In this edition, we present India’s Most Creative E-Learning Companies to Watch that are making the lives of teachers easier and of students, enriched. Combining the best of technology and teaching methodologies, these companies are making learning fun, interactive & experiential.
4. Editor’s Note
f you think being a parent is tough, try
Ibeing a teacher. Managing tiny tots or
teenagers or adolescents, trying to make
them listen to you and making sure that they
learn from each interaction is, well, tough. To
teach, a teacher must keep learning as well
and keep themselves updated with the latest
in not just their field of specialization but the
educational sector as well.
When E-learning made a splash in the
educational sector, many people thought,
including teachers themselves, it will dispel
the needs of a real-teacher. Maybe that is why
many were hesitant to give it a shot, go online
and try e-learning methods to teach. And
then came the pandemic. So, the summer
breaks in India turned into an online teaching
workshop for teachers across the nation and
outside it too. Teachers of all age and
experience were now trying to adapt to
technology to reach the students. But does
this mean technology had overpowered
traditional classroom learning? Does this
mean technology and e-learning alone are
enough for students?
TEACHERS,
THE FULCRUM
OF E-LEARNING
Bill Gates
Technology
is just a tool.
In terms of
getting the kids
working together
and motivating
them, the
teacher is most
important
5. Certainly not. A teacher, as always, is required
to guide the students. They are needed to
help students filter and navigate through the
immense sea of information at their fingertip.
They are required to help students make
sense of the flashy images, the texts that
scroll past in a hurry, and also how to use the
tools that promise the learning process to be
easy and fun. A teacher is required for all this
and more.
Technology and human intelligence, when
come together, can create magic. This is what
teachers can do on e-learning platforms.
Their experience and human touch, combined
with the quality and relevant curriculum that
e-learning platforms can help students with
not just studies, but life.
In this edition, we present India’s Most
Creative E-Learning Companies to Watch
that are making the lives of teachers easier
and of students, enriched. Combining the
best of technology and teaching
methodologies, these companies are making
learning fun, interactive and experiential.
The edition features byteXL, a Software as a
Service (SaaS) platform which caters to a
huge number of students on its platform,
The Actuary Intern, which provides Virtual
Actuarial Internship Program in Health
Insurance and The Moonshot, a company
that was started to reach out to lesser
penetrated layers of the Indian education
sector and offer them an opportunity to
secure themselves financially through its
proprietary programs.
Through an insightful article, Saraswathy
Ramamoorthy, Co-founder and Chief
Marketing Officer at Learning Matters,
shares her views on How Voice Technology
with AI will Reshape Education.
We hope you enjoy reading this edition as we
did while curating it!
Sneha Sinha
11. Subscribe Today
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www.insightssuccess.in
12. Ushering in an Era of Digital Transformation in
Fin-Tech and Money Lending
EarlySalary is an innovative lending platform that aims
to change the way loans are taken in India. Being a
new age online brand, the company brings together
new credit scoring systems for superior customer profiling. In
an interview with Insights Success, Akshay Mehrotra, the
Co-founder and CEO of EarlySalary shares his opinions
about the company, the various services it offers, various
organizational policies, and its future plans.
1. Kindly tell us how your company is revolutionizing the
digital money lending and fin-tech industry in India?
EarlySalary is leading the digital salary advance and instant
loans space and has gone on to become India’s largest mobile
first consumer lending platform for salaried individuals.
Currently, disbursing over 80,000 loans a month worth Rs.125
Cr, the company has already disbursed 900,000 loans.
EarlySalary aims to achieve full stack credit product portfolio
to cater to all customer’s need. They are also focusing on
achieving customer engagement from the start of customer’s
credit life cycle growing with their needs. The company also
focuses on gaining a highly scalable, tech-enabled automated
underwriting risk management system. EarlySalary
successfully went on to become the preferred credit line which
grows with their customer to cater to his/her life’s every need
by providing:
- Instant loan with tenure starting form 1 month to 3 years
- Shopping loans on Amazon, Flipkart Big Bazaar
- Present in across 40+ Big Bazaar stores through feet-on-street
personnel
- Salary card for universal payments
- Education fees payments in EMI -100+ tie-ups across the
country with education institutes
2. What are the employee benefit programs initiated by
your company and what steps are you taking towards
employee development of client organizations?
EarlySalary started with a team of around 8 people in 2015 and
has reached 250 employees today. The company works
towards creating a company culture that encourages a healthy
work-life balance while giving creative freedom to their
www.insightssuccess.in10 | September 2020
13. workforce. Creating a strong, positive corporate culture helps
their employees feel and perform their best at work. The
success of an early stage company can be measured with their
ability to attract talent from all over the world to build a next
level organization. EarlySalary is one of those few companies
who have been successful in attracting the best in class talent.
