The Hindu Business Line : Smart learning

Chennai-based learning and mobile technology company Valued Epistemics Private Ltd (VEPL), through Wizdom.in, offers online learning programmes to develop verbal and quantitative skills for GRE (Graduate Record Examination) and delivers this ‘adaptive learning’ programme to one’s mobile phone or PC. In line with its strategy of perfecting the platform and using it to launch multiple programmes over a period of time, the company is re-launching its GRE off ering as www.GREedge.com, while retaining Wizdom.in as the brand name for the learning platform that powers it.

VEPL Managing Director Anand Kannan holds a Ph.D from Purdue University, US. He worked with Nokia in the US for several years as a research engineer and has been involved in projects in wireless LAN research, GSM and CDMA radio technology, entry-level mobile application development and business model development for low income markets.

Kannan is excited about the prospects of using ‘computing’ as a solution to teaching-learning related problems. During a recent interaction, he shared his thoughts on the learning process and the role of technology in making teachers more productive.

Excerpts from the interview.

You hold a Ph.D in signal processing. What got you interested in the ‘learning’ business?

I grew up in a small town in southern Tamil Nadu, where one always felt the absence of high-quality teachers. There is a genuine and deep-rooted problem in society as far as delivery of learning goes.

My training and background have given me a balanced level of interest in technologically-driven solutions to problems, and developing business around these solutions. Our solution model is computationally driven, adopting very much the same philosophy as signal processing and marries it with an organisational model drawn from our understanding of effective pedagogy and student feedback.

It is no accident that three key people in our company are from a signal processing background.

The (long-term) purpose of our company is to enable delivery of high-quality and enjoyable learning experiences to anybody, anytime, anywhere.

On a broader plane, do you think that our education system, as traditionally delivered in schools and colleges, results in learning?

It results in learning only when the teacher is exceptionally good and/or the student is highly motivated.

Overall, I am not particularly impressed with the way it works. And that is the reason I believe there is need for large scale solutions and contribution from various entities in the society. We are doing our small bit in that direction.

You draw a parallel between accountants and teachers — on how the drudgery in their work can be delegated to technology. While there are many accounting packages and software for accountants, what do you suggest as the ways in which IT can help teachers?

Both accounting and teaching are knowledge-based service professions. Accounting requires a deep knowledge of accounting laws and mechanics, ability to interpret and apply to context and a detailed processing of records and data.

It also requires remembering specifics of each transaction, in detail, for processing. Software like Tally contains the entire accounting system as well as embeds a significant detailed knowledge such as ICAI (Institute of Chartered Accountants of India) standards and guidelines. This reduces the drudgery of the process and helps higher value addition from an accountant or finance expert.

Similarly, teaching involves a deep knowledge of pedagogy, subject matter, learning styles, adapting to the individual patterns of the student, and requires the teacher to handle a lot of records and data.

It also requires remembering specifics of each student’s reaction to lessons in detail so that adaptation can be made. Software like ours contains models of student learning and a measurement system as well as embedded detailed knowledge of the rules of teaching and adaptation.

Through this, we believe the teacher (or the student facilitator and analyst) now becomes a ‘meaning provider’ and offers a higher level of value to a student compared to the normal classroom teacher.

Is there a danger that the use of automation and technology in teaching can adversely impact learning?

Yes, because only well-designed and tested systems can positively impact learning. In our case, we tested out our offering (the development itself took a couple of years) in the market with thousands of students before our commercial release. We continue to experiment, improve and develop the system.

How has been the response to the GRE training offered by your company? What are the drivers, between urban and non-urban users?

The response has been quite positive. There is a lot of hesitation to try and adopt but the ones who have tried out are very pleased.

A recent survey that we ran on students revealed that 97 per cent of our enrolled students are highly satisfied and will recommend our service to their friends.

Acceptance depends on awareness levels and marketing. Urban and non-urban students have slightly different motivators. For the urban student, the commuting and busy schedules are a reason. For a non-urban student, lack of access and guidance are a reason. We have commensurate numbers of both categories.

What’s the trend you are seeing between desktop and mobile, as platforms? Are you seeing students preferring and adopting one of these more than the other?

Many of our students have clearly indicated that they would like both mobile and online access, so they can access either of these according to their convenience-anytime, anywhere. Right now, about 30 per cent of our students also use the mobile version. But the main attraction in both cases is the analytical feedback and facilitation from the SFA (student facilitator and analyst).

With an increase in the use of mobiles, as compared to the growth in PCs, what are the constraints that VAS (value-added service) providers like you face?

Our service can be accessed through almost any computing device with Internet access. That includes mobile phones, with GPRS connection, and PCs, with broadband connection. On the mobile side, the business ecosystem is tough and controlled tightly by the operators. The situation seems to be gradually changing with operators shifting more and more top management attention to VAS. The lack of overall awareness of the potential and technicalities of activating GPRS are also key issues, but these do not necessarily impact our segment, which comprises the 18-25 year olds.

You have filed for patent for the ALMI (adaptive learning through measurement of interactions) technology. What are the areas you are working on, as part of your research?

Our R&D (research and development) team works on analytics, visualisation, interaction design, instructional design, pedagogy, linguistics, cognitive psychology, signal processing, database management, statistics, data mining, multimedia, algorithm design, distributed computing, mobile applications and system design.

With the growth in our operations, we are also beginning to look at newer areas such as services science. We use Java, J2EE, J2ME and Web2.0 technologies quite a lot and also tools such as SPSS and MATLAB equivalents. A lot of the work is interdisciplinary and uses a mixture of computer science, electrical engineering and specific knowledge in the areas mentioned above.

Our R&D team is trying to solve problems in advanced personalised learning, distance learning and high-quality service provisioning to our students through the use of computations.

What are the latest findings about ‘learning’ from the field of science?

It is a very, very long list and growing. One piece of recent research that really impressed me is the work of Professor James Zull of Case Western Reserve University — it links brain biology to high quality teaching, and understands pedagogy and learning through biochemistry and structure of the brain. The systematic use of computing to solve problems in teaching-learning is still in the early stages and commercialisation is just beginning. It promises excitement for another 10-20 years, in my opinion.

dmurali@thehindu.co.in

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