India is home to the largest children population in the World with an estimated 430 million children in the age group of 5-18 years in the country. The state of education in the country especially rural areas has been deplorable with challenges such as archaic teaching methods, shortages of teachers, disproportionate student-teacher ratio, and inadequate teaching materials plaguing the sector. Sahara India Parivar with the largest sales fleet of close to twelve lakh employees were looking at technology as an opportunity to develop teaching methods that could resonate with students on a technology level. It soon realized that in a tech-savvy economy, education methods could be easily outdated and equipping students with the right tools by introducing eLearning systems could encourage an independent inclination towards learning and prepare the youth for a better tomorrow.

Sahara wanted to venture into eLearning by launching a series of online courses. The proposed project was to enable the creation and circulation of rich multimedia content in a secure environment over a spectrum of sources including online (website & mobile app) as well as offline (computer & mobile) mediums.

Our expertise in web and mobile app development and previous business experience in the eLearning industry was a blessing in disguise to offer a tech solution to Sahara’s business plan. We adopted agile development methodology as the scope of the project could not be defined, to offer the client flexibility of understanding the system as it developed and proposing changes as per their vision. We proposed an end-to-end business solution and adopted a consultative approach to deliver an e-learning system and a CRM platform to track and monitor project success by the sales teams. The main design features included five major parts: the application architecture, the technology architecture, module feature details, database, and user interface.

Technology can never replace great teachers but technology in the hands of great teachers is transformational ~George Couros

According to a report by the UK India Business Council, India’s e-learning sector was expected to grow at a compounded annual rate of 17.4 percent between 2013 and 2018, twice as fast as the global average. This, along with the government’s efforts towards building a digital future for its citizens with the Digital India program, and increased investment in the Skill India campaign, is shaping an ecosystem that could foster the seamless inclusion of technology in education. By 2020 it's estimated that there will be 1.5 million new digitized jobs across the globe. Research by the World Economic Forum estimated that 65% of children entering primary school will find themselves in occupations that today do not exist. It is imperative, therefore, for the education sector to prepare the talent needed for the digital economy, by providing multimedia teaching tools and engaging students through digital learning platforms. Digitization of education will promote the delivery of information remotely across several locations through interactive digital media.

Scalable Platform

We customized the Learning Management System (LMS) to facilitate content sharing and knowledge management tools to design student-centered courses. The platform could offer several course content like self-learning, entrance exams such as IIT, GMAT, etc. starter courses in English language and speaking, skilled-based learning such as repairing electronics alongside advanced business learning and development courses such as IT Training, SAP, etc. The platform was designed to be robust to handle the huge volume of content and data to meet any demand for learning. It radically altered “what we learn” and “how we learn.”

Software and Hardware Integration

Besides offering online courses, the platform was built to reach rural areas with weak or no Internet facilities. Looking at the huge potential of a population seeking knowledge and self-learning and leveraging on the huge field sales force popularly known as the para banking army by Sahara, we developed a system to deliver education in the physical form. Pen-drive and SD Cards were configured with the pre-loaded course and learning material and delivered to the doorstep of students. These offered a similar experience to learning online but at the ease of a device familiar to the masses and without any dependency on the internet. The hardware device was configured to prevent data theft and copying by shutting down the hardware if such a thing was intended. This offered Edunguru the benefit to reach the maximum population with the strength of its sales force. At the backend, a series of integration with their ERP along with our CRM software helped in delivering a holistic business management solution to Edunguru that could double its sales and make profits.

Intelligent eLearning Management

Online Solution- We developed a web platform for student enrolment and registration where students could purchase and register for courses online. AI and machine-learning facilitated interactive learning. For example, if a student registered for an English speaking course, the app would correct grammar and vocabulary by interacting with the student. This way learning was faster and more effective. Students could take assessment tests and compete with others taking the same course, for self-evaluation. Backend algorithms ensured students were following the right learning path. It restricted students from moving to the next chapter without completing the assessment for the previous one. This continuous assessment plan (CAP) was an important tool in tracking student's growth. These features and more introduced open learning with access to multiple media for learning, teaching, and research purposes.

Offline Solution- Connectivity being an issue in India, especially in rural areas, Infini’s e-learning and m-learning solutions, offered content offline that could be synced whenever internet connectivity was available. The delivery of learning material in SD Card and Pen-drive ensured that content could be made available to any location, fostering the learning ecosystem. Emphasis was laid on software security and as a measure, a predefined expiry date was coded into the software. This ensured that the software would lock itself automatically if anyone tried to fiddle the computer date. The software could also detect any screen capture software running in the background to prevent software theft. With Infini's mobile LMS, Edunguru was able to extend all the above web functionalities to offline mediums.

Our LMS was quick and easy to adopt and offered uninterrupted learning for the students of Edunguru. As a tech partner, we continue to support Edunguru as a second level support team for technical requirements, updations, and adoption issues. We were successful in harnessing existing technology and high-tech platforms, taking Edunguru digital and adopt a paperless route to present and distribute courses, evaluate students, and collaborate with them.