HCL Group's Learning Platform GUVI Partners with IIT-Madras Pravartak to Launch Multilingual CAD Courses

GUVI Geek Network Pvt. Ltd., a leading online learning platform of HCL Group, introduces two groundbreaking Computer-Aided Design (CAD) courses curated exclusively for civil and mechanical engineers. These industry-certified programs, endorsed by IIT Madras (IITM) Pravartak and Autodesk, equip learners with cutting-edge CAD Automation using python skills essential for excellence in their fields. What sets these courses apart is GUVI's innovative approach to language inclusivity, enabling learners to engage with coding in English and Tamil, fostering a truly multilingual learning experience.

GUVI is at the forefront of delivering innovative and accessible e-learning solutions in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Recognizing the lack of vernacular language learning options, GUVI offers Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and ten additional languages alongside English. This inclusive approach revolutionizes education, democratizing access and providing equal opportunities to learners across the nation.

The courses for Civil Engineers and Mechanical Engineering aspirants equip learners with essential CAD skills. Civil engineering students gain hands-on experience in Architectural and Construction planning, 3D Modeling, Building Information Modeling, Structural analysis, Construction documentation, CAD Automation with Python using industry-standard tools like AutoCAD, BIM, Revit, 3ds Max, Vray, STAAD.Pro and Building Estimation & Costing. Mechanical engineering participants master CAD tools such as AutoCAD, SolidWorks, CATIA v5, ANSYS, NX CAM and GD&T to create 3D models, perform simulations, optimize design and CAD Automation with Python. Both courses offer a one-month internship with certification for practical industry experience, improving career prospects.

GUVI Courses are more into industry specific training where Mechanical learners can get into product design, automotive design, CNC Programming, CAE engineering and Research and development for mechanical fields and Civil learners can get training in building design, interior design, advanced BIM, Urban planning and Structural design and analysis.

The courses are delivered entirely online, allowing learners to study at their own pace and convenience. Spanning nine months, the courses feature weekend classes, catering to the busy schedules of working professionals and students. This flexible format enables individuals to pursue their education while managing their current commitments. Both courses also include GUVI's Zen Class, a premium offering job assistance upon completion. Explore the CAD Civil Course here - https://bit.ly/43RSzPQ & CAD Mechanical Course here - https://bit.ly/3XodesV

With the grand launch of CAD programs, Mr Arun Prakash, Founder & CEO of GUVI, said, “The IITM Pravartak & Autodesk Certified CAD programs are the ideal solutions for the skill-gap between Mechanical, Civil industry requirements and student capabilities. With native language-Tamil and English as the medium of instruction throughout the course program, we aim to launch proficient CAD Engineers in large scale along with best career guidance & project centric upskilling methods”.

GUVI offers learners the unique opportunity to receive training from industry experts from renowned companies such as Ashok Leyland, Renault–Nissan, Larsen and Toubro, DLF, URC, Tata Projects, AECom, Bosch, Ford, Hinduja, and Hyundai. These professionals leverage their extensive experience and expertise to share real-world insights, industry best practices, and practical examples. The inclusive approach of these courses offers a starting point for those learners interested in these fields.

“Our CAD courses are not only well accredited by Autodesk and IITM Pravartak, but are also perfectly aligned with the latest needs of both the Civil and Mechanical industry. Our Zen class learners with high aspirations will face the industry with confidence through gained skills meeting the requirements of both industries”, Mr Balamurugan SP, Co-founder, GUVI, said.

Recently, GUVI also launched an extraordinary opportunity that allows all individuals to positively impact the lives of career aspirants, working professionals, college students, and kids while earning a generous affiliate income on eligible purchases made by their referred users through GUVI’s Affiliate Program. The affiliates who sign up will have a better opportunity to earn advertising income as commissions, for the purchases made in this attribution period by each referred user. To know more about the GUVI’s Affiliate Program, click here - https://bit.ly/3p5oKfT

About GUVI Geek Technology: GUVI, an HCL Group company is one of India’s leading integrated edtech platforms incubated by IIT – Madras, offering technical courses created by industry experts in vernacular languages. Started as an informative YouTube channel in 2011, GUVI today provides affordable technical education in multiple languages and is trusted by 2 million+ learners, and 600+ corporates across 30 countries.

Through its self-paced learning courses and instructor-led programs, GUVI brings real-life industry exposure to its learner community, which includes students, job aspirants, and tech professionals helping them achieve their career goals. For more information, visit www.guvi.in

About HCL Group

Founded in 1976 as one of India’s original IT garage start-ups, HCL is a pioneer of modern computing with many firsts to its credit, including introducing the 8-bit microprocessor-based computer in 1978 well before its global peers. Today, the HCL enterprise has a presence across varied sectors that include technology, healthcare, and talent management solutions and comprises three companies – HCL Infosystems, HCL Technologies, and HCL Healthcare. The enterprise generates annual revenues of over US$12.8 billion with over 223,438 employees operating across 60 countries. For further information, visit www.hcl.com

With An Aim To Become Global Knowledge Centre, IIT Hyderabad Starts Offering Open to All Teaching [OAT] To Working Professionals; Real-Time Learning with Live-Streaming of Classrooms

• Real-Time Learning for External Candidates: Live streamed from classrooms of IITH.
• Interaction with Instructors: Direct interaction with course instructors in real-time, making lectures dynamic, engaging, and highly interactive.
• Course Completion Certificates: Credits & grade obtained adds value to the learners' profiles.
• Courses Offered: 12 courses will be offered in Aug 2023 Cycle.
• Last Date to apply: July 14, 2023.

IIT Hyderabad is set to establish itself as a global knowledge centre by offering Open to All Teaching [OAT] (remote learning opportunities) to working professionals from different organizations, faculty members, and students from various colleges. The institute aims to extend its excellent technical education beyond the confines of traditional classrooms and provides access to select courses remotely through online mode. This initiative will enable reskilling and upskilling in new-age technologies, contributing to India's growth story and addressing the demand for skilled human resources. This initiative also addresses the limited availability of the physical infrastructure required for hybrid courses. The institute has implemented a set of criteria to prioritize the course offerings, giving preference to unique courses, faculty expertise, and expected registrations.

Professor B S Murty, Director, IITH, expressed his enthusiasm for this initiative and said, "We believe in making quality learning accessible to all towards inclusive growth. The Open to All Teaching (OAT) approach will enable us to reach a wider audience and create a global knowledge centre that contributes to both individual growth and the overall development of our nation."

Prof Saptarshi Majumdar, Dean (Academics), IITH, emphasized the importance of maintaining academic rigour in the ‘OAT’ courses, stating, "It was sincerely felt that we@IIT-Hyderabad need to a take the larger role to include more and more learners inside the academic network. One of the ways is to open some of our courses to all through online mode. I humbly feel that this is a bold step our Senate has taken towards an inclusive policy for any inquisitive learner."

Sharing his insights on the uniqueness of the courses, Prof Umashankar B, Chair of the Center for Continuing Education (CCE), stated, “These courses are live streamed from classrooms of regular courses taught at IITH. This provides an opportunity for the participants to interact directly with the course instructors in real-time, which help to make the lectures more dynamic, engaging, and highly interactive between the participant and the course instructors.”

The courses will be offered at an affordable fee of Rs. 10,000/- plus GST per one credit. 