Moreover, EarlySalary’s participation in corporate programs,
where they have now collaborated with around 350 corporates
encourages financial wellness at workplace and offers
salary-advances to their employees. Along with the
millennials, they also aim to benefit the blue-collared and
entry-level skilled workers working with the corporates.
3. Please tell us about yourself. As a leader, what steps are
you taking to spearhead the company towards development
and prominence?
I completed my Master’s Degree in Business Administration
from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune. Now I
am spearheading EarlySalary along with the Co-Founder
Ashish Goyal. Prior to this, I gathered 16 years of experience
with brands like Future Retail Ltd, PolicyBazaar.com, Big
Bazaar, and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd. My business
acumen and attention to detail has assisted me to achieve the
“Most Talented CMO of the Year” award in 2013 – 2014 in the
retail space, by CMO Asia.
In the last few years, I have led EarlySalary through various
phases where funding cycles were critical, and came out with
flying colors with marquee investors like EightRoads (Fidelity)
Ventures, Chirate (IDG) Ventures DHFL backing large
funding rounds. Today EarlySalary has raised not only $23
Million in equity but also raised more than $50 Million in debt
to build and over Rs.1500Cr have been disbursed.
Growth cannot happen without building a strong team and
hence at EarlySalary we have built a team of nearly 250 people
comprising of data scientists, core technology developers, risk
underwriting, collections, product and marketing units
which has helped them grow in a highly automated manner.
Large customer acceptance is critical to any early stage
business and today EarlySalary has over 9 Million app
downloads, disbursed over 900,000 loans and tied-up with over
400+ large corporates along with 100+ education institutes to
help kick start hyper growth.
4. What are the various loan facilities offered by your
company, and what is the eligibility criteria for availing the
same?
The various loans are:
Shopping Loans–Instant credit facility of EarlySalary made it
easier to shop on EMIs and get vouchers for both Amazon and
Flipkart. Whether its electronic appliances or household items
- everything is accessible and affordable with our buy now pay
later options.
Travel Loans–EarlySalary doesn’t limit your travel plans with
it’s no cost EMIs and partnerships with India’s leading travel
agencies - Yatra and MakeMyTrip.
Education Loans–EarlySalary shares the same sentiment you
do for education - which is why we’re making it easier than
ever to cover the cost of fees. Our program called FeEs, is
designed to take the financial burden off your shoulders and
allow you to provide the quality education you need,
uninhibited, and uninterrupted.
Eligibility –
1. Should be an Indian Resident
2. Should be a working professional/salaried person
3. Salary should be above Rs 18,000
5. In addition to instant cash loan, what additional benefits
does your company provide?
EarlySalary is a customer focused organization and our
mission is to provide financial assistance to the underserved
classes. Consumer lending is fueled by an immense rise in the
young working population. Our ability to lend to young first
time customers gives us a unique opportunity to create a strong
niche and cater to a large underserved market potential. We
believe that advisory efforts are required to help the young
adults to take control of their finances, and make smart
monetary decisions to ensure a prosperous and stable future.
With its various product features like free monthly credit score
report and providing knowledge through campaigns and
on-ground activities, we try to encourage to understand their
financial health and setting them on the right path towards
making better financial decisions. EarlySalary believes such
initiatives will go a long way to help people understand the
intricacies of managing their credit well, and also pay a useful
role in influencing their financial wellness.
6. Please tell us how your company is promoting a healthy
work-life balance and positive work culture.
EarlySalary employees can explore various opportunities
where they can upskill themselves through various learning
platforms and share their best practices at work. Thus creating
a strong, positive corporate culture that helps the employees
feel and perform their best at work. EarlySalary as an
organization is committed to work towards diversity and
inclusivity and encourages its employees to contribute towards
it in various forms.
7. Kindly enlighten us about the future plans of your
company.
Our TG of young working professionals is the fastest growing
segment in the country and hence we would like to build
EarlySalary as a market leader in this category. And in next 3
years, we aim to build a billion dollar balance sheet.
Interview with Insights Success
2020 September | 11www.insightssuccess.in
14. byteXL
Preparing a New Generation of Coders
Learning was introduced to the world at the turn
eof the century in 1999. While the field was
progressing steadily, the turn of this decade has
suddenly made it imperative. This year, as we redefine our
ways of living and learning, online learning platforms and
EdTech Companies have entered a fast-track mode
facilitating the changing needs of the current education
system.
US-based byteXL, a Software as a Service (SaaS)
platform caters to a huge number of students on its
platform. One of the advantages that this platform offers
is that it can reach to any nook and corner of the country
where there is access to the internet and students have a
mobile device.
The platform is capable of online self-guided learning and
has reading materials, Videos, Hands-on labs,
assessments, and discussion boards. Currently, there are
20+ programming languages and the platform also offer
instructor-led expert programming in Career tracks like
Cloud/DevOps, AI/ML, Full stack Developers, QA
Automation, UI and Backend Developers.
