenge is to ensure that
schools are made aware of the best of these, so that they can spend
their tight budgets wisely.
Q. Is there a particular area within edtech that you think should be the main focus for 2020?
I think adaptive learning and targeted education are set to
feature prominently in 2020 – there are many platforms out there making
big strides, but there’s still a long way to go. The end goal is for
classrooms to have adaptive learning platforms that retain the benefits
of learning in a group (social skills, motivation, etc) and combine this
with fully personalised instruction. We’re making progress towards
this, but fully moving away from ‘one-size-fits-all’ learning, and
inflexible learning pathways, will take time.
Separately, I’d also like to see more of a push towards
technology being used at earlier ages in schools, so that comfort and
familiarity with using tech amongst students and teachers is embedded
early on. Nevertheless, no matter what technologies are introduced, we
must bear in mind that not everyone is a technophile. For edtech
adoption to take off, schools and universities must work to adjust
internal cultures so that they are open to advancements.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:30 AM on Wednesday, January 15th, 2020
SPONSOR: BetterU Education Corp.
aims to provide access to quality education from around the world.
The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job
industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing
an integrated ecosystem. Click here for more information.
Matrix Partners backs edtech startup Toddle
Educational technology startup Toddle has raised its first institutional funding round, led by Matrix Partners India.
Better Capital and angel investors such as Swiggy co-founder Rahul Jaimini also participated in the capital raising, Deepanshu Arora, cofounder of Toddle told ET, without disclosing the funding amount.
Educational technology startup Toddle has raised its first institutional funding round, led by Matrix Partners India.
Better Capital and angel investors such as Swiggy co-founder Rahul Jaimini also participated in the capital raising, Deepanshu Arora, cofounder of Toddle told ET, without disclosing the funding amount.
Bengaluru-based Toddle, which helps teachers streamline curriculum planning, documentation, parent communication and analytics, was founded last year by Arora and Parita Parekh.
Arora and Parekh earlier ran a network of pre-schools in Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Toddle says it has more than 10,000 teachers on its platform.
“Today’s teachers are very tech-savvy and use technology for a variety of needs. The struggle is that they have to juggle between multiple tools to solve for these needs. Our goal is to simplify the entire teaching and learning cycle with one seamless and intuitive solution,†Arora said.
The company plans to use the money to cater to more educational segments.
“Having been educators themselves, the Toddle team has built a product that is revolutionizing the way teachers plan, interact and collaborate with other teachers, students and parents,†said Rajat Agarwal, Director, Matrix India.
The Indian ed-tech market is expected to reach $2 billion by 2021, according to a report by KPMG and Google.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 11:54 AM on Tuesday, January 14th, 2020
SPONSOR: BetterU Education Corp.
aims to provide access to quality education from around the world.
The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job
industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing
an integrated ecosystem. Click here for more information.
Top edtech trends to rule India’s virtual learning space in 2020
Today’s educators are completely aware of the fact that the 21st-century student is no longer receptive to the practice of offline learning, which limits them to textbooks and classrooms
Rather, they prefer online channels that are easily accessible and give them a much wider choice of self-learning. According to a recent KPMG report, the online education industry is anticipated to gain a user base of 9.6 million by 2021 as compared to 1.6 million in 2016
By Akhand Swaroop Pandit, Founder and CEO, Catalyst Group, Online Learning Platform.
Since time immemorial, we have been acclimatised to attain our
educational goals through classroom-based learning, which is majorly
based on a theoretical exam-driven system. From the very childhood, this
archaic system pushes us to focus on scoring well, instead of
practically understanding the concepts. However, now that this belief is
changing with the advent of various online learning tools, educators
are rapidly adopting online learning pedagogies, which involve the right
mix of offline as well as online learning techniques.
Today’s educators are completely aware of the fact that the
21st-century student is no longer receptive to the practice of offline
learning, which limits them to textbooks and classrooms. Rather, they
prefer online channels that are easily accessible and give them a much
wider choice of self-learning. According to a recent KPMG report, the online education industry is anticipated to gain a user base of 9.6 million by 2021 as compared to 1.6 million in 2016.
In fact, the scope of online learning is not only limited to school
and competitive exams but has gone beyond these boundaries. A large
number of online players have forayed into upskilling – helping job
seekers acquire new skills and prepare for today’s evolving job market.
That said, the education system in India is surely reshaping by leaps
and bounds and is turning into a student-friendly ecosystem that
focusses mainly on fostering effective learning.
On the back of
this transformation, the education industry is witnessing several
trends, and this is just the beginning! Here’s an outlook on the top
trends that India is likely to witness in 2020:
Personalised learning
For ages, it has remained a challenge for educators to assess each
and every student in the classroom. Even the practice of parent-teacher
meeting has not been much of a success. However, players in the online
learning space are highly focused on addressing this challenge. With the
kinds of online tests these players conduct and the way they leverage
the digital footprints of users, it has become both easy and efficient
to cater to the needs of students as emphasising on their strengths and
weaknesses that they would need to work upon.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Although not every new to the human ears, AI is certainly redesigning
the path of online education by automating and making the process more
engaging than ever. The integration of AR and VR in the online space
significantly adds an audio-visual factor to the overall learning
process with elements such as 3D designs, animations, and sign
languages, among others – making learning fun for both students and
educators. It is clear how education has come out of the textbooks and
is leaving digital imprints on the minds of learners, which was not the
case a few years ago.
