BYJU’s – The Giant of Edtech industry
We observe education moving toward a better phase as technology develops. The number of students who now own smartphones and laptops has increased, making education more accessible and inexpensive, allowing them to learn at their own pace and capacity. In one of our earlier posts on AI’s applicability in the education sector, we talked about how learning is gradually moving to a digital platform. BYJU is one such Edtech which has disrupted the market completely.
Online education is starting to take the role of conventional classroom instruction. A few platforms come to mind when we think of online education, especially in India, including Udemy, Unacademy, Vedantu, and the platform that dominates the Indian EdTech industry. Correct, I’m referring to BYJU’s!
Origin of BYJU’s
Byju Raveendran, a native of Azhikode, Kerala, had previously worked as an engineer for a UK-based shipping company. The man recognised the extent of his intelligence after receiving a 100 percentile twice in his IIMs and began coaching kids in preparation for their math examinations. This was only the start of a long, productive journey that will ultimately play a significant role in transforming the education sector.
Byju Raveendran has gone a long way from his beginnings 15 years ago, when he set up free math seminars to help kids prepare for college entrance exams, to building the world’s most renowned and admired Ed-Tech company.
And so began BYJU’s, a fast-growing Indian EDTech company that built a successful enterprise by capitalising on Indians’ passion for high-quality education.
To help students master the academic curriculum for years 1 through 12, as well as competitive exams like the JEE, NEET, CAT, and IAS, the company Think and Learn Pvt Ltd, which was founded in 2011 to provide online lessons to students, launched “BYJU’s The Learning App” in 2015. This app has over 4.7 million paid subscribers or students who pay $170 per year for access to math and science tutorials and game-based practice tests.
How BYJU’s is different from other Edtechs?
BYJU’s learning methodology aims to instil a passion for learning in its users. BYJU’s – The Learning App provides the best teachers, technologies, articles, and media to guarantee each student’s faultless, captivating learning experience. The following are some ways that BYJU’s differentiates from other platforms of a similar nature, according to an IBEF study.
- The business specialises in offering users a customised learning experience based on their learning preferences and size. The software combines teachers, interactives, and films to make subjects come to life. Every day, students utilise the app for an average of 40 minutes.
- the creation of a new self-paced and active learning part where students are encouraged to learn on their own using information, media, and technology.
- Utilising unique content, captivating video lessons, and interactives that have been made to adapt to each student’s learning style.
- Produce excellent interactives, movies, and learning modules for kids in all grade levels, regardless of their location or level of proficiency.
How BYJU’s used technology effectively?
- Use of AI
The corporation just acquired a company that provides them a small team specialising in this, taking an early step in that direction. 2019 saw the acquisition of Palo Alto-based Osmo by Think and Learn. Osmo produced educational games for young children. Under the direction of Osmo co-founder Pramod Sharma, BYJU’s $120 million acquisition agreement brought a large team of AI and machine learning specialists to the company.
With this effort, BYJU’s can even experiment with augmented reality and virtual reality to see how these technologies can be included in the BYJU’S app to make learning more beneficial for the student at the end of the day.
- Use of Deep Knowledge Graph
Byju Raveendran stressed that BYJU’S personalization engine’s comprehensive learning profile would be its core in an interview with Forbes India. Deep Knowledge Graphs containing more than one lakh concepts and relationships have been constructed to create personalised learning experiences using features such as videos, questions, adaptive flows, quizzes, flashcards, and other learning tools.
The learning material also depends on many other factors in addition to this. For instance, each student receives a detailed learning profile as they start their learning journey, which helps to personalise the entire process. BYJU’s is, therefore, able to tailor the learning experience to the individual student’s needs, learning style, and strengths and limitations.
The algorithms are helped in creating a perfect learning curve for the student by identifying the learning content at the sub-micro idea level, which makes the student feel both challenged and inspired. If they make a mistake, BYJU’S recognises the appropriate corrective action to support the student’s learning process. This is similar to how a personal tutor would approach his pupils’ learning gaps, but it is more effective because deep insights and personalised guide it.
- Use of Data Analytics
Since a lot of data and insights are produced internally, BYJU’s heavily relies on data analytics for content production. For instance, BYJU’s can add easier videos, additional material formats, and simpler questions if a significant portion of students is making mistakes with a particular idea. This will allow the system to establish a more gradual learning curve. The pupils eventually understand the challenging parts of the subject, but they do it slowly and without giving up. As Raveendran stressed, the business also pays attention to the specific learning material connected to such principles. It regularly updates the standards to make future learning pathways for new students easier.
The company’s founders now have the resources to invest in creating an altogether new education model using artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, cloud-based analytics, augmented reality, and virtual reality as its activities extend to more towns and cities abroad. And with a huge number of subscribers and continued growth, BYJU’s will undoubtedly have the data it needs to support its AI efforts. We should expect BY’s app to evolve to adapt to each unique learner-student.
