Online Classrooms – Dutch Uncles

Tinkerly: Now Learn Coding the Hybrid Way

Shalmoli Sarkar — Thu, 25 Nov 2021 06:48:40 +0000

The word ‘coding’ when it strikes our ears, we associate it with the computer engineering students who remain glued to their blue screens for several hours until the compiler returns with a satisfying ‘no error’ comment. In pandemic, several edtech companies in the pandemic have grabbed immense attention as they have launched online coding programmes for the kids.

However, school kids learning to code in the formative years of their education have received mixed reactions from parents and education scholars since they are invariable believers of the screen or online learning hampering a child’s concentration.

Learning to code at an early age also makes parents think that the child will ignore the basics of maths and science for weak fundamentals.

But, with the emergence of advanced technologies like AI and ML and their inclusion in business processes, the nature of jobs in the future will demand coding as a must acquired skill. According to the LinkedIn’s emerging jobs report of the last decade for the role of coding experts the demand of data scientists will rise by 650 percent and demand for coding is said to increase by 37 percent y-o-y.

The online coding learning brought in by the edtech companies in India has been a bit monotonous as kids glare at the screens to understand and follow their trainers. In short, there is a lack of practicality along with lectures and tutorials. To this, a Jaipur-based edtech startup Tinkerly is disrupting online coding courses for the kids by introducing a blend of fun and hands-on learning experience that allows them to explore their love towards building robots and smart gadgets.

Tinkerly’s humble beginnings

What dreams would usually a fresh graduate from IIT have? A high-paying job in an MNC? or climbing the corporate ladder to become the next CEO? Surprisingly, these aspirations were not a part of Sharad Bansal’s dreams.

What made his entrepreneurial ship sail in the edtech space was the absence of practical sessions in the school pedagogy. The academics in IIT followed an LPT structure i.e. Lecture, Practical, and Tutorial, which is a balanced combination of theory, practical, and practice of the lessons learnt.

Putting the LPT structure in Indian schools we can witness that there is lecture happening in the schools and tutorials happening from external classes but the practical part is lacking. Also, due to limited infrastructure, it is not feasible and possible for a school student to go to the laboratory now and then and come back to their classes.

This led Sharad to think of effective pedagogy to add a twist to the mundane online coding programmes with a ‘learning by doing approach by incorporating STEM educational kits.

These STEM portable labs or educational kits cover the basic science concepts based on the 5-D methodology comprising of see, touch, feel, understand, and perform with a focus on covering the essential 21st-century skills such as IoT, rapid prototype,3-D printing, computational and design thinking.

As we near towards a technologically advanced era, the majority of the jobs be it engineering, fashion designing, or humanities would be demanding STEM skills i.e. science technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Standing true to its name Tinkerly- build-out of English words‘ tinkering’ and the suffix ‘ly’ meaning the habit of improvisation has indeed brought a revolutionary change in the field of STEM education that has benefitted over 150 thousand students across India, the Middle East and North America.

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According to the LinkedIn’s emerging jobs report of the last decade for the role of coding experts the demand of data scientists will rise by 650 percent and demand for coding is said to increase by 37 percent y-o-y.

Let’s tinker with the kid’s learning

Tinkerly’s innovative online coding learning solutions are not just to code but to build things with coding that enables students to design, build and deploy their code to make real-life tech projects. Tinkerly’s products are divided into three-

Online Coding courses
STEM kits
Lets Tinker App

The online coding courses blended with STEM toys are designed for the students for grades 1-12. The kids here get to build next-generation solutions and projects that solve real-world problems. Inculcating these into the early stages of education might seem a bit overwhelming for the child already managing the school curriculum but it is a future-ready skill set that enhances cognitive skills and improves analytical and problem-solving skills.

The online coding courses with STEM toys are segregated into three stages for every grade i.e. explorer, learner, and achiever. The classes can either take place in the 1:1 or 1: 5 teaching model.