Gamification
While video games were one of the major causes why children once got
scolded by parents, gamification has emerged as a new kind of learning
technique that is widely being adopted and accepted by educators. A
large number of players in this space are gamifying different concepts
that can help students enhance their problem-solving power, retain
information and improve their overall performance in a very engaging and
fun-learning manner. Even in schools, this technique has been adopted
by educators to teach valuable skills that they will need to fit into
future job roles.
Mobile-based learning
With smartphones becoming an all-time tool for students to gain and
collect information from the internet, edtech players are rapidly
developing mobile-based content and online study materials that are
easily accessible, anytime and anywhere. By leveraging tech advances,
these new-age educators are able to expand their reach even to the rural
geographies, where imparting education has majorly been an age-long
challenge.
Video-based learning
Gone are the days when coaching classes were only seen as offline
tutoring sessions. With mentors and educators coming online, students
are now enabled to access the same offline sessions through online
platforms, on their smartphones. The best part about video-based
learning is that it can be replayed an infinite number of times, which
naturally eliminates the probability of missing anything associated with
the subject. Not only do students get access to live online lectures,
but they also have the choice of watching a wide variety of rich and
well-researched videos related to their respective subjects.
With the rise of technology disruptions, the future of online
learning seems promising and filled with a barrage of opportunities for
edtech players to innovate further. Not only are these new-age platforms
ensuring quality education to student masses, but also making sure that
learning reaches to every corner of the country. The aforementioned
trends are gaining wider adoption and are already being implemented by
several educational institutions across the country. Besides, it is
anticipated that these advances will slowly but surely help India turn
into a digital-first nation and make its citizens smart enough to secure
future jobs, which would be largely driven by technology.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 12:00 PM on Monday, January 13th, 2020
SPONSOR: BetterU Education Corp.
aims to provide access to quality education from around the world.
The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job
industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing
an integrated ecosystem. Click here for more information.
How Edtech Can Fill Gaps In Quality Education In Tier-3 Cities?
A majority of young Indians, mostly belonging to Tier-3 cities, are deprived of quality education due to a lack of accessible educational infrastructure and resources
Lack of committed educators, unavailability of textbooks, and a dearth of credible coaching centres are among a few of the problems underserved Indian students have to deal with on a daily basis
While there is some merit to heeding to
your relatives’ advice of devoting more time to “self-studyâ€, for a
large number of students across the country it happens to be a singular
necessity and unfortunate compulsion. A majority of young Indians,
mostly belonging to Tier-3 cities, are deprived of quality education due
to a lack of accessible educational infrastructure and resources. Lack
of committed educators, unavailability of textbooks, and a dearth of
credible coaching centres are among a few of the problems underserved
Indian students have to deal with on a daily basis.
The absence of quality coaching centres
in Tier-3 cities in India is a major reason why multiple youths
preparing for competitive examinations like UPSC choose to migrate to
Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities like Delhi, Nagpur, Pune, Jaipur,
Mumbai, etc., in search of better learning prospects. However, in
addition to offering greater learning resources and opportunities, and
an improved lifestyle overall, the expense of living in metro cities
also puts a magnified financial burden on to these students. Besides
paying the fees of the institution they join, the basic outlay of living
(surviving) alone, which includes food and rent of hostels or PGs,
becomes unmanageable for all youths not belonging to the affluent class.
Add to this the expenditure of buying study material and conveyance, at
the minimum. All of these expenses together end up causing the students
to go in debt.
The financial aspect aside, the teaching
institutes and coaching centres accommodate a very large number of
students and the curriculum in these places is designed to cater to
those who are either fast-learners or those who have already had a solid
academic foundation. A lack of individual teaching approach aimed at
educating each and every student based on their individual learning
abilities and sensibilities causes a majority of at-risk students to
struggle with mental health problems. Impersonal teaching methods of the
teachers bent upon drilling information into the students’ heads
further adding to the tribulations of most of these students who find it
difficult to cope with the vast and fast-paced nature of the syllabi.
It is here that EdTech presents itself as an impeccable solution to all of these problems.
By providing a personalised learning
experience to students, EdTech platforms enhance their methods of
self-study and self-assessment. Since most of the EdTech platforms
contain video lectures on the same topic by multiple instructors, a
student can choose to watch the video most agreeable to his or her
style. The most empowering featuring of video lectures when compared
with in-classroom lectures is that a video can be played, re-played, and
paused as many times and as per the convenience of the viewer. Thus, a
student can watch and re-watch a lecture until they get the wholesome
understanding of a concept, something that is not possible in real-time.
