Can we build a robust and effective digital learning platform for a readily accessible technology, like mobile phones, to improve learning outcomes in India? How can open source content and freely available digital tools help the education and skills ecosystem to develop and deliver learning to the diverse range of learners across languages, geographies, age and proficiency levels? Can we make it possible for learners of all ages to engage in anytime, anywhere learning? Is it possible to create a learning platform that makes it possible for a government school teacher in rural India to make it their own and serve their needs as much as it would the needs of a NGO focused on remedial education or a school system to address learning challenges in their environment?
The EkStep platform supports collaborative creation of interactive learning content for mathematics and language for primary level learners (teaching lessons, worksheets, games and assessments with varying concepts, pedagogies, templates). It enables the sharing of expertise, reusability of content, configuring content to learner’s contexts and will make usage data accessible to anyone (educationists, organisations, teachers, writers, schools, parents).
In this talk, Shankar Maruwada, CEO EkStep Foundation, will explore what it means to build a Digital Spine for education infrastructure that will pivot efforts to increase access to learning opportunities by amplifying ecosystem capabilities.
About the Speaker: Shankar Maruwada is the CEO and Co-founder of EkStep Foundation. Shankar is passionate about addressing social problems at scale through technology based tools. He is an entrepreneur and marketing professional with a wide range of experience working on large scale projects such as the AADHAAR, India’s national identification program, where he was the Head of Demand Generation and Marketing. Shankar pioneered data analytics in India through Marketics, a company he co-founded. He is an investor in startups and a mentor to entrepreneurs. He is an alumnus of Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad and Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur.
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