Explore what each course (A video abstract of each course is available) has to offer & visit the website for more details: https://cce.iith.ac.in/Open-to-All-Teaching/

A video abstract about IITH’s OAT:

ISRO Launches 'Antriksh Jigyasa', A Knowledge Portal for Active Learning & Exploring Space and STEM

Indian space agency, ISRO, has just launched 'Antriksh Jigyasa', a knowledge portal for active learning & exploring Space Science Technology Engineering & Mathematics (STEM). This virtual platform also offers self-paced online courses on space science, technology, and applications.

One of the creative entry submitted to Antriksh Jigyasa for SkyPicks (Image - jigyasa.iisr.gov.in) 

The platform enables, learners to register and login to ISRO E-CLASS Learning Management System (LMS) for accessing e-learning contents and study materials. The learners has to follow the defined course guidelines of each course, participate in the online activities and assessments to get course completion certificate.

Courses offered include Remote Sensing Technology, Geographic Information System, Space Science, Technology & Applications, among others.

One of the STEM components of the platform called "Space Varta", where ISRO scientists share the theory behind scientific concepts related to specific areas of space science, technology and applications, their experience in implementing the systems and success stories & outcomes of major space missions. It is an interactive programme for the registered listeners. However the live sessions will also be available through social media platforms for large outreach.

The registered users can post the questions during the live session and the selected questions will be answered by the subject matter expert.

The free courses are available as Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). The login credentials will be activate initially for three months and learners has to complete the course within this time frame.

Antriksh Jigyasa also encompasses a platfrom SKYPICKS — a creative platform for the kids to showcase their imagination, creativity and talent connected to astronomy, astrophysics, space and related activities. The platform enables to submit creative photography, painting sketches, drawings, creative videos by kids after registration. ISRO evaluates these creatives on periodic basis and recognises the best submissions in an appropriate way.

Kreedo Early Childhood Solutions Raises $2.3 Mn in Pre Series A Funding

[L-R] Mridula Shridhar and VK Manikandan_Kreedo Founders

The new capital will be used towards Kreedo’s goal of partnering with 7000+ schools and positively impacting the lives of 1 Million+ children annually in India

Kreedo Early Childhood Solutions, a Bengaluru based company that provides end-to-end solutions to transform the way early learning is delivered, has raised $2.3 Million in Pre Series A Funding. The round was led by Switzerland based UBS Optimus Foundation, Spectrum Impact, Gray Matters Capital and 1Crowd, with participation from Innospark Ventures, IIM-CAN and The Chennai Angels. The latest round of funding will be used towards accelerating Kreedo’s next phase of growth and expansion.

Founded in 2012 by husband-wife duo Mridula Shridhar and VK Manikandan, both alumni of IIM-C, Kreedo is on a mission to change the way early learning is delivered in budget private schools and preschools. India has an estimated 3,50,000+ budget private schools, which charge less than Rs 30,000/- per year and mostly cater to students from low-income families. Learning outcomes are quite low in most of these schools with the majority of them still following rote methods and having limited resources to support or train their teachers.

Kreedo Lab

Kreedo is transforming the learning experiences of children in these schools via a structured and immersive learning process through its 6T Learning Framework that has Play Based Learning at its core and includes Toys, Technology, Theory (books), Teacher Training, Timetable, and Teamwork (peer learning). By setting up activity labs and consistently training teachers, Kreedo offers a comprehensive solution that empowers schools to significantly improve learning outcomes.

Kreedo Team

Commenting on the investment, Mridula Shridhar, CEO, Kreedo, said, “Our vision is to democratize quality early education. We have an overwhelming response from our partner schools who are looking for the most affordable and simplest way to improve foundational learning. The new round of funding will enable us to take Kreedo to 7000+ schools across multiple cities in India”

Dhun Davar, Head of Social Finance, UBS Optimus Foundation, said “We see Kreedo’s business model as a unique way to create social change by making quality early education accessible to every child from lower income communities.”

Girichandra, Partner at 1Crowd added “In Manikandan and Mridula, we found a team that is passionate about their cause and extremely clear on how to mitigate learning poverty in budget schools”.

Pranay Adhvaryu, Head of Investments, Gray Matters Capital adds, “The pandemic has adversely impacted the already distressed early education sector, and now Kreedo is seeing tremendous traction as they address a massive learning gap which schools need help to fill.”

Mirik Gogri of Spectrum Impact said, “We are excited to be a part of their growth story and support their vision of impacting 1 Million+ children annually in India, especially from lower income families, by 2025.”

Over the years, Kreedo has demonstrated impressive growth and impact, transforming the way schools understand and deliver early learning and emerging as a key player in the low-cost early education category. With the massive demand for in school learning post the pandemic, and a significant focus on foundational literacy and numeracy in NEP, Kreedo is well placed to accelerate rapidly.

Kreedo partners with budget private schools and preschools and transforms the way learning is delivered in early years. Kreedo has so far impacted 2,00,000+ children by implementing its curriculum in 400+ budget private schools and 1500+ preschools and has measured learning outcomes that are 50% better than market in budget private schools based on an independent study done by FSG.

Website: https://kreedology.com/

Consumer Affairs Secretary Meets Indian Edtech Consortium (IEC) to Review Progress on Consumer Interest Initiatives

The India EdTech Consortium (IEC) met the Secretary of Consumer Affairs Sh. Rohit Kumar Singh to showcase the positive work done by the self–regulatory body in keeping the interest of learners and consumers at the forefront.

IEC members acknowledge the encouragement of the Secretary and seek to collaborate and create a more conducive and robust ecosystem through a qualitative framework in collaboration with a joint working group.

Taking note of the conversation, the industry members shared the ‘Code of Conduct' which is instrumental in enhancing and promoting seamless and transparent offerings in relation to ethical sales, and marketing communications.

The discussion also spotlighted the effectiveness of the two-tier Grievance Redressal mechanism introduced by the IEC, which has been able to resolve 99%+ of the issues raised on average, since its inception.

The IEC explained the grievance redressal process and the role of the Independent Grievance Review Board (IGRB) – which has been set up to oversee the alignment and adherence to the Code of Conduct which comprises of Dr. Justice B.S. Chauhan - retired Judge of the Supreme Court, Dr. Aruna Sharma – a distinguished bureaucrat and experienced industry veterans like Mr. Anand Sudarshan amongst others.

Online Music Education Startup Spardha Raises Rs.8 Cr in Pre-series A2 Led by IPV

• Spardha is Pune based Digital Training Platform in Online Music & Performing Arts Education.
• The funds raised will be utilized in expanding sales and operation teams along with product upgrade.
• This is IPV’s 2nd round of investment in Spardha.
• Funds will also be spent on brand building & marketing.
• IPV has so far invested over Rs. 400 Cr across 120+ deals.

A unique digital training platform in online music & performing arts, Spardha has raised Rs 8 crore in a Pre-Series A2 round led by Inflection Point Ventures. The round also saw participation from Mumbai Angels & We Founder Circle. The funds raised will be utilized for hiring across sales and operation along with product upgrade. The Company will also be spending funds on brand building & marketing to further expand its presence in the global market.

Ankur Mittal, Co-Founder, Inflection Point Ventures says, “Music has always been a therapeutic tool with multiple health and mental benefits such as enabling creativity, productivity, enhancing concentration, relieving stress and much more. Spardha with its digital training platform has been successful in catering to the need of music loving audiences across age groups starting as early as 5 for beginners to advanced levels of any age. Their futuristic system enables personalized musical journeys for students and trainers in a seamless classroom experience virtually thus effectively bridging the gap of availability, safety and convenience.