This feature comes as a boon for shy
students who find it difficult to engage in discussions during a
lecture. For most youths, the overcrowded classroom atmosphere can feel
overpowering and even suffocating. E-learning tools can solve their
problem by letting them hold one-on-one interactions with senior
students or subject experts over the cyberspace. In this way, online
engagement gives a student a way out of the limiting classroom
environment to get their queries resolved on their own terms as suits
them best without them having to follow rigid classroom schedules that
run on express speed.
In addition to these facilities, most
EdTech platforms also leverage advanced AI-based technologies like data
analytics, machine learning and deep learning to map a student’s
learning journey and produce recommendations accordingly. The e-learning
platforms can then use this data to come up with personalised test
series and assessment plans for individual students. Simultaneously,
students can also utilize this facility to make self-assessments and
accordingly work upon their weaknesses and strengths with respect to
each subject.
EdTech is already disrupting the
education sector the world over on the back of its exceptional
accessibility, efficiency, and unparalleled convenience. For students
belonging to a developing country like India, EdTech comes as both a
welcome extension and a much-needed alternative to the existing
educational infrastructure.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:56 AM on Tuesday, December 31st, 2019
SPONSOR: BetterU Education Corp.
aims to provide access to quality education from around the world.
The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job
industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing
an integrated ecosystem. Click here for more information.
The Major Edtech Trends In 2020, According To VCs In India
Indians spend tens of billions on education every year
With disposable incomes continuing to rise, there is a massive prize for the startups that achieve success in this space
According to Anirudh Damani, managing partner, Artha Venture Fund, the key to success for an edtech startup will be to sell directly, thereby keeping a short feedback loop
India, being one of the youngest countries in the world and boasting a
rapidly-growing startup ecosystem, offers a widely untapped opportunity
for many sectors, both locally and globally. Venture capitalists have
gravitated to the Indian market in great numbers in the past decade to
pour capital into this opportunity, pushing startups towards scalability
in every sector. Edtech is no different, and in recent years, this
sector has become one of the biggest opportunities for tech startups in
the Indian context.
As Unitus Ventures’ senior associate Sunitha Viswanathan told Inc42,
the large market of close to 250 Mn students in the K-12 segment and
over 10 Mn youth graduating every year mean that India is the land of
massive potential for edtech disruption.
“Given the huge lopsided teacher: student ratio, this can only be
solved by using tech. Hence, there is a necessity more than a choice.
And rightly so,†she added.
While we spoke to edtech startups about the trends
they expect to observe in 2020, we also wanted to take the VC view and
what they expect from the ecosystem in the new year. What will be the
factors that make or break edtech startups in 2020.
Factors For Success In Edtech
Indians spend tens of billions on education every year. With
disposable incomes continuing to rise, there is a massive prize for the
startups that achieve success in this space. According to Anirudh Damani,
managing partner, Artha Venture Fund, the key to success for an edtech
startup will be to sell directly, thereby keeping a short feedback loop.
“That will allow them to innovate faster, adapt, and cater to their
end-user requirements quicker. Therefore, in my opinion, selling
directly to end-users is the key to creating success in the edtech
space,†he added.
Sajith Pai,
director, Blume Ventures further said that the increased focus on
regional language learning and data analytics will play an important
role in the success of edtech startups in 2020, just like it did in
2019.
Edtech’s Focus On Increasing User Adoption In 2020
Omkar Kulkarni,
the head of GMC Calibrator (Gray Matters Capital’s Digital Accelerator
Program, suggests four areas that edtech startups in India need to focus
on in the near future:
Gain engagement by learning insights through user behaviour analytics
Highlighting common user patterns to improve product and monetisation at early stage
Cut reliance on digital marketing to reach out to users
Deliver content through a human-centric design process to increase engagement
Blume’s Pai further added that products that teach with a mix of
technology and human intervention will be able to generate faster
adoption while keeping costs low and scalability high.
“Also, college admissions and employability are becoming highly
competitive and thus big stress points for parents and students. Thus,
education platforms that can create FOMO among students (or parents) –
either by having a large number of students on board or by having the best students onboard, attract more customer adoption faster,†Pai told Inc42.
Pranjal Kumar,
CFO and head of Education Fund at Bertelsmann, believes that being
outcome focussed i.e. credentials, test results, job placements etc will
deliver a higher chance of success for edtech startups. “High-quality
product with high average-order-value and the right balance of online
and offline, depending on the target learner and segment of education
should be the focus in the near future for edtech startups.â€
7 Trends For Indian VCs In Edtech In 2020
Indian edtech startups are currently focussing on all fronts — B2B,
B2C, B2B-B2C and C2C. The most prominent sub-sectors have been test
preparation, online certification, skill development, online discovery,
STEAM kits, and enterprise solution among others.
According to Datalabs by Inc42, in terms of
the number of unique edtech businesses funded between January 2014 and
September 2019, skill development-focused startups have been the most
preferred. However, capital inflows into the test preparation and online
certification segments are comparatively higher. Together, these two
sub-sectors make up for 91% of the total funding in edtech startups.
This shows an imbalance in terms of business models in the Indian edtech
ecosystem.
