Learning new things is something most of us want to do, but constraints like work, locations and timings have always dissuaded us or constrained us from joining them. We have also been seeing a growth in education startups that are offering various courses through classes delivered over the web. With internet penetration increasing by the day, delivering classes through the internet is also becoming a viable alternative to traditional methods.
Acadame, a product by education startup Ample Trails, will help you in similar situations to set up an education service to offer courses and classes through the web, manage student records and collaborate in real time with students.
The cloud based platform offers a set of tools help you manage your course content and time.The software platform intends to change the way traditional learning and teaching happens, not just in India. The platform also brings in related social web technologies and integrates them into the e-learning experience.
The Academe suite consists of 3 major systems comprising of a collaboration tool called Learning management system to set up group assignments and community networking, an attendance management system and a video lecture composition and delivery system.
There are a few communication tools such as the forum, real time chat, file exchange and online notes. The software platform also provides the ability to perform online evaluation of students which will give you a clear picture about how they are performing. The platform also gives students the ability to ask questions and conduct group discussions and create online notes without being actually present with the teacher/tutor geographically.
Here are some of the advantages of using the platform over traditional methods
The course material is maintained online and is easily accessible for editing.
Students can learn at their own pace and comfort level.
Students can communicate with the teachers remotely.
Students can perform group activities and collaborate over the net.
Online education is said to be the next e-commerce. According to market prediction by GSV Advisors, the estimated size of global online/digital education market will stand at a $4.38 Trillion by 2022.
With the cost of college education rising across the world, an online education system can be an economical alternative for many students. Also with companies like Apple supporting digital education programs, digital seems to be the new way to go for students.
There e-learning space also has been buzzing with activity off late. Tabtor, an iPad based e-learning solutions company recently raised $1 mn from a seed round led by New Jersey based SoundBoard Angel Fund and marquee investors like Bangalore based Aarin Capital Partners, Sand Hill Angels, BITS Spark Angels and other individual investors. Delhi based education startup, Edukart also raised $500,000 in seed funding from Kima Ventures, AKM Systems, One97 and angel investors recently.
There has been a funding frenzy in this space since last year. In August last year Bangalore based online education startup Simplilearn, who which had raised an undisclosed amount from IndoUS Venture Partners, said that they were planning to increase the number of courses to 100 by the end of the 2012 and is also doubling its workforce.
During the same month Mumbai based Technium Labs digital learning platform LurnQ raised early stage venture capital from Seedfund and Liqvid, an e-learning solutions company focused on English Language Training raised $ 3 mn from SBI Holdings, a large Japanese PE/ VC firm. In September Delhi based Arus Networks raised Angel funding from Indian Angel Network.
An interesting startup in this space is CourseBuffet. The Pune based startup, wants to help candidates discover and compare online learning resources. There are over 500 online courses from leading universities like Harvard, Stanford, IIT Delhi and providers such as Coursera, edX, Udacity etc listed on the service.
Last week we had reviewed Camplace, a cloud based campus recruitment automation platform which aims to streamline the process of placements and hiring for colleges, students and companies.