Tinkerly’s STEM kits consist of DIY kits appropriate for the 8-12+ age group. The specialised DIY STEM kits consist of equipment belonging to electronics,3-D printing automobile, Agritech, Biotech, Biomedical, Robotics that comes along with a concise instruction manual.

Over the years, India’s education system has demanded students to score well in the examinations forcing students to blindly memorise concepts rather than questioning them and somewhere curbing a child’s curiosity in the process. Tinkerly’s lets tinker app fosters curiosity among the students by allowing them to learn about the latest education trends from subject matter experts and top teachers. The learnings include real-life scenario activities grooming sessions and enhancing the problem-solving skills with its organised tests on class-wise content.

The online coding classes in Tinkerly are affordable that begin with as low as Rs 500 a month and is the first edtech company worldwide to offer coding courses in Hindi.

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Tinkerly has raised Rs 6.5 crore from Navneet Tech Ventures which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of publication and content provider, Navneet Education Limited(NEL).

Tinkerly’s funding, revenues, and the road ahead

Recently in September 2021, Tinkerly has raised Rs 6.5 crore from Navneet Tech Ventures which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of publication and content provider, Navneet Education Limited(NEL). With this recent funding round, this edtech company has raised Rs 10 crore.

With the newly raised fresh capital, Tinkerly plans to utilise the same in product development, increase consumer awareness and expand into new geographies developing vernacular content. The company has ambitious plans to become a strong global brand.

The launch of Tinkerly’s learning platform Let’s Tinker in April has been beneficial just after 3 months of its launch. It witnessed its revenues surging up to 8 times with more than 50,000 online learners who have undergone more than 300K hours of learning.

Future Jobs will require STEM skills

According to a report by McKinsey & Company Global around 800 million jobs will be replaced by robotic automation in the future. Taking early steps to build analytical and cognitive skills among students the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has introduced coding from Class 6.

Besides coding, gamification with hands-on experience will be the most effective tool for the kids of today since they have a lesser attention span. Also, it has been observed that kids while engaged in games and learning use all of their senses, therefore Tinkerly’s hybrid learning solutions will offer hands-on experience to the mundane theory learning and will make studies interesting thus giving kids a controlled and active learning screen time.

The post Tinkerly: Now Learn Coding the Hybrid Way appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Unacademy’s Acquisition Spree

Shalmoli Sarkar — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 10:35:09 +0000

Much to the likes of Byju’s acquisition haul, Unacademy is not behind. Between March 2020 till February 2021, Unacademy has made 7 acquisitions and with the recent live game streaming platform Rheo TV, the count becomes 8.

The deal involves a 100 percent stake of Unacademy in Rheo TV and therefore will enable the exit of its previous investors. The investor list includes names such as Lightspeed India Partners, Sequoia Capital India’s Surge, AET Fund, founder and former CEO of RedBus Phanindra Sama and former country head of Google Mobile Mahesh Narayanan.

The online live gaming streaming platform Rheo TV – a brainchild of Ex-Unacademy colleagues Saksham Keshri and Prakash Kumar, will now join Unacademy’s Relevel – a platform that aims to bring disruptions in India’s job market. Relevel will up the employability skills of the Indian job seekers by allowing them to showcase their skills through tests and secure employment in various companies.

Why is Unacademy making such speedy acquisitions?

In 16 months, the acquisitions made by Unacademy ranged from small-medium-sized edtech startups that served the competitive entrance segment such as UPSC, NEET, GATE, ESE and other government exams. The deals taking place at a faster pace also come to the close of the heels of Byjus acquiring India’s largest offline tutorial chain Aakash Educational Services to offer omnichannel learning solutions and become a pioneer in the test prep market. Its partnership with Disney to provide online learning solutions to kindergarten kids and the recent first-ever foreign haul with Osmo – A US-based educational game system, reveals Byju’s ambitious global dreams.

