Beas Dev Ralhan is the Chief Executive Officer of Next Education India Private Limited, a technology-driven education enterprise, headquartered in Hyderabad. Beas co-founded this educational organisation in 2007 along with Raveendranath Kamath, an IIT Kharagpur alumnus.
As learners and educators remain confined to their homes, schools have taken to digital tools and EdTech platforms to carry on the teaching-learning process. Undoubtedly, this move has been met with positive responses from both students and educators. To facilitate online education, various EdTech companies are offering a complete roadmap to schools to make a smooth transition to online learning. By leveraging advanced tools and technologies, EdTech companies are providing e-learning platforms and academic management systems comprising online classes, assessment tools and more.
The rapid adoption of EdTech platforms has also brought a significant change in the perception about online learning; it is now considered an essential tool which is a massive leap from its previous role as an alternative used in rare occasions.
Let us further dig into how EdTech platforms are revolutionising the education sector and helping schools to sail through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Digitisation of traditional learning tools: By leveraging the latest technology, EdTech platforms have transformed the face of education by reinventing the pedagogy and offering the best and most reliable online learning solutions.
Technology-based solutions like online classes, digital content and learning management systems help schools to bridge the gap between students and teachers, augment pedagogy and reap its many benefits. The first and most important benefit is that online classes create a virtual classroom experience by connecting teachers and students in real-time and empower students to make the most of their virtual learning experience. Secondly, digital content in the form of eBooks, PDFs and audiovisual content empowers students to choose from a plethora of online learning resources based on their learning needs and pace. This creates a personalised learning path and reduces the dependency on teachers and classroom learning. Finally, learning management systems facilitate seamless teaching-learning by helping teachers to create and manage e-learning resources and carry out all academic operations.
Blended learning: Schools are working towards democratising education by leveraging technology in education. To make learning more engaging and collaborative, schools are following the blended learning approach through methods such as flipped classroom and project-based learning. These practices encourage self-learning and ensure that students learn independently while still being supervised by teachers.
AI and ML-based personalised learning: Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) platforms create a personalised learning path for students by empowering teachers to get a better understanding of each student’s learning needs. Subsequently, teachers can tailor learning resources and assessments as per individual student’s abilities.
Digitisation of academic and administrative services: EdTech platforms not only focus on transforming and digitising classrooms but also help schools to carry out all academic and administrative operations online.
Various EdTech companies offer a comprehensive set of services to ease the burden of teachers and administrative staff. They provide a wide range of academic services such as online assessments, online classes and homework solutions along with real-time tracking, instant reports and more. They also have made administrative tasks much easier. Now, with the help of EdTech platforms, parents can deposit the school fees online, communicate with teachers and stay informed about their child’s progress.
The incorporation of technology in education is a significant development and will lead to an era where education is easily accessible to all students. By integrating cost-effective and user-friendly EdTech platforms into the teaching-learning process, schools can easily make a smooth transition from offline to online education. This will not only prove to be valuable and life-changing in unprecedented situations but will truly foster the idea of ‘anywhere, anytime learning’.
More About Beas Dev Ralhan
Before Next Education, Beas worked as an entrepreneur, investment manager and consultant for around a decade in various firms. In recognition of his immense contribution to the K–12 education segment, CII (Southern Regional) bestowed upon him the ‘Emerging Entrepreneur’ award in 2015. He also received the Indian Education Leader award at the 7th World Education Summit, 2016. Under Beas’ leadership, Next Education has also begun to secure a foothold in the Middle East.