He further added, “Spardha with its curated curriculum, certified Trainers & state-of-the-art technology is expanding rapidly, not only in India but also in the international markets and IPV aims to further extend their support to help them achieve their goals”.

Spardha is a digital training platform that leverages curated curriculum, certified Trainers & cutting-edge technology to offer personalized trainer-assisted online lessons to learners. Founders Saurabh Srivastav, Amrita Srivastav & Rikhil Jain have a mission to contribute in the holistic development of millions of students and thousands of trainers globally through this platform. Spardha uses a proprietary system to hire, up skill and manage teachers professionally. This system also enables personalized musical journeys for different student personas in a seamless classroom experience virtually. Spardha is rapidly expanding to the US, UK, Australia, Canada & UAE. They have also increased their revenue by 10x in the last 14 months.

Saurabh Srivastav, Founder & CEO, Spardha shares “In my last 12-month journey with IPV, we received seamless support across various critical functions like Branding, Marketing, Product Development and Execution from IPV. IPV has successfully developed an eco-system where an early-stage startup like Spardha can not only get funded but can also get all required support to achieve its goals. I feel blessed to be a part of IPV. If your concept is powerful & if you are committed to make it a success, you will get all required support at IPV to make it a reality. I would like to thank Team IPV for helping Spardha grow manifold & to expand globally in the last 12 months.”

Spardha has registered around 400+ freelancer teachers in India to support its global delivery model. The industry has a huge untapped potential where the TAM (Total Addressable Market) is estimated to rise to USD 75 billion by 2025. The sector is growing globally at 18.68% CAGR b/n 2021-2026.

About Spardha

Spardha was founded by Saurabh Srivastav, Amrita Srivastav & Rikhil Jain in 2016. Spardha is building unique curated curriculums for different student personas, proprietary system to develop professional teachers at scale & personalized musical journeys for every student. They have designed a unique digital ecosystem where students can not only learn music but also can practice, perform, compete, collaborate and compose music all at one place. It’s an amazing platform to showcase one’s singing & musical talent, mentored by professional trainers, with a merit focused curriculum and step by step reporting of the progress made by the student while learning music.

About Inflection Point Ventures

Inflection Point Ventures is an angel investing platform with over 7000 CXOs, HNIs and Professionals to together invest in startups. The firm supports new-age entrepreneurs by providing them monetary & experiential capital and connecting them with a diverse group of investors.

Online Extra-curricular Learning Platform Spark Studio Selected in GSV Cup Top 20 Most Innovative Startups Globally

Spark Studio To Compete Live at ASU+GSV 13.0 for $1 Million in Prizes in World’s Largest Pitch Competition For EdTech Startups

Spark Studio, a live online non-academic learning platform, has been selected to the Top 20, the acclaimed list of finalists in The GSV Cup — the world’s largest pitch competition for EdTech startups at the 13th Annual ASU+GSV Summit. Companies selected to The Top 20 represent the top pre-seed and seed stage startups in digital learning across the “Pre-K to Gray” space across the world. Spark Studio will present in San Diego this April at the ASU+GSV Summit, the annual education technology event hosted by Arizona State University and GSV Ventures, and compete for up to $1M in cash and prizes.

Spark Studio was selected from an initial applicant pool of 750+ global companies, which was further narrowed to The Elite 200 semifinalists. More than 175 judges from leading venture capital firms and strategic partners in digital learning like Accel, General Atlantic, Reach Capital, and Owl Ventures, among others, used rigorous criteria to determine the Top 20 most promising companies to compete on Stage X at ASU+GSV.

“We’re humbled and super excited to be in the GSV Cup Top 20. As we constantly think deeply about building a future-tech learning experience that is delightful and of the highest quality for kids, it feels awesome to be recognized as innovative by the fantastic jury that has a ringside view of the bleeding edge of global Ed Tech.”, said Anushree Goenka, CEO and Co-founder of Spark Studio.

“In the next two months, a lot more of our vision will come to market. We’re excited to see our users take on the ‘invisible learning’ experiences, which essentially feel like play for kids and lead to real, measurable learning outcomes”, said Kaustubh Khade, CPO and Cofounder, Spark Studio.

“GSV is so proud to recognize an epic group of global edtech founders as our final 20,” said Deborah Quazzo, Managing Partner of GSV Ventures and Co-founder of ASU+GSV Summit. “These companies have been rigorously evaluated by a judging panel exceeding 90 top venture investors. Congratulations to all!”

The Top 20 companies serve learners from Pre-K to Gray, with companies well-distributed across the following categories: Early Childhood, K-12, Higher Education, Adult Consumer Learning, and Adult Enterprise Learning.

The GSV Cup is powered by Google Cloud, HubSpot for Startups, HolonIQ, and GSV Ventures.

See Spark Studio and the rest of the companies selected to the GSV Cup at

https://www.asugsvsummit.com/gsv-cup-elite-200

ABOUT Spark Studio

Spark Studio Founders

Spark Studio is building the digital-first future of non-academic learning for the world, at the intersection of learning and gaming for kids. We offer learning in music, communication skills and art.

Spark Studio was founded by alumni of IIT Delhi, IIM-Ahmedabad, IISC, each with over a decade of experience across India’s top unicorns and decacorns - BYJU’S, Swiggy, Lead School, DailyHunt, Zynga,etc.

Spark Studio is backed by YCombinator, Better Capital, Harvard Management Company and a host of prominent Indian angels.

ABOUT GSV VENTURES

GSV Ventures is a female-led, multi-stage venture capital firm focused on the $7+ trillion education sector. The fund is currently investing out of GSV Ventures Fund III and backs innovative entrepreneurs around the world in the "Pre-K to Gray" Arc of Learning. GSV manages over $675 million in global EdTech investments. Portfolio holdings include Andela, Class Technologies, ClassDojo, Coursera, Course Hero, Degreed, Guild, MasterClass, Outlier, Photomath, Quizizz, Lead School, Brightchamps, and ClassPlus, among others.

Tezos India Partners with The Blockchain School, Introduces Tezos Basics Course on The Blockchain School’s Online Learning Platform

Tezos India – an organization that enables people and entities to use the Tezos blockchain, has announced a strategic knowledge and outreach partnership with The Blockchain School – a new age ed-tech platform for blockchain enthusiast learners. As a part of this collaboration, Tezos India has now launched a Tezos Fundamentals video course named ‘Tezos 101- Fundamentals & Framework’ on The Blockchain School’s online learning platform.

The Tezos 101 course – the curriculum of which has been developed jointly by Tezos India and The Blockchain School teams -- is aimed at anyone and everyone who wants to get started with Tezos, including students, developers, entrepreneurs, product folks and crypto and blockchain enthusiasts. It primarily delves into creating an understanding of the fundamentals of the novel Tezos protocol, and then goes deeper with modules around Tezos Economy, PoS Mechanism, Smart Contracts, Tezos Governance and Baking & Delegating on Tezos, among other useful topics for the novice learners.

