Bengaluru-based EdTech start-up Vedantu launched the second version of its online learning platform titled Whiteboard Audio Video Environment (WAVE) 2.0 which claims to make learning "10x more engaging". In an exclusive chat with Edexlive, Vedantu's Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Vamsi Krishna, shared that the inception of this platform happened back in 2014, with the aim of reimagining a live teaching-learning platform. Vedantu, at that time, was the first EdTech company with a live online learning platform.
"Vedantu offers this technology at 40 per cent lower bandwidth than other platforms. Given the fact a good number of students in Tier II or Tier III cities access online education on their mobile phones and our intention to expand to the rural areas of the country as well, this optimised bandwidth gives us the opportunity to ensure it reaches a lot more students," says Krishna.
The platform comes with a multi-teacher support system where a master teacher is accompanied by a few more teachers in the class, who are then assigned batches of students to instantly solve any doubts the child may have. Apart from other interactive features such as "star shower" and "dhol", which are meant to encourage the students, the platform offers Augmented Reality (AR) features that make the classroom fun, claims Krishna.
"No interaction and passive learning causes young students to lose motivation and retention becomes a challenge," says Krishna, adding, "WAVE brings enhanced interaction to the online classroom with features such as instant quizzes, drag and drop and fill-in-the-blanks questions, and spontaneous doubt rectification, among others."
However, what really interests us about WAVE 2.0 is that it harnesses more than 100 plus parameters, right from facial recognition to the engagement of the child with class quizzes and interactions to mathematically measure the interest and engagement of the student. This is then listed on the custom dashboards available to the teachers, where they are able to gauge the attentiveness of the students. The teachers are then able to "nudge" the student if they happen to be found losing interest or, on the flip side, found to be extremely engaged and participative.
"Instead of waiting for six months for the exam to know how the child is doing, teachers are able to intervene instantly, and help the student improve at the right moment," shares Pulkit Jain, Co-Founder and Head of New Initiatives and Culture at the launch event of the platform.
"The minute level of personalisation is what makes the platform important. We have parameters such as behaviour engagement and cognitive engagement among others on that dashboard. If the student gets a couple of questions wrong, the teacher is immediately able to bring them back to the class and help them follow what's going on," says Vani SD, a teacher at Vedantu.
"We want to fundamentally disrupt price from where we are to half of that. That's how we will penetrate the market. Secondly, we also want to incorporate vernacular offerings. The hybrid model is also something we are looking to innovate," says Krishna, who says Vedantu will be IPO-ready in the next 18 months.