Looking at these deals, it became imperative for Unacademy to strengthen its anchor in India’s competitive exam segment.

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Unacademy has made 7 acquisitions and with the recent live game streaming platform Rheo TV, the count becomes 8 within 16 months.

The Acquired Products of Unacademy

Unacademy, since the beginning of 2020 till Feb 2021 has acquired the below startups:

Kreatryx: Kreatryx offers videos, test series and a postal tracking platform for GATE and ESE exams. Their deal was an undisclosed one and took place in March 2020. Kreatryx now runs as a separate brand with Unacademy being the parent one.
CodeChef: CodeChef is a platform for aspiring programmers to make it big in the world of algorithms, computer programming and programming contests.
Prepladder: It offers online learning solutions for students appearing for medical entrance examinations such as NEET, PG and FMGE.
Mastree: Mastree is a one-stop subscription product for STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) courses, for classes 5-8, which includes live Classes in small groups for mathematics, science, public speaking, creative writing and Vedic mathematics.
Coursavy: A platform that caters to the exam preparations of UPSC aspirants.
NeoStencil: An exam preparation platform for government jobs.
Tapchief: It was the first acquisition made in Feb 2021, the online platform helps professionals to earn incomes without full-time jobs.

How are the acquisitions going to benefit Unacademy?

Unlike Byjus that began offering learning solutions in the K-12 segment and then forayed into test preparation space, Unacademy was focused on becoming the market leader in the competitive exam space. By striking deals with Prepladder a platform for medical exam prep, Coursavvy – dedicated to UPSC aspirants, and NeoStencil – a platform for government exam preps, it has created a niche for itself in the edtech market since few platforms cater to these segments.

Though Byjus also offers UPSC and medical exam preparations, in terms of user base, it is dismal. Whereas startups like Coursavy and Prepladder, before getting acquired, had already secured a loyal userbase of UPSC and medical aspirants and this acquisition will further benefit Unacademy to enhance its learning content and expand its market.

By acquiring Tapchief, it has upped the game of enhancing the employability skills of job seekers which has largely been untapped to date. While leveraging Tapchief’s suite of solutions to help professionals interact and learn from experts, work with businesses from across the world and aggregate their brand online, it will enable the edtech major to build Unacademy Pro, a platform that will help an individual strengthen its skills and knowledge to get a dream job. To keep up its pace with the rival’s acquisition of WhiteHat Jr., Unacademy has stepped its foot in the competitive programming space as well. For honing the public speaking skills and enhancing the creativity of the school students from grades 5th-8th it has acquired Mastree.

So, overall it becomes evident that Unacademy wants to build its presence mostly in the test preparation segment for undergrad and postgrad students and wants to enter and bolster its presence into the field of job-seeking individuals.

Learnings from Unacademy

Not following the suit

Unacademy did not follow the K-12 suit like other edtech platforms to retain its uniqueness. It realised that if its rivals have a hold in the school segment and are going global then it should bolster its Indian market by providing online learning solutions in various college and government entrance exams.

Something for the job seekers

Most of the undergrads in India are not workforce ready. To match up with the dynamic business environment, companies are scaling themselves up and want to equip themselves with the best workforce. Hence, the corporates today are hunting for individuals that have special skills and competencies to help them achieve their objectives. With initiatives like Relevel and Unacademy Pro, they are focussing on the individuals who can upskill themselves and be job-ready.

Innovative Learning Product

With the acquisition of Rheo TV, it might be possible that Unacademy launches learning solutions amalgamated with gaming to give online learning a fun avatar.

The post Unacademy’s Acquisition Spree appeared first on Dutch Uncles.

Teachmint Digitising Classrooms with New Products,Plans to Expand

Shalmoli Sarkar — Sat, 17 Jul 2021 10:35:07 +0000

Since last year, the pandemic has put a screeching halt to coaching centres, and private tuitions. The prolonged closure of tuition has become a matter of concern for the traditional private tutors as the revenue streams have tightened. Besides low income, another worry for tutors is how the current situation is compelling the entire offline learning landscape to turn online, which is alien for them.