Speaking on the course launch and the latest partnership, Poorvi Sachar, Operations Head, Tezos India said, “We are happy to partner with The Blockchain School for launching together Tezos 101 course – which we believe will be highly useful for anyone who doesn’t understand the blockchain and Tezos fundamentals. This will be soon followed by detailed courses on development, which we also plan to launch on the Blockchain School’s online platform in the upcoming months. While Tezos India aims to grow the Tezos ecosystem in our country, The Blockchain School is, on the other hand, committed to boost-up the blockchain career development and learning space. With the confluence of our visions, we are partnering over the long term with each other, especially involving training and other developer adoption activities. At Tezos India, we are continuously creating a lot of content in-house with the help of our expert developers and fellows, and we strongly believe that Blockchain School is a fantastic and highly-relevant platform to activate the same on a regular basis.”

Tezos India, in partnership with The Blockchain School, also has plans to launch more hands-on courses on Using Tezos Sandbox Demo, Developing a Dapp with Tezos, and Creating Tezos Token and integration with Tezos. Tezos India aims to grow the Tezos ecosystem, by building and promoting the right resources and right content that can help people understand the technology better and embrace it, and thereby solving all kinds of non-tech problems vis-à-vis Tezos adoption. Their latest partnership with The Blockchain School, is, therefore, a significant step forward in that direction.

Notably, Tezos India has also previously launched a Developer handbook -- co-presented with TZ APAC -- which enables new developers to learn to code on Tezos within 15 days. Additionally, Tezos India and TZ APAC have partnered with Microsoft, Skoda and Tech Mahindra to deliver the Microsoft Century Program – a corporate-SME bridge program that seeks to uncover blockchain-based solutions on Tezos for industry-specific use cases. Whereas on the academic front, Tezos India has been setting up Tezos Clubs in various reputed universities (an annual development programme for blockchain enthusiasts to learn from the leaders in the ecosystem via workshops and in-house hackathons), Tezos Students’ Chapters that aim to add the Tezos curriculum in colleges/universities, as well as organizing various hackathons, masterclasses, fellowships and other training events.

About Tezos India

Tezos India is an organization supporting the Tezos ecosystem in the Indian sub-continent and is a grantee of Tezos Foundation. As innovation in the blockchain space advances in India, Tezos India constantly strives to address key barriers facing blockchain adoption to date in India with developer adoption, education & training, and ecosystem development. Tezos is a self-upgradable blockchain that enables forkless upgrades with its on-chain governance system, improving accessibility and longevity for solutions built and utilized by the Tezos community.

About The Blockchain School

The Blockchain School harvests the learning potential in blockchain by providing its community with the right set of knowledge in the right way. They are on a mission to help the community to understand, experience, experiment, and expand the applications of this revolutionary technology called a blockchain. Focusing on vertical integration, The Blockchain School strives to become the most-trusted capability building partner for everything related to blockchain.

Vedantu Partners With Canva to Unleash Creativity in Students

Launches #GoingBackToSchool, a design challenge open to all students from 6 to 18 years old

With schools being shut, students have explored different ways to keep their creative juices flowing and used the available resources in order to stay engaged, inspired, and motivated. As part of its Children Day initiative, Vedantu- a pioneer in LIVE online learning has partnered with visual communications platform Canva, to launch a first-of-its-kind Design Challenge in India, with a design bootcamp to educate school students on the essentials of creativity and design thinking. The design bootcamp sessions will be conducted by experts from Canva and Vedantu Master Teachers. With this collaboration, Vedantu and Canva aspire to celebrate the creativity, curiosity and exploration of children and teachers across the country.

Since the pandemic, LIVE online learning has seen massive adoption. Teachers have also gone above and beyond their duty to conduct classes through different mediums available. They have emerged as digital content creators and EdTech professionals who are experts in mentoring students in an online teaching space.

“We strive to provide the best-in-class education and opportunities to our students that are beyond academics. Through this partnership with Canva, we will further our vision of unleashing the potential in every child. This will enable us to provide our students access to a platform to fuel their creative minds and we are thrilled to explore this. We will continue to innovate to reach as many students as possible and create better experiences and outcomes for every child across the country”, says Pulkit Jain, Co-founder & Head of new initiatives, Vedantu.

“We’re excited to partner with Vedantu to inspire creativity, design, and visual thinking in students across a range of ages. Our mission is to democratise design and empower everyone to create and we look forward to seeing the Design Challenge unlock all types of creativity,” says Zach Kitschke, CMO, Canva.

The theme for the first edition of the Design Challenge is #GoingBackToSchool and is open to all students across the age group of 6-18 years. The challenge will ask students to create artwork on Canva that truly resonates with the theme. Students are required to submit a design which focuses on what is so special about #GoingBackToSchool for them, with the templates available on Canva for Education.

The artwork created by students will be judged in three categories -

1. Group 1: Junior School (Grades 2nd- 5th) - students to create a poster or invite
2. Group 2: Middle School (Grades 6th-8th) - students to create an infographic or a newsletter
3. Group 3: High School (Grades 9th-12th) - students to create a video or presentation

Competition Schedule to keep in mind:

Date	Activity
14th November	Registrations & submissions open
14 - 26th November	Registrations for Vedantu Masterclass
27th November	Commencement of Vedantu Masterclass on Creativity and Digital Art: Grades 2-5 - https://vdnt.in/superschool37 Grades 6-8 - https://vdnt.in/superschool38 Grades 9-12 - https://vdnt.in/superschool39
30th November	Deadline for Design Challenge submission
10th December	Announcement of winners

*Students under the age of 13 years must have their entries submitted by a teacher or a parent.

How can students participate in the Design Challenge?

• Students can visit Canva.com and create an account using their own or their parent's email address
• Choose from the multiple templates available for Posters, Infographics, Presentations, Cards, , and other suggested formats.
• Create their artwork on the theme #GoingBackToSchool
• If a student is under 13 years, we encourage them to share their Canva design link with a teacher or parent, and ask them to submit the design. Students 13 years and above can directly submit their design link in the Application Form.
• Students are reminded to write a few lines about their artwork, what it means to them and how it links back to the theme.

For further information, please click- https://www.canva.com/competitions/india-creativity-challenge/

About Vedantu:

Vedantu, a pioneer in LIVE online learning in India. It offers individual and group classes across K-12 and test preparation segments. Students can take individual or group classes on its APP or website online. Classes are delivered in a LIVE Real-time, interactive ONLINE learning environment. Students & parents can access free content, LIVE masterclasses across subjects, micro-courses, and daily assessments. 1 million+ students attend LIVE classes every month on the platform and more than 35 million users every month from 10,000+ cities and 50+ countries access free content, tests, doubts, videos on Vedantu's platform, and its channels on YouTube. To know more about Vedantu log on to https://www.vedantu.com or download the application on your Android or iOS devices.

About Canva:

Launched in 2013, Canva is a free online visual communications and collaboration platform with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design. Featuring a simple drag-and-drop user interface and a vast range of templates ranging from presentations, social media graphics, posters, apparel to videos, plus a huge library of fonts, stock photography, illustrations, video footage, and audio clips, anyone can take an idea and create something beautiful. Canva is available on desktop, web, iOS, and Android.

Edtech Creative Learning Platform, Unlu Announces India’s 1st Online Cohort for Aspiring Singers

This will provide 12-16 weeks of structured learning and curated content by 15 celebrity instructors and experts. It will offer lifetime access to a community of millions of creators - with the focus on building a financially sustainable career for content creators.

unlu - a one-stop immersive learning platform in creative education has recently announced the launch of India’s first cohort of aspiring singers. Being an interactive academy in the creator tech space, unlu’s flagship cohort program helps aspiring creators to learn from the top industry experts, and celebrity instructors, and help them collaborate with other creators to create impactful content and build a career by monetizing the content.

