In a refreshing break from the lecture-based classroom, technology has brought in adaptive and individualised learning to any place the student is willing to log in from, observed panellists at News Corp VCCircle's Education Investment Summit 2018 at The Westin, Gurugram, on Thursday.
The panel comprised Ravijot Chugh, co-founder, UpGrad; Arjun Nair, co-founder and director, Great Learning; and Amit Mahensaria, co-founder, Impartus Innovations. Moderated by Jitin Sethi, partner, LEK Consulting, the panel discussed the topic ‘Gauging the opportunity in professional learning’.
People are, the panel said, beginning to go for online courses.
Highlighting the need for the country to pump in huge investments in the higher education sector, the panellists pointed out that people are increasingly dynamic these days in their choice of professional career.
"New models in higher education are very much in demand these days. When we started, we were focusing a lot on content, but realised soon that it wasn't useful as there's a lot to online education than just content," said Chugh.
Chugh also highlighted that some people are sceptical about online courses because of the lack of credibility in the space. "Students want outcome and results like a regular college," he said.
Nair said that people are willing to take up and try new things these days despite lack of credibility.
The discussion also bared a trend of universities going online.
Mahensaria said, "We are approaching many universities to help them establish themselves online as we believe that those models are way much better than classroom ones."
The panel, unanimously, observed that technology is enabling high-quality mentoring and students now opt for a class or session online based on their interest. If they get stuck somewhere, they can stop and get back after gather more information. It’s all become very convenient, they said.
"Sometimes, tech-based sessions are much more interesting and engaging than real ones," said Mahensaria.