However, according to Bertelsmann’s Kumar, a few more models are
expected to see a lot of innovation in the near future. He said
bootcamps with or without job assurance, higher education, online
programme management models, K-12 tutoring will be huge markets and are
currently starved of quality teaching both in curricular as well as
co-curricular subject.
Here’s what VCs told us to expect in 2020.
Skilling Startups
The pace of change in technology continues to accelerate. Therefore,
education is no longer just the standard 12+4+2 experience. There’s a
need for continuous education that will re-skill or up-skill the workers
of today for the challenges of tomorrow. Startups that provide
platforms to teach, train, and engage the working population to improve
their skills will do very well.
AI Transformation
AI in edtech can help understand better how learning actually
happens. If we can understand how one learns the steps in quadratic
equations, then this can be used in classrooms by teachers to deliver it
more effectively. This will help define pedagogy more tightly
OTT Educators
Even though we hear a lot of buzzwords like artificial intelligence,
virtual reality and blockchain, it is the exponential increase in
viewership of the likes of TikTok, YouTube and other OTT platforms that
will see a trend of content creators delivering educational content on
OTT platforms to improve discoverability, reach and scale.
Parents To Invest More
Another challenge for edtech platforms is the cost aspect for
families. As far as high school education is concerned, VCs see parents
getting more accustomed to spending on tech products for cognitive
learning as well as a change in focus of parents from traditional
curriculum to 21st-century skills.
Unbundling Of Education
Don’t hope for an edtech superapp. Venture capitalists see startups
providing customers (students and teachers) specific standalone services
(test prep, counselling, professional and vocational training among
others) rather than a combined / bundled product which does it all.
Vernacular Learning
Just over 10% of India’s population can speak English. To build large
businesses that can capture greater value, incorporating vernacular
learning is key. As seen in the OTT, media and entertainment space,
regional language learning will be one of the biggest trends in 2020,
according to the VCs that Inc42 spoke to.
Learning for ‘Yearning’
Learning programmes that cater to non-professional interests, or those that work with passion projects and hobbies will see an uptick according to investors. These may or may not lead to employment-related outcomes, but will be about holistic individual skill development, which will be critical for the edtech ecosystem as well as startups at large.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 12:30 PM on Monday, December 30th, 2019
SPONSOR: BetterU Education Corp.
aims to provide access to quality education from around the world.
The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job
industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing
an integrated ecosystem. Click here for more information.
Entrepreneurs experiment as edtech catches on in India
The need for online intervention has existed for a long time in India, but it’s in the last two years that edtech has scaled up
Edtech has proved to be a slippery slope for entrepreneurs in the past, but 2020 may offer a vision of new horizons
BENGALURU : Chirag Arya comes from a family of
teachers. Now the Georgia Tech graduate is building a “digital
classroom” called PaperVideo, which he launched a few months back.
There are big players in this space, including the unicorn Byju’s
that offers courses from kindergarten to class XII as well as for
competitive exams. Another Bengaluru-based startup Vedantu, catering to
middle and high school students, raised $42 million in a funding round
led by Tiger Global in August. Unacademy, which is also based in
Bengaluru and focuses on competitive exams, had a $50 million funding
round in June.
But Arya feels there remains huge scope for entrepreneurs to
experiment with new technology and design to make online learning more
engaging and effective in such a massive, underserved market.
India has the largest population in the age group of five to 24, with
250 million school-going students, according to the India Brand Equity
Foundation, a government trust.
The poor standard of school education, with a scarcity of good
teachers, also makes a case for online resources. The Annual Status of
Education report for 2018 found that three out of five eighth-graders in
India struggle with simple math, such as subtraction.
One of the ways PaperVideo hopes to make a difference is by using
machine learning to track a student’s activity on the portal.
“Technology can give actionable insights to students and teachers on
skill gaps they need to close,” explains Arya. “We can then create
question sets, explanations and videos very quickly for concept-based
learning.”
DIFFERENTIATION IS KEY
Apart from adaptive learning, a key area for differentiation is the
way that content is delivered to raise the engagement level of students,
doing away with the force-feeding usually associated with study. “The
concepts remain the same, but we’ve done a lot of A/B testing to see how
to present them in a way that students can relate to and retain,” says
Arya.
The need for online intervention has existed for a long time in
India, but it’s in the last two years that edtech has scaled up. This is
reflected in the $1.1 billion that edtech startups in India raised in
2018 and 2019, compared to a little over half a billion dollars in the
previous three years, according to data from Tracxn. One of the main
reasons for the uptick is internet penetration.
“Due to the Jio effect, a large number of people are now on the
internet. That has made it more feasible for edtech companies to scale
than in the past,” says Rutvik Doshi, managing director of VC firm
Inventus. An Inventus portfolio startup, Funtoot, which provides online
tutorials for personalised learning in science and maths, recently got
acquired by Mumbai-based Embibe, which was itself acquired last year by
Reliance. The Mukesh Ambani conglomerate had committed an investment of
$180 million to scale up Embibe, and its acquisitions are a part of that
effort.
Most of the edtech tools in India are outcome-oriented to improve
grades, crack exams or get certifications. Doshi sees that as a natural
offshoot of the market.