Incepted in 2020, unlu is an outcome-based learning platform that targets to upskill 100M creators in India. Operating in the creator-tech space, the platform enables India’s next wave of creators to learn from the most legendary celebrity instructors, enable them to collaborate with other creators and help them produce impactful content at scale. The company envisions helping creators make a sustainable income from their creative passion to become the biggest platform in monetizable content creation.

Vipul

Commenting on the launch of the cohort, Vipul Agrawal, co-founder at unlu said, “ With the widespread reach and adoption of the internet, content creation has become a source of livelihood for many. As there is a massive boom in the online creator economy, we are delighted to come up with this cohort to help people master the art of singing and become great singers in the creator tech space.”

The cohort comprises a 50 member batch to help aspirants become established singers in the country. As creative success involves collaboration with like-minded talent, the members will get access to India’s largest curated community of singers, lyricists, composers, and producers.

Himanshu

"Creative success does not come in silos. It requires extensive efforts in building strong professional relationships. To make it easy for our creative learners, we at unlu, match everyone with a mentor and incentivizes them to engage in peer-to-peer learning and collaboration which in turn will focus on building career-accelerating relationships," says Himanshu Periwal, co-founder at unlu.

The cohort will include 100+ hours of structured learning and 12-16 weeks of curated content with lifetime community access. Besides this, the cohort will facilitate learning from more than 15 experts and celebrity instructors to help them learn from the best and know the opportunities to make a financially sustainable career. The cohort will also enable the aspirants to record their first song and get million plus views on each published song.

unlu is one of a kind platform that doesn’t compromise on the quality of learning. It brings together India’s successful celebrities and talent to one platform to facilitate learning, connect with talent and create influential content. It aims to empower more than 100Mn creators to earn and achieve basic income by 2025.

Aptech Launches EdTech Initiative - ProAlley.com

Aptech Limited announced the launch of its EdTech initiative –christened it ProAlley.com

Brand ProAlley.com, will focus purely on online training and education for self- paced learners starting with courses in the growing Media and Entertainment Industry

National, September 16th 2021: Aptech Limited, a pioneer in the non -formal vocational training business in the country for over 3 decades now has entered the EdTech segment with its latest brand addition - ProAlley.com. The brand intends to reach out to a new segment of audience who are self -paced learners wanting to learn and make a career in the growing media & entertainment industry from the comfort of their homes. While the initial offerings of the brand will focus on the growing media & entertainment, AVGC segment given the mass employment opportunities; however it will not be restricted to this segment alone. With the launch of ProAlley.com, Aptech Ltd now has all forms of delivery models in its business arsenal - Offline, Remote, Live and Self- Paced.

Aptech Limited houses some of the most iconic education brands in the country including Arena Animation, MAAC, Lakme Academy Powered by Aptech (LAPA), Aptech International Pre-school, Aptech Aviation Academy, Aptech Learning amongst others. ProAlley.com is the company’s newest brand addition to deliver authentic & professional creative courses purely online. ProAlley.com will extend Aptech’s philosophy/ mission on employment driven education and job enablement by focussing on skilling & up-skilling the new age tech user.

ProAlley.com officially launched on September 16th, 2021, is for the new-age user with hi-tech features and a quick, user-friendly tech- fuss free interface. The ProAlley Advantage includes self -paced learning with easy to follow courses offering hands- on learning with a complete skill driven approach. The curriculum offered by the brand is developed by the industry experts having over 30 years of experience in the field of media, entertainment & AVGC (Animation, VFX, Gaming, and Computer Graphics) segment. The brand offers two plans to opt from, ‘Pro’ and ‘Pro-Plus’. Both the plans offer certification courses. ‘Pro-plus’ has additional benefits including creating & enhancing portfolio with guidance from experts, placement assistance*, personalised one-on-one mentor connect programs and real time graded & evaluated assignments.

EdTech has become one of the fastest growing industries, taking rapid strides to facilitate better and more productive learning systems. While pandemic has been blessing in disguise for this business, internet is being called upon to enable work-from-home, study-from-home, in fact even socialize for that matter. India’s Edtech sector to become a $30 billion industry in the next 10 years on the backing of growing demand and strengthening business models, according to RBSA Advisor, a transaction advisory firm. The report estimates the current industry size between USD 700 - 800 mn. The growth will be driven by K12, higher education, test preparation and up-skilling categories.

Dr Anil Pant, Managing Director and CEO, Aptech Limited said, “We are ecstatic to be announcing our entry in the EdTech segment. This has been a dream project for Aptech Limited to be a bricks & clicks model. Our Ed-tech initiative is for self- paced learners, freelancers, influencers, content creators – literally anyone looking to equip themselves with new skills, looking to make a career in the media, entertainment or AVGC segment. I have said this before that AVGC industry is in a steady stage of its flight, where IT sector stood about 20 years ago. This is a great time for students who are making major career decisions at this point in time to actually work on skills that not only helps them get their first job but makes them highly employable. While the initial offerings of the brand will focus on the growing media & entertainment & AVGC segment; it will however not be restricted to this segment alone. We will plan to include courses from other segments where mass employment opportunities are available such as beauty & wellness, retail & hospitality amongst others. We are also planning to make this available to markets outside India. ”

He further added, “ProAlley.com is competitively priced and aims to benefit the users offering them skillsets that can help them earn an income through a job/ freelancing or gig work. The job opportunities in the media & entertainment industry are massive, almost to the tune of 3X of what we are able to realize currently. We are very excited to be able to contribute to the industry through such brand expansion.”

Aptech Limited already has two very successful brands in the AVGC segment namely, Arena Animation and Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics. (MAAC). ProAlley.com is an independent brand from the house of Aptech backed with a strong credibility score to their online curriculum. For more information, please visit https://www.proalley.com/ or reach out to +91-8951891050, help@proalley.com

*The placement assistance is offered to students over 18 years of age

About Aptech Limited.

With over three decades of strong experience in the vocational skill training and non- formal academic curriculum based training programs, Aptech Limited is a pioneer in the non –formal vocational training business in the country with a significant global presence. Ever since its commencement in 1986 and with a current presence of over 800 centres globally, Aptech Limited has effectively ventured into diverse sectors ranging from IT training, media & entertainment, retail & aviation, beauty & wellness, banking & finance, pre-school segment amongst others. Aptech Limited has successfully trained students, professionals, universities & corporates through its two main streams of business- Individual training and Enterprise Business Group.

Under Individual Training, Aptech offers career and professional training through its multi brands- Aptech Computer Education, Arena Animation & Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (both in Animation & Multimedia), Lakmé Academy powered by Aptech (beauty & grooming) ,Aptech Hardware & Networking Academy, Aptech Aviation & Hospitality Academy, Aptech English Learning Academy, Aptech International Pre-school amongst others.

Enterprise business includes Training and Assessment Solutions for Corporates & Institutions (Aptech Training Solutions, Aptech Assessment & Testing Solutions). Aptech Limited has been recognized as a Great Place to Work (2017 & 2019) won the Golden Peacock National Training Award (2019) and appraised at Maturity Level 5 of People Capability Maturity Model (PCMM) in the year 2020. For further information please visit- https://www.aptech-worldwide.com/

Udemy Acquires CorpU to Expand Immersive Leadership Development Capabilities

Business Wire India

Udemy, a leading destination for learning and teaching online, today announced it has acquired CorpU, an online leadership development platform that delivers cohort-based immersive learning experiences and access to world-class experts. The acquisition deepens Udemy’s learning offerings with CorpU’s immersive experiences to deliver transformational learning that fosters innovation, leadership, and business agility.

