E-Learning For Schools
Online school level learning is becoming popular now, with children who find regular schooling challenging. This is especially true of difficult subjects like mathematics and other STEM disciplines. Sachin Gulati, Founder, TruMath, shares some aspects of this ITenabled schooling programme. Excerpts follow
Can you discuss the importance of online platform in school education, especially in subjects like mathematics?
It is a well-known fact that the present education infrastructure is not equipped to meet the current and future needs of the country. With almost half of India’s population under 25 years of age, yet there is a shortage of 250 million skilled workers by 2022. Here, Ed-tech companies with their E-learning tools and mechanism can improve the scenario by widening access to a vast group of the un-served population be it school or higher education.
Speaking about a subject like mathematics, in India there is a phobia around this subject among children
because of the old, inefficient education system. Instead of making the student understand certain question concept, we make them to rote that question. From my experience, I’ve seen if a child can play a video game, s/he can do maths very well. TruMath is totally based on this concept. We are making learning math fun and interactive.
The existent YouTube channels or online platforms in this space are giving single- direction learning; while what we offer is a two-way communication model. In every class, you would feel you are in a regular tuition class where a child would be solving 10-15 questions in the class itself and a student will feel, the teacher is sitting in front of him. Because of its interactive learning process, the child remains interested throughout the classes.
Is the personal attention of a tutor relevant in the context of online maths education?
Absolutely! As I mentioned before, on the E-learning platform, a student feels more confident in learning a subject like Mathematics and he feels the teacher is sitting in front of him. Additionally, it is a common phenomenon that in a brick and mortar classroom what a student learns, s/he can’t reproduce the same after some time gap. When students face such issues, generally they don’t go and consult the teacher because of shyness or forgetfulness. With online platforms, a student gets personal attention from teacher and student also feels free to consult an issue again.
What kind of technologies are being used in Ed-tech nowadays and how are they evolving?
Ed-tech companies with the help of technologies like database and CMS (Content Management System), store the course content, test results and student records. The database stores data while the CMS provides a user interface to add, update and delete data. A good LMS will often provide reporting tools to generate and store progress reports.
Technology upgrades every day and in E-learning too, the evolvement has happened in many ways. Take the example of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data. With the help of these technologies, E-learning software finds out which approach is helpful for a student and accordingly deliver the course material using AI gained insights. Combing the power of both AI and Big Data, Ed-tech companies can profile the students appropriately and hence make customised study format matching to the effective pedagogical model.
How does an IT-enabled online Ed-tech platform lower down the cost for the students? How successful is this platform for the students’ performance? Any data, statistics etc.?
A good number of students flock to so many coaching classes all over India. A batch has 100-150 students and each student pays 3k-5k per month. Statistics say 0.1% or even less number of students are successful through this model. Why is this rat race? The rat race is there to be in this 0.1% category and the rest 99% lag behind because the system is not right for them. In this way, they are shelling out so much, yet they are not getting expected results.
If you go to any Delhi NCR/Mumbai teacher, they will take Rs 60-70k per annum for the entire syllabus and if you go to any coaching institute, they will take Rs 1-1.5 lakh per annum. TruMath is providing the same quality education at a lesser cost, so we have actually brought down the education cost. TruMath provides the best of teachers at the 1/10th or 1/15th of the mentioned price. This is a big achievement for us. Our next target is to bring down the cost further and make education affordable to everybody.
In the last year, we have got a tremendous response. From 100 downloads in the first month, now we have 47k downloads and around 7,500 students have paid for the regular classes to join. With the help of TruMath regular classes, test and homework, every TruMath student who has joined us in the last year has crossed at least 85% marks in the board exams which is a very strong foundation for competitive examination also. We have 317 students out of that batch who has scored over 95% marks.
Ed-tech companies with the help of technologies like database and CMS store the course content, test results and student records. The database stores data, while the CMS provides a user interface to add, update and delete data. A good LMS will often provide reporting tools to generate and store progress reports.