Bridging the Gap
The Founders, Karun Tadepalli (Co-founder CEO)
and Pavan Gorakavi (co-founder CTO), while
working as technology leaders often saw a huge gap in the
academic world and IT industry needs. The duo spent a
couple of years before starting the company,
brainstorming ideas on how they can contribute to
improving the productivity and efficiency of early entrants
into the IT field.
Karun visualized the need for practical and structured
learning to reduce the skill gap of the newly hired college
grads. He says, “Along with India’s focus area of IT
Services industry, byteXL seeks to open the larger canvas
of product-based ideology through Learning/Skilling and
Upskilling which are integral for both service and
Product based companies. byteXL also creates awareness
of the IT Career path for students who are interested in
careers at Corporate and as Entrepreneurs.”
Along with Pavan, at byteXL, he was able to formulate a
plan and created a structured learning course for IT
programming languages along with steps to create a
career path by understanding the skill set of the students.
They later partnered with Mr. Raman (Executive director)
who has been in the industry for 30+ years helping most
of the engineering institutions in India to set up their labs.
Byte-sized Solutions
byteXL’s solutions fall under the following categories:
Explore – A completely online and self-guided learning
platform offering 20+ programming languages. Learning
is achieved through reading materials, Videos, Hands-on
labs, assessments, and discussion boards.
BCAP – A 2-3 years comprehensive program for all
engineering students to get trained in Foundation,
advanced level courses and Expert track in the chosen
career track. The trained students are also provided with
Placement support, Resume preparation, Soft Skills prep,
CRT and Coding challenges.
Entrepreneurship Program – It is a six-month
comprehensive Academic Incubation program for 3rd/4th
year engineering students from CSE/IT/ECE branches. It
offers skill training and product forming guidance in
emerging technologies. Workshops are conducted on
business basics, and writing business plans, leadership
skills, presentation skills, business etiquette and more.
www.insightssuccess.in12 | September 2020
15. Key Differentiators
byteXL’s 2-3 years program is augmented to the
engineering curriculum, focused on a career path like
AI/ML, Cloud/DevOps and Full stack development and
more tailor-made to the needs of the IT industry. This is a
big differentiator as most existing competitors offer in
time training for 2-4 months which might be helpful for
job placement but not complete landscape to build a real
project or capable to build a product from the ground up.
Besides, the platform has an in-built editor that can
support 20+ programming languages which can be
leveraged in any browser and any device. It provides in-
depth analytics on the platform to both the faculty and
students of the engineering colleges to track their progress
and learning path. It also has the capability to choose a
career path based on the AI skills assessment and access
to an in-person career counsellor. It has also partnered
with Leading India AI (an initiative to promote and teach
Artificial intelligence) and various companies to help
students with placements to start a career based on their
skills and interests.
Renovate and Reinvent
One of the main challenges ailing the industry is the need
to inculcate the idea of continuous learning to the students
as their only focus in the early career is to get a job. In the
current world where technologies are evolving very
rapidly, upskilling is crucial. There’s a need to create
awareness in the tier2 and tier3 colleges or rural India
about the in-demand skills rather than just focusing on the
hype technologies.
The team suggests that colleges should work with
companies like byteXL to emphasize on the aspect of
learning and reduce the gap from academia to real-world,
create a centre of excellence, allow students to contribute
on open source technologies rather than just focusing on
the curriculum.
byteXL wants to develop itself as a one-stop-shop for IT
learning/skilling/upskilling and innovation. “Our vision is
to make the youth of India to be an invaluable part of the
world workforce with required specializations, be able to
develop products and empower individual goals,”
concludes Karun.
Karun Tadepalli
Co-founder CEO
byteXL is an experiential
IT skilling platform with
learning and skilling as
primary focus which helps
students to plan his career
by choice rather than by
chance
“
“
2020 September | 13www.insightssuccess.in
eeeLEARNING
INDIA'S MOST
CREATIVE
COMPANIES TO WATCH
16.
17.
18. GamificW
ork has been pretty much the antonym of fun as far as most people are concerned, and
work-related training has been no exception to this. There has been a natural element of
fear associated with training and a sense that it has been something that is merely
supposed to be suffered through. This not only makes for a gloomy experience, but is also
counterproductive since most people can’t retain information very well when taught this way.
There have been a few things harder than trying to apply
the knowledge you gained by passively
sitting through it. Gamification’s major
benefit has been that it minimizes
this very traditional, outdated
style of learning by arousing
challenging conditions for the
participant at exactly the right
level. This happens so that when
learners feel challenged, they
are constantly motivated to keep
going and come back for more.