“Your marks in school determine where you will do college, and your
marks in college decide what kind of job you end up doing. That part of
India is unlikely to change in the near future. So the primary focus of
any kind of intervention has to be outcome-driven for mass-scale
adoption,” says Doshi.
Where the differentiation comes is in the nature of intervention.
Polish edtech startup Brainly, for example, claims that 20 million of
its 150 million users are in India within a year of its launch in this
country. It’s a crowd-sourced platform where students and teachers post
questions and get answers. Like many other edtech startups, it uses a
freemium model where paying users get special features or freedom from
ads.
FINDING TAKERS ABROAD
The reverse is also happening, where Indian startups find takers
abroad for edtech tools in tune with holistic learning. Bengaluru-based
Quizizz, for example, finds that the largest number of adopters of its
multiplayer quiz game is in US middle schools.
Gurugram-based Studypath has a game-based learning product called
Splash Math for kids in kindergarten to grade 5. It claims to be the
fastest-growing elementary math programme in the US with a presence in
77,000 schools.
Another emerging area is corporate training. MindTickle, which had a
$40 million funding round in July, doubled its revenue this year by
notching up clients like Ola, Cloudera, and MongoDB. Its platform
coaches sales reps with simulated scenarios and gamified lessons.
Edtech has proved to be a slippery slope for entrepreneurs in the past, but 2020 may offer a vision of new horizons.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 12:00 PM on Friday, December 27th, 2019
SPONSOR: BetterU Education Corp.
aims to provide access to quality education from around the world.
The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job
industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing
an integrated ecosystem. Click here for more information.
What Will Be The Biggest Edtech Trends In 2020?
The focus today is more on immersive experience-based learning & vocational and skill-based training
Digital innovation is disrupting and redefining India’s education landscape
Interactivity has taken centre stage and data and analytics are playing a key role
From the ancient to modern era, Indian education has transformed from
gurukuls to digital learning platforms and from handwritten manuscripts
to app-based programs on smartphones and tablets. Education technology
or edtech has revolutionised the way education is consumed in the
present era.
“Today, stuff you needed to know at a basic level is available for
free on Khan Academy or similar platforms. This “Basics for free†is
forcing a higher bar for truly quality education. In future, a platform
that provides content, or does a modicum of personalisation will not be
enough. A deep understanding of how best to teach and innovation in the
way one learns will lead to better learning outcomes of the future, as
tech and connectivity are becoming cheaper,†said Manan Khurma, CEO and
founder, CueMath.
So, how different education in the modern era is?
Learning today is not limited to books but has become more of an
immersive experience. Lalit Singh, COO of Udacity believes that new-age
technologies like AI/ ML are pushing boundaries of education as well as
pushing the new generation to not only rethink what we learn but how we
learn. A virtual journey into a lattice, touch and feel your way, or a
virtual journey into Schrodinger’s box, see for yourself if the cat is
dead or alive?, or walk back in history to the Indus valley civilisation
and experience it. “An experience can be recalled much more easily,
cross-referenced at will by our brain, making our learning grow
exponentially,†added Khurma.
Virtual learning is now a global norm. Also, peer-to-peer learning
apps and web portals are enabling students to connect with their peers
and share knowledge, despite geographical barriers. Pearson found that
50% of learners in India use the internet for self-study. The survey
also revealed that 78% of Indians believe students today have the
benefit of using tech-based tools and smart devices to support their
learning.
“The continued reliance on online supplementary courses, video
tutorials and edtech platforms indicate a shift is taking place – from
classroom learning to virtual learning,†said Arshan Vakil, founder and
CEO of Enguru.
Also, the focus today is more on vocational and skill-based training.
Khurma believes the rapid pace of change, powered by the immense data
engines and breakthrough tech riding on massive data, will now require
all of us to re-skill 2-3 times in a duration of a lifetime.
Simplilearn’s CEO and founder Krishna Kumar seconds Manan’s thoughts
and believes the edtech startups are willing to encash this opportunity
well. “With more learners taking to online skilling programs, the Indian
Edtech sector is today going through a phase of metamorphosis. Online
training programs are becoming the answer to upskilling and building a
strong skill set for career growth and development as a professional,â€
Kumar added.
Mrinal Mohit, Chief Operating Officer, BYJU’S further emphasises that
the advent of digital learning tools has pushed digital consumption of
education at home. Interactivity has taken centre stage and data and
analytics are playing a key role in personalisation and customisation of
learning. “Importance of formative learning and early conceptual
understanding has gained more acceptance. Also, edtech startups are now
experimenting with vernacular languages to cater to the huge student
population outside metros,†he added.
Yet India has a lot to learn from its global peers. As Shobhit Bhatnagar, cofounder and CEO Gradeup
highlights, in China companies like VIPKid, Zouyebang, Yuantiku have
taken a big leap in Chinese live tutoring market. With focus on student
outcomes, they have successfully been able to scale and innovate their
products & processes at a rapid speed, resulting in better
engagement and effective results for students.
