I often suffer from writer’s block. When I saw the title of this blog, I heaved a sigh of relief. This would turn out to be a simple one – all I would have to write would be “Well, why on earth not?”. Unfortunately, the wonderful team of teachers at Ontum that keeps me honest, told me I would need to write more. And I ( very happily! ) felt like a student again.
The last 15 months of COVID-19 have led to a proliferation of edtech startups. Almost universally, every startup thinks they can teach a child better than the next startup, and they all deliver content directly to a student’s smart device. These startups also seem to be saying they can teach children better than schools and teachers can – and in my mind, that is a mistaken belief. Before I started thinking about working in this space, the two questions that I found myself grappling with were
Do students learn better by watching a screen than by being in a classroom with a teacher?
And if yes, why not focus on improving classrooms and schools?
I do not believe e-learning will ever replace a classroom because teachers, schools, and peers form a, if not the, defining experience of everyone’s childhood. We simply cannot replicate the experience of sitting with other students, working together, and learning together. The intangible skills that students build far outstrip the facts they learn on an ed-tech tutoring platform. Moreover, once schools open post COVID, students will be back in school for eight hours a day. They’ll have their evenings free. Do we as a society need to push them onto online platforms? Yes, you may say, if the teaching in the classroom isn’t great. We say a resounding no! Let the evening be for what childhood evenings are meant for and let’s spend our energy on making that classroom great. What do all educators want for children? Well most would want to teach students to question, learn concepts, and string together disparate topics and make connections between them. Before you think this litany of goals is what every ed-tech startup lists, here is our critical difference. We say let’s do all this and much more by working through schools, classrooms, and teachers, while also actively involving parents. And that lets us step up and say let’s make learning activity-based, get students building projects, and encourage students to work together because this can only happen in classrooms. Back to our framing question: Why does Ontum want to improve classrooms? The center of everything we do is the student. Of course, we want students to learn in the best way possible. We also want them to spend their post-school hours enjoying their childhood, and when they spend time on school work, have that time be spent reinforcing what is being taught in school. And that is why we want to improve classrooms. Teachers are amongst the most influential people in all our lives. Personally, the first thing I ever remember learning was from a teacher. Today, having co-founded Ontum Education with Jyoti (fondly known as Jo) who was my 9th grade Physics teacher, I still learn from her every day. We want to give our teachers the tools they need to upskill so that we build generations of teachers and learners, and we help make teaching an aspirational profession again. And that is why we want to improve classrooms. India’s government school and private school systems are the second and third largest school systems in the world. Hundreds of millions of students are spending hours a day in Indian schools, and it makes no sense to bypass this system instead of strengthening it. And that is why we want to improve classrooms. How do we do it? Ontum Education works directly with schools and teachers, keeping in mind that our goal is always to impact the student. Detailed lesson plans include a variety of media, stories, and activities. The combination of content, along with our teacher instruction slides, provides continuous on-the-job professional training for teachers. More formal teacher training modules show teachers the various pedagogical concepts we bring out through our lessons. Features for school owners and administrators give them an overview of what is happening in their classrooms. Our innovative in-class assessments reflect the conceptual understanding we hope students take away from each of our lessons. And every single product we deliver is on our Ontum app, making everything we do instantly available to anyone who wants it. Fortuitously, as our delivery platform is virtual, our solutions can also be used easily by schools and teachers to deliver high-quality online learning during the pandemic as well. Ontum is a group of collaborators, and every hand on deck helps us on our mission. High-quality and equitable education is a fundamental right, and we work hard every day to deliver that right to millions of students. We invite you to join us on this journey. It’s going to be an exciting one.
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