Most of the people have been
naturally wired to enjoy the
whole process of conquering
obstacles and winning to
move up to the next level.
www.insightssuccess.in16 | September 2020
20. Standing up to the Challenge
The prolonged use of gamification to aid in
cognitive development would allow an increase in
the activity of the regions of the brain to be able to
allow for adequate development. Games that have
been produced specifically for enhancing cognitive
development are often known as brain games.
Brain games have been quickly and effectively-
becoming popular and are based on various
questions and problems that the user has to
answer or solve. Brain games could hold the ability
to improve the rate in which the brain processes
and maintains the information.
Exercising your mind with interactive games is just
as effective as normal exercise. This technique of
exercise would be very beneficial in adolescents
that have been enjoying playing video games but
are not currently physically active. Active
gamification has not just been limited to the
classroom but can be used in learning outside the
classroom.
For example, when teaching your kids, perhaps
you break up your child's math homework into
sections. Your child could then level up after
completing each section to get hints that will solve
a riddle. The other tactic being that maybe you can
have your child create their very own study
patterns and habits to make them feel involved. All
this just proves that gamification at home is a very
good way to get involved in your child's education.
The Techniques
The initial and main priority for being able to
create an effective education-based game should
be on the design of the learning dimensions first,
and the entertainment value second. This entire
process needs to ensure its focus on the core
learning objective, and the gamification aspect
should support that goal. Anyhow, an intelligently-
structured game could serve up some of the
information, identifying comprehension and
difficulties, and knowing how and when to proceed
so that students are actually learning the material,
rather than just filling time.
Another technique could be collaborative game
experiences. According to sources at the Cornell
University’s Center for Teaching Innovation, it has
been shown that collaborative learning not only
helps promote understanding of diverse
perspectives but also serves as preparation for
future social and employment situations.
On the other hand, games that are based solely on
speed tend to favor a small percentage of students
that are good at answering questions quickly,
leaving the rest of the student body out of the loop
and unmotivated. This sort of unruly speed doesn’t
directly equate to knowledge or success. To say
that it’s not a bad idea that speed is part of the
gameplay, attention should be given to balancing
for all players to feel they are part of the journey.
To sum up, the role of ‘gamification’ has made an
impact on learning that will be permanent.
Teachers have been able to reach out to every
student in one-go. This has become a constructive
addition to the way of lesson presentation and
experimentation and every learner is given a
chance to express his/her creativity. Students have
been able to learn new software, that could help
them to apply the same for every subject. The
variety of ICT tools for collaboration like Skype
and social networking enhances the impact of the
project and has provided students with new
scopes and horizons.
- Vedika Mansukhe
www.insightssuccess.in18 | September 2020
21.
22. Japan’s tech startups bitgrit and Atrae just rolled out a
professional ‘matching’ app in India offering jobs in
India after Japan
Japan’s tech startups bitgrit and Atrae brings their
professional job ‘matching’ app in India
• The Yenta app will allow professionals and employers to
‘swipe right’ to the profiles of their interest.
• Under the initiative, the company is also inviting data
scientists from around the world for an online
competition — ‘SwipeToSuccess’ — to submit their
optimization models for the app.
• Starting today, the competition will be accepting the
optimisation algorithms for the next 69 days — until
October 31, 2020.
• The top five submissions will be rewarded with cash
prizes totalling US$10,000 ( nearly ₹7.4 lakh).
Global data science platform bitgrit has collaborated with
Atrae, a Japanese internet company, to launch their
professional job ‘matching’ and networking application —
Yenta app — to bridge the talent gap in India. The joint
initiative will allow professionals to connect and engage
with hiring managers for jobs in India as well as Japan.
Under the initiative, the company is also inviting data
scientists from around the world for an online competition
— ‘SwipeToSuccess’ — to submit their optimization
models for the app. The idea is to build a model to predict
the level of compatibility of a pair of users based on their
profiles — and ensure that the app recommends the most
linked and suitable profiles to the users.
“We are pleased to announce the launch of yenta in India
as our first base for global expansion in collaboration with
bitgrit. India’s data science community is inevitably going
to grow in the future. With this competition, we aim to tap
Yenta AppBridging the Talent Gap
About Atrae - Atrae is a Tokyo-
based People Tech Company that
was formulated in 2003 with a vision
to create businesses that expand
people's possibilities through
technology.
www.insightssuccess.in20 | September 2020
23. the potential of data scientists and expand the services
provided by the Yenta app across India,” said the CTO of
Atrae Corporation, Toshiyuki Oka.
The competition will kickstart on Monday (August 24)
and will be accepting optimisation algorithms for the next
69 days (till October 31, 2020). The top five submissions
will be rewarded with cash prizes totalling USD10,000 (
nearly ₹7.4 lakh).
Commenting on the launch, Tetsuro Masunaga, Co-
founder CEO of bitgrit said “We are pleased to partner
with Atrae for the expansion of their yenta app to India
and this online AI competition to improve the app’s
profile-matching algorithm. This partnership will
strengthen bitgrit’s data science community and provide a
platform to showcase their domain skills in emerging
technologies.”