CorpU enables global companies like CVS Health, BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Rite Aid to incorporate cohort-based learning in scalable, virtual environments with learning that can be tailored to support learners everywhere. CorpU helps foster individual and organizational growth by activating the collective intelligence of peers and the expert guidance of thought leaders from top universities including Harvard, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Professional Education, and University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. CorpU’s leadership training harnesses the value of group learning, executive and peer coaching, and experiential learning activities that tie back to business results.

“We’re committed to creating new possibilities for people and organizations everywhere by connecting them to the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in a changing world,” said Gregg Coccari, CEO of Udemy. “With Udemy’s real-world expert instructors and CorpU’s experienced professors and peer-to-peer learning capabilities, companies can build agility and resilience in teams to take on today’s toughest challenges. We believe that CorpU will allow Udemy to help companies go further in upskilling initiatives and deepen collaboration and leadership capabilities through immersive learning experiences.”

HR leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to quickly find and develop talent with the most in demand skills, yet 58% of the workforce needs new skills to get their jobs done, according to Gartner®. Gartner TalentNeuron™ data shows the total number of skills required for a single job has been increasing by 10% year-over-year since 2017.¹

“While leadership development is a critical business imperative, many companies struggle to effectively deliver facilitated and immersive training virtually,” said Alan Todd, Founder and General Manager, CorpU. “As a leading learning marketplace focused on innovation through online learning, Udemy is the ideal partner for CorpU. Together, we have the opportunity to help organizations everywhere prepare for the future and provide leaders with the tools, knowledge, and capabilities to propel their businesses forward. We look forward to realizing our vision for the future of leadership development with Udemy.”

“We believe the pandemic demonstrated the need for a new approach to workforce development,” said Greg Brown, President of Udemy Business. “As a result of this fast-paced change coupled with a shift to hybrid work environments, businesses are actively searching for the best ways to develop leaders and employees in a global, scalable, and accessible way. CorpU is a powerful addition to strengthen our Udemy Business offering for organizations by elevating leadership development capabilities and helping customers achieve critical business outcomes.”

With solutions to address all levels of leadership, CorpU programs offer digestible microlearning modules from premiere universities facilitated by global experts. CorpU’s AI-powered analytics, social learning capabilities, and real-world application opportunities help ensure increased engagement and improved knowledge retention.

“Developing leaders and new leadership skills are top priorities in every company,” said Josh Bersin, CEO of Josh Bersin Company and global industry analyst. “The combination of Udemy’s marketplace model and CorpU’s immersive training approach has the opportunity to bring a new, disruptive approach to leadership development around the world.”

To learn more about how Udemy and CorpU are joining together to transform leadership development, please visit here.

^{​​ 1}Gartner®. (2021, February 4) Gartner HR Research Finds 58% of the Workforce Will Need New Skill Sets to Do Their Jobs Successfully [Press Release].

Gartner Disclaimer:

GARTNER is registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.  

Udemy's mission is to create new possibilities for people and organizations everywhere by connecting them to the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in a changing world. The Udemy marketplace platform, with thousands of up-to-date courses in dozens of languages, provides the tools learners, instructors, and enterprises need to achieve their goals and reach their full potential. Millions of people learn on Udemy from real-world experts in topics ranging from programming and data science to leadership and team building. For companies, Udemy Business offers an employee training and development platform with subscription access to thousands of courses, learning analytics, as well as the ability to host and distribute their own content. Udemy Business customers include Apple, Glassdoor, On24, The World Bank, and Volkswagen. Udemy is privately held and headquartered in San Francisco with offices around the world. Udemy investors include Insight Partners, Prosus (Naspers Ventures), Norwest Venture Partners, Stripes, and Benesse Holdings.

About CorpU

CorpU provides online, cohort-based leadership development programs that foster collaboration, drive impact, and accelerate organizational growth. Programs are designed and facilitated by top faculty from leading universities. CorpU’s AI-powered analytics measure participant understanding, alignment, buy-in, and impact throughout all components of the learning experience. Since its founding in 1997, CorpU has delivered courses to over 16,000 cohorts, reaching over 160,000 participants around the globe. Visit www.corpu.com for more information.  

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210830005205/en/

Countingwell Announces International Maths Premier League for Middle School Students

Over 50,000 students from more than 400 schools around the world are expected to participate in the tournament; Prizes worth Rs 50 lakhs to be awarded to winners

Bengaluru, 11 August 2021: Dedicated maths learning app Countingwell today announced the dates for India’s most prestigious maths skills tournament for school going children, Maths Premier League. The 2021 edition of the league will commence from August 15, 2021, and will feature over 50,000 middle-school students from across 400 schools vying for the grand prizes.

Maths Premier League is a five-week tournament and is open to schools in India and abroad. Students can register for the competition by signing up on the Countingwell app.

As part of the contest, students will first need to complete a course covering the learning concepts of maths chapters in their curriculum, and then take online assessments on the Countingwell app every Sunday. These tests will aim to assess students at various skill levels in problem-solving, starting with knowledge of formulae and definitions, number operations, modelling solutions, and finally dealing with word problems involving language comprehension skills.

Countingwell will declare winners based on students' cumulative performance. Schools will be evaluated on metrics like highest total scores, average scores, and total scores of their students and will be eligible for standalone prizes. The top school will win the Ramanujan Maths Trophy. Towards the end of the tournament, Countingwell will also announce six zonal winners across India. The total prize money is worth rupees 50 lakhs. The League also features weekly cash prizes as well as bumper prizes for individual participants.

Commenting upon the tournament, Mr. Nirmal Shah, co-founder of Countingwell said, “The Maths Premier League manifests our driving philosophy of Learning-through-competition. We have always said that students learn best when they are having fun while learning. This was proved when we hosted the Ramanujan Maths Scholarship a few months ago, and we saw 47% improvement in students’ performance in maths problem solving post the competition. We are now confident that Maths Premier League will also help many students rediscover their love for maths, and improve their maths performance all around”.

Since Maths Premier League is designed to help students learn-through-competition, participating schools will receive detailed reports about every child’s performance, skill level and problem-solving abilities at the competition. They will also get formative assessment reports that tell teachers what areas the child needs personalized attention with.

IIM Lucknow & Wiley’s Wileynxt Flagship Program in "Data Driven Product Management" is Committed to Fulfilling India’s Demand for Future-ready Product Managers

The program has successfully trained and produced over 1000 job-ready product managers spread across four batches

6th August 2021, New Delhi: Wiley’s innovative bridge learning solution, WileyNXT in collaboration with IIM Lucknow, one of India’s top business and management schools is successfully running its flagship program of Data Driven Product Management. It is the only Executive Education Program which converges Product, Marketing, Development and Scale Up Strategy across product lifecycle with Data Analytics and Design Thinking. Spread across a total of four batches, the program has already produced over 1000 job-ready product managers till present day. This significant milestone is aligned with WileyNXT’s overall vision of building an ‘Atmanirbhar’ talent and workforce of the future.

India lags behind US widely in terms of availability of skilled Product Managers. An article reported that 1.8 million people in US are in Product Management roles and the demand for a Product Manager role in the US market is growing at a whopping 32% rate. Comparatively, only 20,000 Product Managers are found in India. LinkedIn search is also reflective of the numerous positions unfilled for just base-level Product Managers. This accounts for the widening skill gap in the workforce.