What are the key drivers of India’s edtech growth?
The educational technology sector in India has been growing rapidly.
The increasing demand for tech-enabled learning solutions can be gauged
by the fact that there are a total 4,450 edtech startups operating in
India currently.
According to Datalabs by Inc42, 186 unique
edtech startups have raised $1.73 Bn funding since 2014. Key edtech
players holding a majority market share in India’s education system
include Byju’s, Unacademy, Vedantu, Coursera, Toppr and Flintobox among
others.
“Digital innovation is disrupting and redefining India’s education
landscape, widening access to quality education and promoting student
engagement. With the advent of EdTech platforms, video-based content,
and peer-to-peer learning portals, online learning is taking over
traditional, classroom-based learning,†added Enguru’s Vakil.
At the same time, there are several government programmes as well
which are playing a key role in propping up edtech. This includes Skill
India, SWAYAM, Sankalp (Skills Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for
Livelihood Promotion), STRIVE, Diksha, National Digital Library, eBasta
among others.
Edtech Vision: The Biggest Edtech Trends To Follow In 2020
The industry leaders Inc42 spoke to a
shared consensus on one point altogether: the Digital learning
tools/aids utilising AI/ ML/ data analytics and offering personalisation
and customisation will see greater adoption from teachers, students and
parents.
Because of better awareness of the positive impact of digital
learning, the coming year will see teachers/educators/ parents/ students
increasingly adopt tech-enabled learning tools to support their
students’ learning needs. This could be in a classroom or in an
after-school learning setup.
Here are a few more trends shared by industry leaders for the upcoming year
“In 2020, learning will go Phygital which will bring in an effective
blend of physical and digital learning. Seamless offline-online
integration will add a whole new dimension to digital learning and key
to delivering impactful learning programs. The environment will be
conducive to a homogenous format of learning, which will translate into
learners ‘learning’ while they are ‘doing’.†~ Mrinal Mohit, COO, BYJU’S
“Personalisation is the new trend of 2020 We believe that every
student is different and so is his learning needs so our focus going
forward would be on providing personalised learning needs.†~ Anil Nagar, CEO and Cofounder, Adda247
“The demolition of ‘one size fits all’ approach will be the biggest
disruption in the edtech industry in 2020. Usage of live interactive
video content, emphasis on building E2Q (Emotional & Employability
Quotient) along with subject matter knowledge and adoption of blockchain
at the backend, will be the other emerging trends in edtech.†~ Mayank Kumar, Cofounder and Managing Director, upGrad
“In the year 2020, technology will actually manifest itself in
student’s everyday learning rather than just being in the newspapers. We
will see a stronger implementation of ML and AI in the next 10 years;
giving rise to truly adaptive platforms and personalized learning paths.
We also expect demand for physical learning spaces for students, where
students have more freedom to experiment and learn by doing.†~ Zishaan Hayath, CEO and Founder, Toppr
“The days ahead will witness an increase in access to online
education for both students and professionals alike and more learners
from non-metro cities taking to online skilling programs. This points
towards the need to keep online education more experiential and engaging
as well as design programs as per industry standards.†~ Krishna Kumar, CEO and Founder, Simplilearn
“Lifelong learning has become an essential part of the job and people
now understand that constantly upskilling themselves is what keeps them
competitive in the job market. AI, ML and data science will continue to
dominate the conversation in the workplace. In addition, employees are
increasingly focused on improving their soft skills as they play an
important role in their holistic development.†~ Irwin Anand, MD, Udemy India
“Incorporation of gamification into video-based learning modules will
be a trend in 2020. The Global Learner Survey released by Pearson
suggests that 74-79% of Indians think that YouTube will become a primary
learning tool in the near future. Capitalizing on this trend, EdTech
companies are incorporating gamification elements such as points, timers
and level-enhancement badges into video lessons to drive student
engagement and improve knowledge acquisition.†Arshan Vakil, Founder and CEO, Enguru
“I personally feel we need to abandon the blackboard, or the digital
blackboard and tech should help us deeply personalise to create the
right learning path, medium, tools even for a classroom of one student,â€
Manan Khurma, founder and CEO, CueMath
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:30 AM on Monday, December 23rd, 2019
SPONSOR: BetterU Education Corp.
aims to provide access to quality education from around the world.
The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job
industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing
an integrated ecosystem. Click here for more information.
How Education Technology Has Evolved In 2010s
EdTech (or Education Technology) industry in India, according to a KPMG report, was worth about $247million and could reach $1.96 billion by 2021.
New Delhi:
When Byju Raveendran set up his company, Think & Learn, in 2011,
offering online lessons before launching his main app in 2015, he
wouldn’t have imagined that the decade would end with him becoming a
billionaire. Mr Byju, who developed an education app (Byju’s app )
that’s grown to a valuation of almost $6 billion in about seven years, joined the rarefied club after his company scored $150 million
(roughly Rs. 1,000 crores) in funding in in July this year. That deal,
according to Bloomberg, conferred a value of $5.7 billion (roughly Rs.
39,000 crores) on the company in which the founder owns more than 21
percent.