The mobile application, which was first launched in Japan
in 2016, aims to connect professionals in the IT space. It
currently has users from over 20,000 companies where
professionals can network, get a job, engage with industry
experts and founders for partnerships. The cross -industry
platform will enable employers to spot and hire skilled
talent and also interact with other business owners. The
professionals and employers registered on the Yenta app
can ‘swipe right’ on a suitable match and chat with them,
if the other user also likes the profile. “You swipe right on
profiles you're interested in, and if the other person is also
interested and swipes right on your profile, you can
message, meet up, and submit a review for each other,”
Oka explained.
The ongoing pandemic has created a massive job loss as
businesses came to a grinding halt. As per the data by the
Centre for Monitoring indian Economy (CMIE), the urban
unemployment rate in India stood at 9.15% in June —
higher than rural unemployment. “This initiative is even
more relevant now with the coronavirus-induced economic
crisis that has severely impacted businesses, thereby
triggering unemployment on a large scale,” Masunaga
added.
The application is available for both iOS and Android
users. The details of the competition can be viewed here.
About bitgrit - Founded in 2017,
bitgrit is a global data science
community based in Tokyo with over
29,000 data scientists. The AI-
driven platform aims to develop data
driven solutions across industries like
hospitality, tech and financial
services. The startup has campus
ambassadors and partnerships with
over 30 universities in India -
including the premier Indian
Institutes of Technology (IITs).
In Focus
2020 September | 21www.insightssuccess.in
24. o reach one’s destination, one must start
Tsomewhere. As we near the last leg of our education
and start dreaming about the new professional life
that we are to begin, we look forward to our internship
period. As an intern, we familiarize ourselves with the
industry we desire to step-in and receive a hands-on
education. This internship period is often described as the
launchpad to a successful career ahead.
However, what if the internship does not turn out the way
we imagined? What if instead of enjoying the industry-
exposure, we end up detesting it? And what if we do not get
an internship at all? Is it an end to our dreams or a start to
something new? When we asked Trishla Doshi about her
professional beginnings, she confided that it took her 7
st
months to bag her 1 internship. Her only disadvantage?
She was an undergraduate.
Over a hundred messages on LinkedIn, she received only
ten replies and just one asking for her CV. It did get her an
internship, but it only lasted 1 month as they wanted full-
time interns and she could not commit full time due to
college.
So, she started something new. She started posting her
struggles, motivation, and actuarial facts on LinkedIn daily.
She created the #actuarialfact on LinkedIn, which now has
820 followers where she researches and posts short, simple
but impactful facts to increase knowledge of actuarial,
insurance and mathematics field.
Today, Trishla owns a start-up, The Actuary Intern, which
is focused on the problem and the desire to minimize, and
eventually eliminate the problem that she had to face.
Through her firm, she wants to enable the next generation
with skills that matter to them without the need to spend
full time and months on applying to competitive programs.
“Instead, gain knowledge from people who have worked at
top Companies, take practical knowledge and then apply,
except this time, you are Tough and Prepared,” says
Trishla.
The Start-Up
The Actuary Intern provides Virtual Actuarial Internship
Program in Health Insurance designed by Trishla. The
current program is motivated by her learnings from her
internship at HDFC Ergo General Insurance.
The Actuarial Virtual Internship Program in Health
Insurance gives information and knowledge of Insurance
products using knowledge videos, quiz and final three
projects to test that knowledge. The projects test Insurance
The Actuary Intern
Jumpstart your Career
Trishla Doshi
www.insightssuccess.in22 | September 2020
25. Product Research, Insurance Product Comparison and
Research skills. The program experience can be added to
the candidates’ CV. The firm plans to introduce more
programs by Experienced and Qualified Actuaries in Life,
Pension, Employee Benefits, etc.
The Actuarial Difference
The Actuary Intern gives importance to content. It seeks
experienced Instructors who can share their knowledge
from working in different companies in different positions.
The firm gives them full creative freedom to design their
Programs with only 3 conditions-
Ÿ the content should be a simulation of actual work in that
role,
Ÿ candidates should have a greater working knowledge
after completing the program, and
Ÿ their chances of being selected at Competitive programs
must increase.
The firm emphasizes Individual learnings and experiences
because each person who becomes an Instructor on the
platform has started at the entry-level, climbed the
corporate ladder in different Companies in varied
departments and roles and they are unique in terms of their
life experiences and knowledge. The Actuary Intern simply
trains candidates for a particular requirement from a job
perspective.
A Blessing in Disguise
While most of us went cribbing about how the current
pandemic has severed our lives, Trishla chose to start her
venture in April 2020. Lockdown, she says, was the main
limitation as well as the main motivation. It was difficult to
have a work and a personal space due to lockdown. She
faced problems with Website Development and had to solve
many problems that came as a result of the communication
gap.