Curated for a diverse target audience, either already involved in developing and managing products or aspiring to transit to similar roles, the flagship program by Wiley’s WileyNXT & IIM Lucknow offers a joint certification from the two prestigious brands along with Executive Alumni Status to the learners. The seven month long intensive experiential learning is meant to provide learners with job readiness from day 1.

More than 9 in 10 companies in India are merging roles and looking to fill open roles internally, according to a credible industry report. Top 3 functions with the highest internal mobility rate in India, in 2020, included Product Management, Consulting, and Program & Project Management. The average salary of product managers in India is estimated to be INR 16.8 lakhs per annum, which is expected to go up to 30 lakhs per year with experience and added skills.

“As advanced product innovation and customer experiences become the fulcrum of success in the current corporate ecosystem, India’s IT industry faces a fundamental challenge – the dearth of product managers. This has fuelled the demand for skilled product managers in India who are able to build innovative business models and drive technology innovation for competitive gain. Wiley’s innovative bridge learning solution, WileyNXT aims to make managers of today and leaders of Industry 4.1. With this collaboration, we hope to bridge the gap between morphing workplace needs and workforce skilling”, said Mr. Vikas Gupta, Managing Director, Wiley, WileyNXT & mthree in India.

“About 40% of all new products fail in the marketplace representing a waste of over a half trillion dollars or more worldwide. It is because the same mistakes are made over and over again. This particular Data-Driven Product Management Program is designed to teach what it takes to have product success. I am proud to have the program based on my framework in my Wiley published book "Successful Product Design and Management Toolkit” and advice as the WileyNXT Program Architect. This core framework for the program builds on my over 50 years of experience with hundreds of products and services for BtoB and BtoC”, said David Fradin, a renowned Product Management Expert, Wiley Author & top faculty at Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow.

Professor Rajeev Kumra, Faculty, IIM Lucknow, and Program Director of the IIML– Wiley Executive Program in Data Driven Product Management said, “At IIM Lucknow, our goal is to make managers of today, future ready leaders and we share this vision with WileyNXT. The data driven product management program deals with a whole gamut of product marketing strategies driven by qualitative research, design thinking and analytical skills. In the post-covid world, digital is going to be a game changer, we need to acquire skills right from how to win a consumer to market segmentation to consumer positioning and this will be only possible through data driven strategy. The learners will be skilled to do analysis, be adept to design thinking and cultivate growth mindset, all of which is critical for the success of a product.”

Commenting on the program’s utility, Sangeet Aggarwal, Operations Manager, GG Industries, and one of the certified learners in IIM Lucknow - Wiley Executive Program in Data Driven Product Management said, “The programme aims to help product managers harness the multiple skill competencies that are needed for developing and managing successful products in a post-covid world, along with skills for mining data for effective decision making and design thinking for complex problem solving, leading to better innovations and product success. The course also sets the foundations for machine learning and how it can be applied for product success.”

Aditya Mishra, Senior Software Engineer, Precisely and another certified leaner from IIM Lucknow - Wiley Executive Program in Data Driven Product Management, batch of 2020 added, “The program is very well laid out. It helps an individual to learn and connect to the real industry scenarios. The widely discussed case studies with every topic lets one grasp the concepts effectively. With candidates from diverse industries and varied experience level, it gives a lot of opportunity to learn from each other as well. This program will definitely give an individual a huge amount of exposure which could help him/her to sharpen the product management skills and learning.”

Building on the success of the program and its four consecutive batches, Wiley’s WileyNXT and IIM Lucknow are geared to launch the fifth batch of the program in September 2021. For more information, visit https://www.wileynxt.com/.

WileyNXT, is Wiley’s innovative learning solution built to bridge the skill gap. It offers professional learning and education programs in new and emerging technologies, which are relevant for today’s workforce. WileyNXT programs are designed by Wiley Innovation Advisory Council (WIAC), a body comprising of 40+ industry and academia leaders.

Whitehat Jr Expands Coding Curriculum in Schools With a Physical-digital Blended Model; Enables Coding Access to School Children Across India

Reaches out to more than 1.25 lakh students in 500 schools across 24 states & union territories under this initiative

Targets to teach 1 million school students next academic year

BENGALURU, AUGUST 03, 2021: WhiteHat Jr, India's leading live one-on-one online learning platform, today announced the launch of a physical-digital blended coding curriculum for school children in the country. The program combines the power of WhiteHat Jr’s online platform with a classroom model, where children can learn and collaborate with their peers.

The edtech company has received a very positive response to the offering, with schools showing massive interest in introducing next-generation coding skills to their students. Leveraging the strong in-bound, WhiteHat Jr has signed up 500 schools across the country, representing more than 1.25 lakh students who will learn coding through the blended curriculum.

The program has been especially developed to support schools in India. It delivers three key features –
Proprietary curriculum - WhiteHat Jr has designed an activity-based structured coding curriculum from Grade 1 -12. The curriculum is scientifically researched & based on age-appropriate learning outcomes.
Physical cum digital access - To maximize the benefits of peer classroom learning, the coding classes will be delivered in the school computer labs in person by a trained teacher using the WhiteHat Jr’s proprietary technology platform. All enrolled students will also have access to WhiteHat Jr’s online resources, including classroom tutorials and projects.
Teacher training program - WhiteHat Jr has developed a new teacher training program to prepare teachers for conducting the coding program in schools. It also has been empanelled by NSDC to build the capacity of coding trainers in the country. To date, 1,000 private school teachers have already been trained and will get certified under this initiative.

“We have to equip our children with 21st-century skills to help reap the demographic dividend in its truest sense. However, the big deterrent is that the majority of children in the country don't have access to computers or broadband. We aim to bridge this critical gap with a unique physical-digital blended model leveraging schools to enable coding access to millions of children across the country,” said Karan Bajaj, Founder & CEO, WhiteHat Jr. "With the positive reception that we have received thus far since the launch of our physical-digital blended model, our vision of teaching Coding to at least 1 million school students in the next academic year is an achievable reality.”

"We are at the helm of a breakthrough with this initiative, to provide Coding education to students that otherwise would not have had the infrastructure to access these future skills," said Nitin Kochhar, Chief Business Officer - New Channels, WhiteHat Jr. "500+ schools representing 245 cities, from 24 states and union territories across the country, is a testament to the trust that we have gained by leading educational institutions across the country. We have built a strong support infrastructure/ processes and team in place to delight each and every child studying Coding through our school's initiative."

About WhiteHat Jr

WhiteHat Jr has been launched with the singular mission of empowering kids to become creators versus consumers of technology. The company has channeled students’ natural creativity through an engaging curriculum and personalized, live teacher attention. WhiteHat Jr’s 11,000+ strong teacher workforce conducts thousands of LIVE Coding, Math and Music online classes every day on its proprietary platform. Cumulatively, the company has conducted more than 8.5 million classes to date.

ConveGenius and Punjab Government Sign MoU to Strengthen the State’s Blended Learning Program

The partnership aims at reducing the gap for students who have inadequate learning resources due to the shutting down of schools during the pandemic

India, 29th July 2021: Social EdTech platform ConveGenius has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Punjab government, expanding the efforts to provide quality education to the students in the state. The association will strengthen the Department of School Education’s blended learning program. The courses for primary grades (1st to 5th) will be launched on the 16th of August in the state.

