Before I start, I would like to clarify even after almost 5 years
I am very much a newbie in the digital education space in India. I am lucky to
have met and discussed various aspects of digital learning with the
distinguished members of this field.
Over the last few years we have seen more photo
opportunities, PR snippets and social media headlines related to digital education than any other facet of education but sadly has the world changed
around us, not by much. All amazing projects and solutions are being deployed
in the best of the best private schools where there is neither a constraint in
budgets or lack of infrastructure. The promise that digital education brought to
a country like India was ensuring where ever you are you will get access to
quality content designed and delivered in an effective and efficient manner.
Sadly this hasn’t become a reality. We got bitten by the tablet bug and that
ensured we were investing time and money on the incorrect devices for the
masses. The device itself has seen a slow death because of multiple issues like
form factor, durability and serviceability.
There have been incredible projects using currently
available resources and technology to enhance the classroom experience. Sadly
they don’t end up in headlines. Neither do such entrepreneurs are invited to
think tanks or panel discussion. Well because most of them are not elite they
are people who saw a problem and decide to tackle it with whatever they could.
Digital learning in India is also a fad driven business. Now we are currently
madly in love with the following: apps, gamification, mobiles and videos.
The key stakeholders in the process are government, private
players and teachers. My analysis of each:
Our government has invested in projects that were half baked
and uncalculated whether it is the famous indigenous low-cost tablet project or
the one laptop per child adventure. We
have conveniently ignored the teachers and their digital literacy, as that is
not. We have commissioned hardware purchases with maintenance and service
systems. If you ask a public representative how do you measure that a school
has access to digital education he will recite the number of computers in the
computer lab. Do they work? What happens when then need repair? Who is ensuring
relevant softwares are installed? Is there connection to internet? Everybody is
busy announcing schemes one after the other and cutting ribbons. There aren’t
any efficacy studies being done. There is enough evidence in the market that
bringing computers into the school does not necessarily improve learning outcomes.
It is high time we need to train our teachers on how to leverage technology to
deliver engaging and effective classrooms.
Why just blame the government. The private sector has had
some shining examples but those are the ones you would not have heard of. The
ones that are talked about are catering to the elite. They are dealing with
immersive learning, 3D printing, virtual reality and more. But is this the need
of the hour from people who can impact policy decisions. We are either offering
our learners out dated content or content that is not fit for their level. We
are creating solutions for tomorrow’s infrastructure rather than for now what
we have today. We also are behaving like teleco companies that India has 4G
when in all honestly take walk around Cannaught Place inner circle you won’t
get edge (E) on your network. We need to build solutions for today and look at
building it up.
Another key stakeholder in the entire process is teachers.
In my experience most senior stakeholders in the digital learning space started
with one agenda eliminate the teacher. Make learning independent of the
teacher, turn the teacher into a facilitator and ensure anybody can teach.
Create step by step instruction guides which help them press the next button on
the laptop after a designated time. Did that work? We all know it didn’t. Currently there are number of projects going
on across the world where technology is enabling flipped classrooms, expert
advice and classroom management. The one main concern is effective and
efficient utilisation of the teacher’s time. How much of their time goes into
non-teaching admin work and how can we reduce it. In a country like ours we
love examinations, more examinations means more paper work to handle. How are
we exploiting technology to do that? Is there are large enough research done
specifically in India to identify what are the needs and pain points?
So I have had my rant, what should be the right approach?
Should we stop experimenting in the high end segment? I am of the firm belief
that the government’s focus should lie on the grass roots while private sector
can aim at solving niche problems. Any contracts awarded to the private sector
in digital learning space needs to have maintenance, upgrade and service
guarantee. Payments should be linked to SLAs and service quality. All any
content should be multi-level within a grade so that the teacher can select
based on her/his class performance. Standard modules for digital literacy
should be a part of all in-service training. Non-teaching effort needs to be
minimised. Schools need school management mechanisms immediately so that you
can free up teacher time.
What is the ideal content, learning design and pedagogy? I
am no expert but over the last 5 odd years I have spent enough time with
product managers, CXOs, teachers and learners to realise they are not on the
same page. For a learner in a village where there is no internet and unstable
power an IVR based product is the best digital solution in the world. For a
learner in a low bandwidth area a video based product is a more painful
experience than anything else. Is an app answer to all problems in the world
well yes and no. Yes by sheer numbers you got to have an app if you want to tap
the market. But then what do you do with the app is important. You need to
understand that an app will only provide supplementary or just in time
learning.
What is the best device? How should the content be
available? I am a firm believer that you need a PC version and a phone version.
I know all studies say that the PC is dying but we need to be aware of the fact
that education will be laggard in throwing out PCs. Secondly for the phone I
would say build multi-platform and have a wap mode in place. I do believe that
everything does not need a video if you want a monologue with zero body
language inputs build a good audio. Yes Steve Jobs was right make it simple and
have as few as possible active buttons. Spend time on UI/UX and colour schemes.
Should we gamify the whole world? Should learning apps be
like candy crush? Are MOOCS over? Well this is where we get into interesting
territory. Social or peer networks have
ensured apps go viral. Apps like Quizup have ensured there is a huge
stickability factor. But I look at it in a different perspective. Let the user
choose the bites they want to take. Add social networking and gamification but
don’t rely on them, content and design are still the key. MOOCs have been
around in areas related to science and technology and management for quite some
time. I think they have a role to play
and they do provide much needed structured free content. As one of the
struggles that new digital learners face is how to create a learning path.
MOOCs help sort out those issue. They also add the social and community bit to
it. Again I am not worried if everybody doesn’t finish my MOOC. All I want to
know is that is there learning impact. Did the user gain knowledge/skill? If
that is happening then we are good. I am a firm believer in a very short while
content will be available for free in reasonably good learning design packages
whether it is an app, MOOC or flash drive.
So is there no money to be made in digital learning in
India? This is the single largest non-infrastructure opportunity in Indian
education sector. But because we have had so many bad attempts that the
influencers are sceptical. So little has been done in terms of efficacy and
research that whatever claims are being made they all sound like product
pitches. Students are spending incredible amounts of money on poorly designed
and irrelevant products whether it is print, digital or private tuitions. None
of these have the ability track development or assess areas of improvement. So
all you need is to be able to back your sales pitches by black and white data.
On a personal note: It is time we built products for
learners that have access to minimal technology and change lives. We deliver
across the value chain and not just the creamy layer. Also we need to price it
right. We need to ensure it is affordable for the masses. As a digital company
basic content should be free and specialised charged. Also certifications
should be paid for but “how to” needs to be available for free. We build a CPD
portal for all teachers across the country which is available for free and they
can pay for certifications.
The views are my own. I would appreciate contradicting views
and arguments. I have intentionally avoided using brand names. I will keep
sharing relevant articles.