The GST registration during lockdown was further delayed
and payment problems were difficult to solve due to limited
customer service. She had to learn how to enable screen
recording, search for good website developers on LinkedIn,
negotiate a good deal, self-study and implement adding
subtitles, marketing, etc.
But, with each problem she solved, she gained experience.
“My main clientele base came from LinkedIn, actuarial
students in India knew me from my #actuarialfact and
networking with them before helped in growing my
business. I went out of my way to solve students’doubts
24/7. I took the criticism in stride and I plan to implement
suggestions that the participants provided me for my future
programs,” shares Trishla.
The lockdown also made her understand that technology
here is the key enabler. So, The Actuary Intern has taken
measures to ensure that the student experience is as flawless
as possible. To save candidates' time, the website has been
designed to be simple and effective.
“You log in, make the payment, and start watching the
videos, attempt quiz and submit projects. We have
submission portals for each of the projects where word and
excel formats are supported,” explains Trishla.
After uploading their projects, students can access Model
projects, created by the Instructor to compare their work.
Once completing all videos, quiz and projects, a Certificate
is generated automatically, so that students can instantly
add them to their LinkedIn profile and CV.
Plans of Expansion
The Actuary Intern is expected to add more programs to its
portfolio ranging from Life, Pension, Employee Benefits,
etc to Pricing, Reserving, Modelling, etc from Experienced
Instructors in those domains. The firm also plans to have
another venture with Internship Programs in Investment
Banking, Accountancy, Software Engineering, and a lot of
different professions from Experts in those fields.
For those interested in being an Instructor, feel free to
message Trishla on LinkedIn
Check out the website www.theactuaryintern.com for more
details.
I believe my
first internship was the
reason for my later
successes, and I want to
make the same for
everyone. Everyone
deserves their first big
break
“
“
2020 September | 23www.insightssuccess.in
eeeLEARNING
INDIA'S MOST
CREATIVE
COMPANIES TO WATCH
28. O
nline classes have become the need of the hour
in this pandemic situation. E-learning has been
on the peak since the past few months.
Interaction and communication are the key elements in
learning. Without these two things it is not possible for
students to understand and learn easily. Mutual
communication is the key element to interactive
communication. Exchange of ideas, question answer
sessions, etc. are helpful in learning sessions.
The teachers are confident of what they teach when they
know the students are gaining the knowledge. It is
difficult to know what the students understand over e-
learning platforms. To avoid this confusion, teachers
must hold interactive sessions, which are easier said than
executed.
Here are some tips to improve interactivity during online
courses:
Set Clear Learning Objectives
At the beginning of every course, setting clear objectives
helps both, learners and teachers, to understand where
the course leads to. It helps the learners understand the
benefits of the course and they will be focused. Setting
learning goals adds value to the course. It also
significantly helps teachers to create a clear course
structure.
Know the Learners
Connecting with the audience is the main goal of any
learning program, be it offline or online. However, it is
difficult to connect with them if they are unknown
people. It would be helpful if a small test or quiz
regarding the learners is conducted. It will help the
teacher know about their backgrounds, behavior,
learning habits and needs. This helps curating a good and
customized to some extent type of e-learning program.
Encourage Group Collaboration
Group discussions on the online classes are starters to
encourage interactive sessions. Participants can be given
topics to discuss or projects to work on. It is possible that
even teachers can be included in these group discussions.
It helps teachers analyze the understanding level of the
students. It is easier to analyze students live in class
rather than online classes. The teacher can also lead the
discussion and encourage the learners to solve problems
collectively via group chats. This way, the teacher can
keep an eye on the students. Human interaction gives an
opportunity to learn from each other.
Question Answer Session
Online lectures can be bit boring if the participants are
not able to ask questions. Involving the learners is
important to enhance their activeness. This QA round
will allow interaction. If it is okay with the teacher, the
students can also be allowed to ask questions during the
session instead of a separate round. This involves the
students in the ongoing topic even better. The other way
round, even teachers can take questions every now and
then in between the lecture.
Quizzes and Tests
Getting or generating any kind of response from the
student or the teacher is a form of interactivity. Including
tests and quizzes increases the involvement of the
learners. This quiz factor makes the students concentrate
and ask any doubts that they have. It is also a fun way to
learn for the students and the teachers can also get
immediate feedback. It will also show the participants
their performance and any need to cope.
Keep Learning Modules Short
Endless study material is the fastest way to disengage the
audience. Keeping modules short and crisp will make
them interested and respect the study material too. It is
easier to connect as well as digest small chunks of
information. With people leading busy lives like today, it
makes people want to learn. They make it a priority
when things work out according to their way.