The business signed up more than 35 million of whom about 2.4 million
pay an annual fee of 10,000 to 12,000 rupees, helping it became
profitable in the year ending March 2019.
EdTech (or Education Technology) industry in India, according to a
2016 KPMG report, was worth about $247million and could reach $1.96
billion by 2021.
A survey done by Gradeup indicated that 70% of students would shift
to online learning if given access to live online classes. Of these,
over 80% cited ‘access to expert faculty’ as the primary reason.
‘A decade ago, EdTech industry did not even exist’
Beas Dev Ralhan, Co-Founder and CEO, Next Edcuation India, says the
industry is engaging latest technologies such as experiential learning
tools, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Gamification of Learning which
are revolutionising the preparation strategies of students currently and
will continue to do so.
Mr Ralhan says the educational landscape of India has been
transformed by a series of developments in new-age pedagogies and their
popularity is expected to continue in the coming years.
“Conventional methods of education have mostly lost their appeal
among students who are now exploring new strategies to learn and prepare
for exams,” he added.
The increased mobile penetration in the country especially in rural
areas was a major breakthrough for the development of this industry.
“A decade ago, EdTech industry did not even exist. Getting
accessible, affordable and a quality education for students preparing
for competitive exams, especially, in Tier 2,3 cities was a big
challenge. This was the opportunity that Ed-tech industry resolved to
address. This also coincided with the increased mobile penetration in
the country especially in rural areas,” says Shobhit Bhatnagar, CEO and
Co-Founder, Gradeup.
‘Interactive and result-oriented’
Once the issue of accessibility was solved, the startups, which boomed in last one decade, concentrated on the delivery side.
“The preparation had to be effective and result-oriented, for which,
EdTech players introduced live online courses from some of India’s best
teachers through their platform. Classes are interactive, engaging and
allowed students the freedom and privacy to learn at their convenience
from the best. With a structured methodology and day-wise study plan,”
Mr Bhatnagar details how the industry evolved.
Shweta Sastri, Managing Director, Canadian International School,
Bangalore, says the penetration of internet-based smartphones and
gadgets is taking quality learning to students across geographies in
India.
The teacher connect
According to Ms Sastri, by using the internet or software tools,
students can create online groups that connect them in real time with
students and teachers.
“They can receive feedback from their teachers and share questions
and concerns about their lessons. Hence teachers need to integrate
technology seamlessly into the curriculum instead of viewing it as an
add-on,” she adds.
“Technology has become a crucial aspect of enabling learning and
empowering teachers with the usage of multiple tools to improve teaching
methodology. With the use of technology, learning and teaching not only
become more interactive and exciting, but also become personalized to
suit the needs of every individual student,” she said.
Classroom experience
The smart boards are gradually replacing the black-boards in the
classrooms wherein the teacher can bring the world inside a classroom,
which broadens the horizons of teaching and learning, says Niru Agarwal,
Trustee, Greenwood High International School.
“Through technology”, Ms Agarwal says “the teacher and students are
always connected which enhances their preparation strategies. Media
presentations are designed in a student-friendly manner, and which can
also be shared easily. Calendar applications help in creating a schedule
for the student, thereby making their goals achievable”.
“Experiential learning tools are being implemented in India in the
form of virtual labs and virtual and augmented reality tools. Virtual
and augmented reality creates immersive, real-life experiences in the
classroom through graphical simulations. On the other hand, virtual
labs help them conduct simulated experiments based on real-world
phenomena via a computer interface,” says Mr Ralhan.
The outcome
According to Zishaan Hayath, CEO and Founder, Toppr , efficient use
of tech in education has led to a reduction in the need for a human
advisor, improving affordability for the student.
“There are about 350 million school-going students in India, one of
the largest population in the world. Stronger implementation of AI and
ML have helped bring out truly adaptive and personalized platforms
addressing real learning needs. The main purpose of these assistive
technologies is to provide a more accessible and on-demand experience
for students that need immediate assistance with certain issues. Tech
tools and software have also allowed to streamline the educational
experience, improve accessibility and offer new resources to students,”
he adds.
However, psychologists and educationists are arguing the
implementation of large scale technological solutions in school
education needs detailed studies on how it’s affecting the cognitive
abilities of a student in the era of “digital natives”.
“In the era of ‘digital natives’, the role of technology in teaching
cannot be overlooked,” says Muhsina Lubaiba, a psychologist who works
among school children.
“As Prensky says,.. rapid dissemination of digital technology…
changed the way students think and process information, making it
difficult for them to excel academically using the outdated teaching
methods of the day. In other words, children raised in a digital,
media-saturated world, require a media-rich learning environment to hold
their attention,” she quoted Marc Prensky, the writer of the book
‘Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants’.
She also said the quality and efficiency of the educational apps available today is debatable.
“I’m of the opinion that, even if genuine and expert evaluated apps
are used by children, it is by no means a substitute for the classroom
teaching. The issue here is that the teachers need to be updated and
should find ways to engage these digital natives using technology, but
their role cannot be completely neglected,” she said.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 10:42 AM on Friday, December 20th, 2019
SPONSOR: BetterU Education Corp.
aims to provide access to quality education from around the world.
