Start-up firm Eckovation using AI to make open school platform smarter

It's a unique social learning platform that allows teachers, parents and students to interact freely & effectively on mobile phones

A start-up company by two IIT grads which is engaged in imparting education using the open school platform is infusing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology now to make its platform smarter.

Last year, Ritesh Singh and Akshat Goel launched Eckovation -- a unique open-school communication and social learning platform that allows teachers, parents and students to interact freely and effectively on mobile phones.

The firm has taken initiatives across three major areas - forging new partnerships, extending the depth and reach of open school and continued technological innovation.

"Most exciting for us, we continue to make our platform smarter by infusion of AI technology," said Singh, adding "we are continuously expanding the use of AI as it holds a lot of promise for the future of education technology".

"We have collaborated with Ola cabs to extend the benefits of the open school platform to the drivers' families. We have also partnered with Collins India publishing house. They are using the platform for engaging teachers in their network. Most of these teachers have also enrolled themselves with the open school to impart quality education," he told Press Trust of India.

"Second, we are spreading open school, through a new campaign called 'I Teach India' (#ITeachIndia). It is designed to accelerate digital literacy at all levels by reaching out to the population in India and invite teachers' participation across regions to join the platform.

"Third, we continue to iterate rapidly with our new technology and add new features, which can help teachers and students. This year, to prepare students for the admissions season, we have added features and plugins to help students make informed decisions... We have added new analytics tools, which empower the teachers with insights to help the students," he said.

The firm has completed its first round of funding. "We completed our first round with Mihir Somaiya, Surface Commercial Channel Lead - Asia, Microsoft, Rohit Chadha, Head - Global Consulting Services Practice Center of Excellence at Bain & Company and Chandigarh Angels Network. We see this milestone as a significant endorsement of Eckovation's strategy and commitment to increase the quality of education in our country," Singh said.

Since the very beginning, he said that the aim has been to disrupt traditional models of social learning through technology.

"Traditionally, the learners tended to be limited by their geography, caste or class in finding a mentor or quality educational resources. All the peers generally tended to be from the same area and same social grouping.

"But Eckovation helps break those barriers, by connecting learners with teachers and peers from all over the world. All you need is a smartphone. We have more than 4,000 teachers not only from India but also from countries such as Australia, Japan, US and Netherlands on our platform."

The company hopes to improve the quality of social learning through better data and analytics.

"Our analytics team provides insights and suggestions to group admins to cater to their pedagogical tools and adjust to the learning levels of the group. We are also continuously expanding the use of machine learning on the platform to help the learners make smarter choices," Singh said.

One year into its inception, the company claims it has more than 57,000 users and about 15 lakh messages are exchanged every month.