- Shreevarshita Gupta
www.insightssuccess.in26 | September 2020
29.
30. Education, in many countries, has been declared a
fundamental right. Whether or not this right is
exercised by everyone, is another matter of concern.
More often than not, getting a formal education requires an
infrastructural set-up and a host of other resources. To
access and maintain this entire set-up, finances are required,
which is often a big hurdle in small towns and villages..
It has been observed that a weak financial condition is one
of the top-most reason why many youngsters are unable to
finish their high school and proceed for further studies. As
such, many talented stories are cut short before they could
even write the first chapter.
However, with the emergence of technological assistance,
e-learning has proven to be of great help in such situations.
With the growing penetration of the internet, e-learning is
now reaching even the remotest areas and delivering
education at comparatively nominal costs.
With such thoughts, The Moonshot was started to reach
out to lesser penetrated layers of the Indian education sector
and offer them an opportunity to secure themselves
financially through its proprietary programs. A product of
Whooping Crane Ventures, Moonshot is the world’s first
Human Equity Company.
By investing in the untapped high-potential young
intellectuals, the company is helping to build a secure
financial future for graduates, while helping organizations
tap into a bigger pool of skilled ready to deploy
graduates.
The Right Path: Fate v/s Will
Life, they say, is the most rigorous teacher and strange are
its ways of teaching. A Computer Science Engineer by
education, when Puja Joshi started her professional
journey, it was as an HR Coordinator in one of the Big 4.
This, in spite of having a good hand at coding and
development. Even after her first professional assignment,
she would not have much success in getting interview
shortlists in a career path of her choice.
It was then that she realised that her degree from a small
town engineering college was turning out to be a roadblock.
Tenacious by nature, Puja decided to address this issue of
preference of “brand name colleges” on the resume over the
individuals or their capabilities. And with that, she
embarked on the mission which is now The Moonshot.
With her business acumen, perception, vision and
impeccable execution strategy, Puja has already made
Moonshot a big name in the market.
The MoonshotBetter Learning, Better Possibilities
Puja Joshi Founder CEO
www.insightssuccess.in28 | September 2020
31. Exhibiting Excellence
Moonshot is a career incubation program which believes
quality education does not have to be financed with decades
of debt unaligned with student outcomes. In India, e-
learning penetration is at its best and continuing to grow,
but the opportunity penetration is not yet resolved.
Moonshot gives not only upskilling opportunity but also
complete profile upliftment to its students. “The way we
have designed it, Moonshot is not just a program, but
becomes a learning habit for life. On the other end, to our
employers we provide well-groomed, ready to deploy
professionals,” adds Puja.
Moonshot aims to be ‘top of mind’ for college graduates’
placements, and the best hiring partner for employers to
hire fresh graduates. Other platforms are simply upskilling
platforms, but Moonshot is a unified solution for all the
hiring needs at entry-level. It differs from some of the
players on crucial pointers like:
• AI-enabled detailed screening of the students for selection
into the program.
• Active training program where the talents are mapped to
a talent manager who acts as an external motivator to
ensure performance milestones are achieved timely; and
• Most importantly, it invests in the talent upfront unlike
any other program in the market.
Enhancing Reach with Technology
Moonshot’s business strategy is a simple 3 step model: Spot
- Fix - Deploy. It employs advanced technologies to drive
operations in all three stages for the best efficiency. For
example: in the “Spot” stage it uses machine learning to
assess the subjective answers to its assessment questions
which reduces manual intervention and the biases that come
with it. Today it is at capacity where even 10k students can
appear for the Moonshot assessment test at a time.
In the “Fix” stage it uses video analysis tools that can alert
talent partners on 15 traits of the talent including a drop in
the level of attentiveness. This helps talent partners to
continually monitor non-technical aspects of the personality
of the talent as well. In the “Deploy” stage it is working on
algorithms that aim to assess the candidate for a given role
as easy as an assessment for lending.
Lessons from the Pandemic
Moonshot was in a growth stage just before the pandemic.
For the company, the current pandemic has turned out to be
a blessing in disguise. Since it has an intensive screening
and on-boarding process, it has had to spend significantly
more time than usual to on-board the talents. It has had
several technological interventions to the platform, which
has ramped up its testing capabilities manifold.
Moonshot has also expanded its team in the last couple of
months to ensure that it maintains its committed talent
manager to talent ratios. Adds Puja, “A remarkably simple
approach of structured operations and technology
interventions has allowed us to scale up our operations. It
has also been a great lesson for us to find the right
approach to cater to the talents, companies and our own
goals as we continue to grow.”
Being a Name to Reckon with
Moonshot offers an opportunity for the talent to choose
their own career path to start with. Curating courses for the
numerous talents to bring out their individual best while
estimating demand from the industry for the same is
certainly challenging as it grows its talent pool and program
offerings. And Moonshot’s ‘Proactive’ team is ready to face
every hurdle.