The EdTech model is implemented through weekly assessments for learning. It motivates students to learn at their own pace, following the curriculum in the state. The aim is to reduce the learning gap among students from the low-resource setting and cover for the slide that has occurred due to the shutdown of schools with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Commenting on the partnership, Mr. Jagtar Singh Kularia, Director, SCERT said, “When the pandemic started, the biggest challenge we faced was tackling the lack of resources for online classes. However, we received a positive response from our collaboration with ConveGenius for the Patiala district. Now, we know the most practical solution for our students.”

He added, “The platform will help students across the state to access foundational learning activities in subjects like Mathematics, Punjabi, English, and Science by using one smartphone. Since multiple users can access their classes from one Whatsapp number, it becomes even more accessible to students in rural areas and lower-middle-class families. We are awaiting the results to be reflected in the entire state.”

Talking about the expansion of the program across the state, Rahul Garg, Program Head, ConveGenius, said, “Last year, the model was launched in Patiala district and we received great feedback from all stakeholders. The program is being extended across the state, in spite of the fact that the schools will be reopened once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.”

“ConveGenius has achieved a completion rate of about 98% in every state and we aim to see similar results in Punjab. We have already registered more than 18 million monthly active students across several states. The partnership is a crucial part of our campaign #EdTechforNayaBharat, where we aim to democratize education and provide high-quality digital learning to 100 million students at the bottom of the education funnel,” he added.

The weekly assessments on the platform identify the weak points of the student and then provide content recommendations based on the work required in those particular areas. It enables every stakeholder in the education system of the state to monitor student performances from an individual level to the district level. It helps them curate better teaching practices.

The AI-based EdTech platform uses interactive, child-friendly, and adaptive learning methods that can be accessed through a WhatsApp chatbot, tablets, or computer labs in schools. Students can send a WhatsApp message at 8595524521 to benefit from this platform.

About ConveGenius:

ConveGenius is an EdTech social enterprise that has a suite of personalized and adaptive learning solutions. It uses research in the science of learning, AI, and Nudge theory to enhance India's quality of education and bridge learning gaps for the masses. ConveGenius aims to offer superior learning outcomes for K-12. Its products aim to assess the current learning levels and create gamified and personalized learning journeys for every child.

People Matters launches BeNext, its own digital platform for cohort-based courses (CBC), and enters into a new business segment to amplify its impact in Leadership & HR

- Cohort-based courses (CBC) are emerging as a highly effective methodology in the digital learning space. CBCs increase retention, accountability and make the learning journey a lot more engaging for learners

- Our courses are centered around the concepts of bla bla and blee blee. Currently, we have 18 programs, typically running at a frequency of once a quarter.

- Over 1200 learners have already been certified through People Matters BeNext in the last 6 months on the beta version of the product. Organizations and companies enrolled include talent leaders from PepsiCo, TataSteel, Diageo, Deutsche Bank, GE, Lego, Maybank, OCBC and NTUC and many more.

- Each four-week journey includes live masterclasses with industry-expert instructors like Matthew Kressy Founding Director, Integrated Design & Management, MIT; Jan Krogel Head of Employee Experience and People Analytics; Capgemini; Tanuj Kapilashrami, CHRO, Standard Chartered Bank; Liam McNally Diversity and Inclusion Partner, GitLab Inc; Ankur Warikoo, Co-founder Nearbuy.com, and many more.

GURGAON, India, March 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- At a time when capability building is at the top of the agenda for CHROs in 2021, talent leaders are seeking the best digital learning solutions for their workforce. People Matters launched People Matters BeNext to fulfill that need, offering a suite of unique Cohort-based Certification Programs designed to empower leaders and HR teams to excel in this new world of work.

People Matters has always been committed to boosting the impact of the HR community. BeNext Certification Programs are the result of months of research, conversations with industry leaders and discussions with talent professionals about what is needed NOW and what will be needed in the FUTURE.

Digital Cohort-based courses (CBC) increase retention, accountability and make the learning journey a lot more engaging for learners. In the last few months, People Matters BeNext has certified over 1,200 leaders from across the region with a unique learning journey that places the community at the center of its design. All BeNext cohort-based certifications are accredited by HRCI.

Commenting on the learning from building CBC, People Matters' CEO & Editor-in-Chief, Ester Martinez shared, "We believe that the social aspect increases success in completing learning objectives; Further, a carefully designed mix of synchronous and asynchronous components gives learners the opportunity to be in control of their learning, focus on outcomes & improve their professional network."

Leaders from academia, business & entrepreneurship are invited to bring their expertise in the learner journey. "Cannot be more excited to join hands with the super high energy People Matters team, to launch an exciting CBC on 'building winning teams', exclusively focused on high-growth organizations," shares Ankur Warikoo, Founder Nearbuy.com, Mentor & Angel Investor.

What makes BeNext courses stand-out is their mixture of synchronous and asynchronous learning, along with the community-driven cohort structure. BeNext is not a solo journey but designed to be started together and completed together. Talking about the design journey, Rohit Shenoy, Global Head L&D, DXC Technologies, shares, "This is the best combination of asynchronous and synchronous learning blended with social learning and learning from experts that I have experienced." Avinash Kholi, Executive Director - Leadership, Learning, and Organizational Capability, Boeing, adds that it is "designed with all the right ingredients of best-in-class facilitators, content, and community for maximum learning, engagement, and impact".

BeNext is launching 17 programs for this year in the areas of Hybrid Productivity to Enable people managers & HR teams to maximize productivity, engagement & innovation in distributed, hybrid and remote teams; HR Transformation to Enabling HR & Business leaders to design HR initiatives that are desirable, feasible & viable both human-centered & impactful to business; Diversity, Inclusion & Balance to enable organizations to accelerate the impact of D&I initiatives and shift the needle in their diversity & inclusion KPIs; and, Building winning teams for founders and executives of high growth start-ups to attract retain the best and design culture of ownership and success.

Organizations and companies enrolled include talent leaders from PepsiCo, TataSteel, Diageo, Deutsche Bank, GE, Lego, Maybank, OCBC and NTUC, and many more. Pilar Orti, Author of Thinking Remote shared that BeNext is the "best use of the online space".

All programs are structures as four week journeys with live masterclasses with industry-expert instructors like Matthew Kressy Founding Director, Integrated Design & Management, MIT; Jan Krogel Head of Employee Experience and People Analytics; Capgemini; Tanuj Kapilashrami, CHRO, Standard Chartered Bank; Liam McNally Diversity and Inclusion Partner, GitLab Inc; Ankur Warikoo, Co-founder Nearbuy.com, and many more.

Check People Matters BeNext Programs: http://bit.ly/PMBENEXT

About People Matters

People Matters is a community of CHROs, Business and Government leaders committed to the advancement of talent & work practices for superior & sustainable business impact. Thriving on

Innovation, People Matters has continued to be a pioneer of insightful, impactful, and the most sought-after content for talent leaders in Asia. People Matters engages with over 350,000 talent leaders in the region to challenge, transform and enrich the way HR technology & talent management practices contribute to business growth and success. People Matters is the proud owner of digital and tech platforms for talent leaders, state-of-the-art virtual conferences, innovative physical events, and other digital properties.

For more information, please visit www.gopeoplematters.com

Media Contact:
Prakash Shahi
Prakash.shahi@gopeoplematters.com
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