As the infections continue to rise, there is no certainty regarding the reopening of private tuitions, till then online seems to be the only medium for them to sustain.

To bridge this gap between online teaching and traditional private tutors, Teachmint -a SaaS-based mobile and video-first teaching platform founded in 2020 is digitising the private tutoring industry in India with its live tutoring app.

Within a short span of its launch, the startup has been able to amass over 1 million teachers from over 5,000 Indian cities with its usage growing more than 100 percent each month. The success of its innovative virtual learning solutions is attracting investors for its expansion interests.

Teachmint’s Plan of Expansion with the Recently Raised Funds

Recently, Teachmint has raised $20 million in a pre-Series B round led by Learn Capital with participation from CM Ventures, right after receiving Series-A fundraise in May worth $16.5 million.

The freshly infused funds by Teachmint will be utilised to expand its product offerings, hire talent and tap the international markets.

To cater to educational institutes Teachmint has launched its new product Teachmint for Institute that will empower educational institutes to conduct and monitor all their online classes and institute activities. The platform will enable educational institutes to collect fees, record and store lectures, automatically take attendance, and have a look at the performance assessments.

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Teachmint has raised $20 million in a pre-Series B round led by Learn Capital with participation from CM Ventures, right after receiving Series-A fundraise in May worth $16.5 million.

What is Teachmint’s unique selling proposition?

A Freemium model

Teachmint offers a freemium model where any teacher can download the Teachmint app and create their first classroom within minutes.

Supports vernacular languages

This online class management platform supports 10 Indian languages including English. The app is just 14 MB in size.

One-stop-platform of teaching

In Teachmint’s platform the tutor can:

1. 1. conduct doubt sessions on demand
  2. create reminders with a class timetable
  3. create MCQ tests with automatic evaluation,
  4. take automated attendance
  5. Collect, manage and send reminders for student fees
  6. organise and share study material
  7. Stream 2-way live classes with recording.
    Operates on other devices
    Teachmint can seamlessly run on laptops, PCs, and other digital devices.
    Build your online store
    Tutors can develop their courses and test packages to sell them online and build a brand their learning centre.
    Connect with teachers
    Tutors can join Teachmint’s Facebook and Whatsapp Groups to connect with teachers from anywhere.

Why are tutors attracted to Teachmint?

Less or No Features in Google Meet and Zoom

The tutors grappled conducting online classes through Zoom and Google meet. Both of the most-sought streaming platforms cannot suffice the needs of teachers and students. In these platforms, one can only interact and record lectures.

A freemium Model

One of the major reasons for Teachmint’s growth is no costs involved in its usage.

Teachmint’s Customer Happiness Team

Teachmint’s dedicated customer service team can address tutor’s problems via WhatsApp, or Call.

Webinars to Assist

Since online teaching is new for traditional tutors, the expert webinar sessions from Teachmint provide tips and tricks for the tutor to help them teach online effectively.

Marketing of classrooms

Tutors can promote their classrooms on social media and WhatsApp by using digital pamphlets and business cards.

Master class

The master class feature of Teachmint provides fundamentals of online teaching business to tutors from its panel of marketing experts.

What is in it for the Edtech startups offering virtual learning solutions?

The online class management platforms with seamless teaching processes are gradually removing a traditional private tutor’s resistance towards the adoption of online teaching. This will encourage more teachers to adopt the same.

From the investor’s side, edtech seems to be one of the most lucrative sectors since the pandemic has propelled the demand for online learning platforms. They would be interested to fund those edtech startups that in any way will bring disruptions to traditional learning.
With most schools and colleges closed, the online class management platforms will be in high demand to enable teachers and professors with advanced features such as virtual blackboards where complex concepts of science can be taught and sharing of notes can happen easily.

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