“Every team member is always trying to be ahead of the
curve and with that in our company DNA, we are already
working on our latest program offerings which promise to
cater to latent demands that seem to go unnoticed. Our
mission is to be the first name for college students looking
for the first job that they desire,” assures Puja.
We open up a
larger pool of
qualified, well-
trained and
ready-to-deploy
students for
the companies
“
“
2020 September | 29www.insightssuccess.in
eeeLEARNING
INDIA'S MOST
CREATIVE
COMPANIES TO WATCH
32. How Voice Technology
with willAI Reshape Education
s the education system transitions from the classic
Ablackboard classroom to the online classroom,
thanks to the pandemic, teaching-and-learning
tools must simultaneously evolve too. Digitization in the
education sector has gone up exponentially in the last six
months in order to keep pace with the sudden transition.
However, equal access to online classes for all is still
questionable, especially in semi-urban and rural India.
Educationists are continuously striving to make the
teaching and learning cycle as effective as possible in the
new paradigm. The New Education Policy is also striving to
pave the way for reforms in the Indian education sector.
New teaching technologies are being experimented on
incessantly by educators and ed-tech startups alike. Amidst
all of this work, one technology that stands out as the way
forward is voice technology. The term “voice technology”
usually brings to mind Alexa, Siri, or everyone’s favourite -
Google Maps. But the potential of voice technology is not
limited to these use cases alone.
Augmenting Learning with Voice Technology and
Artificial Intelligence
Even though online learning is a viable option during this
time of crisis, it is still not available to a major part of the
nation due to accessibility and cost factors. The feasible
solution to this problem would be adopting voice
technology.
13 Reasons Why
When compared to visual learning, voice-assisted
technology is not only economical and easily accessible but
also comes with its own set of unique benefits.
1. The devices used with voice-assisted technology are
easily portable as they are very light on hardware.
2. Voice-enabled devices have very simple interfaces.
This eliminates the fear of usage among non-tech savvy
users.
3. Voice-enabled devices typically require a minimum of
512 Mbps to work efficiently. Compare this ask to the
higher bandwidth required by visual learning platforms
to function. A 3G connection is usually more than
sufficient to run a voice-enabled device.
4. Voice-enabled devices are now available with battery
back-up thus eliminating the need for consistent
electricity supply.
5. Voice-assisted learning solutions utilize the most
natural way in which human beings learn - through
listening and speaking. Thus, using conversation-style
learning, voice technology ensures learning that is
natural and effective.
6. Voice technology is not a passive interface. Well-
designed, pedagogically-based solutions will not only
tell learners that they are incorrect but will also explain
why.
7. There is no fear of fatigue with voice technology. It can
repeat lessons, exercises, and assessments as many
times as the learners’ requests.
8. Voice technology helps learners to make mistakes and
learn in a non-judgemental environment. This is a
critical aspect of learning confidently.
9. Learning in a non-judgemental environment is
particularly important for adult learners. Voice-assisted
learning takes care of this as well.
10. Voice technology can support individualized learning
as well as pair, small-group, and large-group learning.
11. Voice technology is extendable to any academic subject
and any use case.
12. The ‘only audio' medium of voice technology
minimizes exposure to screen time.
13. Voice technology is particularly beneficial for learning
communicative English as it ensures that MTI (Mother
Tongue Influence) is reduced while pronouncing
English words. A classic challenge being faced by
learners in semi-urban and rural areas is that they do
not have access to good models of communicative
English.
www.insightssuccess.in30 | September 2020
33. Saraswathy
Ramamoorthy is
Co-founder and Chief
Marketing Officer at
Learning Matters Pvt.
Ltd.(www.learningmattes
.xyz). Recipient of the
Innovative Digital
Education Award from
India Mobile Congress and
the UK Government Tech-
Hub partnership among
other recognitions,
Learning Matters designs
technology-based
educational solutions to
enhance the quality of teachers and the quality of teaching in schools, thereby
improving student learning outcomes. They focus on improving mainstream
school education with a special focus on schools in rural and semi-urban India.
By impacting students, they create measurable end-results.
Saraswathy may be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/saraswathy-
ramamoorthy-33923025/
The Way Ahead
The education industry has already witnessed drastic changes due to the pandemic. Now with the focus on technology and an
especial nod to artificial intelligence in the New Education Policy, technology is taking over the driver’s seat in the education
sector. Increasing exposure to technology from a young age will go a long way in helping future generations lead the way to
a new world of innovation and creativity.
While we take a leap ahead to transform teaching and learning for all, the main concern is to ensure that no one is left out of
the loop. No learner should be deprived of learning due to accessibility to accessible and affordable technology. So, let’s
make some noise for voice - the way forward.
About the Author
Future Ed
2020 September | 31www.insightssuccess.in
