There are so many MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) platforms, what we laymen know as e-learning portals, that it's impossible to explore all of them to find the right course. But what if we tell you that there is one baap of all portals, that filters down the best of the best from all other portals, just for you. What's more, it also offers content in every format imaginable — from podcasts to books.
Caymus Tech, founded in 2018, is the EdTech start-up and Lore is the magical portal that we are talking about. Started by serial entrepreneur Kavita Mehta, who, by the way, has over 25 years of experience in building companies, this Mumbai-based platform, in a few simple words, makes your decision-making when it comes to choosing an online course super easy. Curious and want to know how? In a chat with Kavita, she answered all our questions. Excerpts from the interview:
Every start-up essentially commences to solve a problem. What were the problems that you set out to solve through this venture?
The problem that we want to solve is that of decision-making related to learning options. There are loads of high-quality courses, workshops, programmes in the world, but what framework can an individual apply to make the right decision for themselves at a given point in time, considering their own personal preferences and constraints? That is the problem that we want to solve. We want to open up access to top-class courses from the best of the universities so that experienced professionals can add new-age skills to their portfolio as they look to grow in their careers
Learners opt for the content available in various formats on your portal. Which format do you see them gravitating towards and why?
The most popular formats on the platform currently are online courses and videos. These have historically been what individuals associate with ‘online learning’. They also like videos due to the short, quick format that’s easy to consume. Plus, many learning options on Lore are free, making the investment of time less risky. In the last four weeks, we’ve also seen strong demand for our summer school listings, as parents plan for the upcoming school holidays
Coming to the numbers, tell us about the number of courses available on your platform, the number of consumers who opt for them monthly, number of partners and so on.
We have over one million learning options on the site spread across seven genres that cater to 25,000 plus monthly average users. We are gaining platform traction and with that, course providers from around the world are reaching out for inclusion. My curriculum team vets all offerings to ensure they meet our standards and requirements before beginning the integration process. The parameters that we consider include breadth and depth of courses, institutional affiliation, the availability of a certificate, reputation of provider, demand for topics included and so on. We segment our providers by those that we want to introduce our users to based on our deep expertise in education consulting versus new age providers who reach out to us with innovative, fresh offerings. Integration time depends on the technical sophistication of the provider, but on average it is five to 15 days.
What are some of the challenges you have faced to date and how are you trying to overcome them?
Challenges are the name of the game when you are an entrepreneur! Product challenges include educating people about education. In India, for too long, people have blindly accepted that education is just ‘one thing’. What we are trying to help people understand is that learning is lifelong so they can build smaller blocks of knowledge and assemble together over time to educate themselves for an uncertain future. On a more ground level, challenges around funding, awareness, and product-market fit fill my daily routine. None are insurmountable; I just employ common sense, logic and keep an open mind to new ways of doing things.
You've been a serial entrepreneur in the field of education for quite some time now. What are your inferences about the education sector and how is it evolving to suit the needs of the present generation?
I think that the 2020 budget lays out some ambitious plans to help the Indian education sector leapfrog into a new era. With increased funding for skilling and new policies for online degrees, the central government is enabling change that will in turn serve future generations better, with education and skilling options in a just-in-time format to suit the varying needs of a diverse population.
What are your future plans? Where do you see the portal heading?
Our vision for Lore.online is that it will help individuals anywhere in the world make better learning decisions, act on them and then share their knowledge and insights with others through social learning. To date we have included courses directly from HBS Online, Stanford Online, INSEAD, Harvard Kennedy School, The Wharton School and many, many others. We continue to collaborate with content providers, channel partners and educational institutions to ensure the world of learning is mapped and accessible to anyone and everyone who wants to own their future.
