Siddharth Bhansali, CEO and co-founder, gyaanexchange.com speaks with Shalini Saksena about how video classrooms are the future for better learning & understanding
What is Gyaanexchange aboutIJ
It is a market place for online and offline classes. We are a platform to discover skills-based learning opportunities that are affordable, credible, relevant and accessible. We empower thousands to teach and learn classes ranging across everything from professional development to programming to music in most major first and second tier cities across India.
How will web-based video learning help the youth realise their potentialIJ
Web-based video learning will for the first time give the youth an opportunity to learn anything they want. In most academic programmes in the country you are very rarely if ever exposed to subjects and topics outside of a very narrow and defined curriculum. Using the power of the web - learners can decide for themselves what they want to learn and when they want to learn it.
Are video class rooms the future of educationIJ
No, not the future, but a part of the future. We don’t see anything replacing the invaluable experience of being in a class room, however we think that video classes will be one more great tool for teachers to better engage students. There is a movement in education taking place in a lot of countries in the west called ‘Flipping the class rooms’ simply put teachers are using the web to distribute videos of them teaching the concepts and spending the time in the class for more high value activities such as discussions, assessments and giving feedback.
How do you check the content of the lecturesIJ
Our internal team does a quality check after the teacher submits the video class.
How did the idea of web-based video classes take rootIJ
Using the Internet to distribute educational content is something that will happen regardless of who does it. We have a severe capacity problem in our country where there is not enough supply of educational providers and there is an ever increasing demand for it. Schools and universities find it extremely difficult to increase capacity because of the high capital costs involved, further most schools and universities are also unable to keep up with the constantly changing skill demands of the real world.
The only practical, and most quickly implementable solution would be to provide a platform which is open (anyone can contribute be it a university or an individual that is very good at what they do), moderated (we quality check the accuracy and credibility of all content submitted) and accessible — use it on the PC, the phone or any other device that can connect to the Internet.
What are some of the subjects for which there are video classesIJ Is there any class or age group that gyaanexchange is looking atIJ
At present, have video classes across a wide variety of topics like Microsoft Excel using Google docs, how to start your own BPO, how to start your own restaurant. We are targeting fresh graduate students and young professionals as they are the ones that need to learn in order to truly build a quality life.
The price of the packages are low. Was it a conscious decisionIJ WhyIJ
We believe that education should be free or fairly priced. Keeping this motto in mind we have aligned our acquisition strategy accordingly. Most of the content is created by independent teachers and organisatios and although we don’t force them into pricing their classes at a certain level we work with them to help find the most affordable way to deliver this sort of learning to students.
How do these video classes differ from a student going to a tutorIJ
It’s apples and oranges really. Video classes are designed for self deterministic learners, people who are willing to learn on their own and at their convenience. Tutors exist for those that need assistance in learning. Most importantly one can’t find a tutor for everything one can learn online and on your own. For example, at present, we have a class on how to start your own BPO, there is no single tutor that one could go to for such a thing.
How will you solve the problems of scalability, affordability and accessibility to high quality learningIJ
At the moment high quality learning is locked up in the walls of the prestigious 10 per cent colleges across the country. By building this platform we have in effect built a distribution system for education content. We are now actively seeking the support of the university and college system to use our platform to make the fantastic learning available within their walls accessible to those outside. Universities like Harvard, Yale and Stanford have already built their own platforms to make their courses accessible for free to the world, we want to help Indian educational institutions take that same bold step.
What are the future plans for gyaanexchangeIJ
At the moment we are focused on establishing our selves as the best platform to go to discover learning opportunities. In the future we are looking at not only helping people learn whatever they want to but also to get it validated and certified. We will be piloting small skills based certification programs where students can learn at their convenience online, or offline (at a location of their choice) and then given a real world assessment, passing which, would give them a certificate as well. We want to be an interface between the employers of our youth and the educators of our youth. We will be working with corporates to understand the skills that are in demand and will be creating programmes accordingly.