The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job
industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing
an integrated ecosystem. Click here for more information.
This Edtech Unicorn Turned Profitable After Tripling Its Revenue in FY19
Online education market is expected to grow to $1.96 billion by 2021
52 per cent compounded annual growth from 2016, according to a 2017 report published by Google and research firm KPMG
By: Shreya Ganguly
Increased Internet penetration and availability of smartphones has
made its way into making the world smaller. Technology is also
disrupting the education market where
the former is leveraged to make learning more engaging and reach
students at places with poor schooling infrastructure. One of the giants
in this space, BYJU’s turned profitable and recorded a revenue of INR
1,341 crore for the fiscal year which ended on March 31, 2019. This is
thrice the amount of INR 490 crore in FY18.
According to the edtech Unicorn,
deeper penetration of its services across India and increase in numbers
of paid subscribers are the primary drivers of growth.
“We have exceeded our financial goals that we set at the beginning of
the year. Expanding our base across smaller towns and cities and
introducing new products have been pivotal to our growth. With 60 per
cent of our students based outside the metros, the aspiration and need
for quality learning has never been higher,†said Mrinal Mohit, chief
operating officer, BYJU’s.
BYJU’s Growth In Numbers
According to the company, it recorded a net profit of INR 20 crores
in FY 18-19. Its gross revenues also increased to INR 1480 crores from
INR 520 crores, last fiscal.
BYJU’s claims to have over 40 million registered users and 2.8
million paid subscribers currently. According to the company, the
average number of minutes a student spends on the app has increased from
64 minutes to 71 minutes per day over the last 12 months and the annual
renewal rates are as high as 85%.
“This year, we also launched our product for young learners (Grades
1-3), which completed our learning offerings from grades 1 – 12. We are
also planning to reach out to deeper parts of India by launching
programs in vernacular languages. We strongly believe that we have the
capability to create a global product that can revolutionize learning
for students across the world,†Mohit said.
Future Plans
The company is now aimed at doubling its revenue to INR 3,000 crore
for the current financial year. Apart from this, Mohit also revealed
that the company will also soon launch BYJU’s online tutoring which will
further accelerate growth and profitability for the current fiscal.
Edtech Market in India
The online education market is expected to grow to $1.96 billion by
2021, a 52 per cent compounded annual growth from 2016, according to a
2017 report published by Google and research firm KPMG.
Online disruption in the education market takes the classroom
directly inside the homes of the students thereby getting wider reach.
Apart from this, technological development is making education a more
interactive experience for children, thereby increasing their engagement
rather than one-way classroom lectures. Also, online lectures allow
one-on-one attention to students to help them grow at their own pace.
Currently, apart from BYJU’s notable players such as Unacademy,
Toppr, Safeducate and GradeUp are looking to disrupt the edtech market.
Posted by AGORACOM-JC
at 12:29 PM on Thursday, December 19th, 2019
SPONSOR: BetterU Education Corp.
aims to provide access to quality education from around the world.
The company plans to bridge the prevailing gap in the education and job
industry and enhance the lives of its prospective learners by developing
an integrated ecosystem. Click here for more information.
Indian EdTech Unicorn Byju’s Lands $540M to Expand Globally
Indian Edtech firm Byju’s has raised $540 million in funding round led by South Africa’s Naspers Ventures and the CPP Investment Board, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.
With this investment, it is aiming to become the world’s most valuable education technology business.
by StartupWorld Staff       Â
Before one year ago, Byju’s revenue expanded to $208 million from $73.2 million. Earlier this year, the Bangalore headquartered startup valued to $5.75 billion in its preceding financing round. By March 31, 2020, it is going to double its income to $422 million. With this new investment, Byju’s will come in the ranking top valuable startups in India like Paytm, Oyo, and Ola.
Founded in 2011 by Byju Raveendran,
Byju’s has become quite popular among students in India. It mainly
focuses on maths and science subjects and around 35 million students in
India are using the app. It has app felicitating Indian regional
languages, and it is also aiming to launch its new version app for
English speaking students in other countries in 2019.
Byju’s had reported a net loss of $4
million on revenue in the last fiscal year. However, this financial year
is very profitable for the company including taxes and all other
expenses in its net profit.
Byju’s simplifies the process of
learning complex subjects to students through its app. The tutors
explain tough theories and calculations through day-to-day experiences.
Currently, it has 2.8 million paying subscribers and 40 million
registered students globally. The app helps students who are pursuing
undergraduate and graduate courses. Besides, it is gaining more
popularity in small towns in India.
Chief operating officer of Byju’s Mrinal Mohit
said that the startup is going to analyze more new products along with
‘Online Tutoring’ to expand its growth and get more profits in the
coming year.
As part of the global expansion, the
startup is planning to enter some of the countries such as the US, UK,
Australia, and New Zealand. This year, it acquired Osmo, a Palo-Alto
based education startup for $120 million. Osmo is popular among 5 to 12
age group children in the US.
