Insights success the 10 most valuable e learning solution providers nov 2017

www.insightssuccess.in November 2017

The way of business solutions

T H E

10

Most Valuable

E-learning Solution Providers

Ravi Pratap Singh Co-founder

Learnnovators:

Creating Award-Winning E-Learning Solutions for the Workplace

Editorial

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-learning is an emerging methodology of modern education and it is rapidly growing for the last two decades in the education sector. All the university, schools and companies have started offering online courses to satisfy the student needs, and to improve employee effectiveness. From a basic school course to a high tech IT coding, learning foreign languages or music or any other vocation, e-learning sector is coming up everywhere. Not only has it attracted masses but has also offered potential opportunities for the upcoming entrepreneurs.

E-learning: The Futuristic Step in Education System

Apart from any other mode of education, e-learning can deliver more value at very less and affordable cost. This advantage is attached with high-operating leverage for e-Learning companies, should translate them into elevated margins and returns on capital in the industry. ELearning provides more advantages than disadvantages and technology is the answer to all the ills that are currently plaguing the education system. E-learning is entering into the world of exciting visuals; it is practical and cost effective for both learner and for educational institutes to deliver and manage administrative aspect of education at the same time.

Many institutions and organizations have implemented the E-learning process to train and develop the students and full time employees to improve their skills and productivity. E-learning environment is getting more completed due to various courses offered through internet.

Initially the learners are satisďŹ ed with the e-learning process, but when it is implemented as a practical section the dropout ratio has been increased among the learners. The major problem is the online courses, which do not concentrate on psychological factor of learner like Cognitive, Behavioral, Social, Developmental, Constructivist and the courses are studied by Different age group, culture, designated people and the expectation from the course is highly vary from one another. so while creating and delivery the course by analyzing the learner perception and the psychological perspective by the way the course will be getting more effective in psychological perspective of learner and it will create an effective learning and teaching process and will be the new face of education system.

Abhinav Chandrayan

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Ariana Lawrence Managing Editor Abhinav Chandrayan Co-Editor Piyush Rishi Poulami Das Contributors Ananda, Shweta Art & Design Director Amol Kamble Co-designer Karan Gaikwad Picture Editor Alex Noel Art Editor Poonam Mahajan Visualiser Shweta Ambilwade Business Development Manager Akansha Garewal Marketing Manager Dhruv Apte Business Development Executive Divya, Meera, Ashwini, Ajinkya Research Analyst David Circulation Manager Vivek Database Management Sharad Technology Consultant Swapnil Patil sales@insightssuccess.com

November, 2017 Corporate Ofď€ ces: Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd. Off. No. 513 & 510, 5th Flr., Rainbow Plaza, Shivar Chowk, Pimple Saudagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411017 Phone - India: 020-69400110, 111, 112 Email: info@insightssuccess.in For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.in

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Co

ver S tor y

C O N T E N

08 LEARNNOVATORS Creating Award-Winning E-Learning Solutions for the Workplace

16 Interview with Insightssuccess Making Exams Accessible for Everyone: Insights from Nitin Goyal

T S PIONEER VISTA Learning & Development for Senior Leadership Roles: From Anne Prabhu's desk

32 People Side Consulting: Advancing People Development Company in E-Learning Industry

22 EXPERT INSIGHTS E-learning: Reshaping the Future of Education

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SumConcepts Technologies Pvt Ltd: Revolutionizing Rural Education Through eLearning

PIONEER VISTA Surfing Ahead of the Trend: HOW TO SPOT AN OPPORTUNITY AND GROW?

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38 TECH BYTES

TECH TRENDS

MENTOR’S MIND

Microlearning and its Importance at Workplace

Revolutionary Technologies Shaping e-Learning

The Greatest Artist in the world is the one who can Teach the Art

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Advancing Knowledge and Innovation in E-learning

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-learning means no boundaries. It allows each individual learner to control the pace of the course. Because of the flexibility E-learning provides, users can also take the course in an environment more conducive to their learning style. It gives both the management and the employees more flexibility to complete important “just-in-time” training as requirements change. E-learning helps companies create a higher quality, more effective training experience for employees, at a more affordable cost. When employees can be more excited about training, their engagement carries over into the rest of their work, and when that engagement is multiplied across entire departments, the bottom line is impacted.

The E-learning industries too is driven by some experts in soft skills training, executive coaching and leadership training programs for corporates and are making the learning programs easy and engaging. Here in the Insights Success magazine we take privilege to introduce experienced professionals to scrutinize your information in its special issue of “The 10 Most Valuable E-learning Solution Providers.”

As our cover story we have, Learnnovators, a multiple-award winning organization that specializes in the design and development of custom e-learning solutions for the workplace.

Apart from this, we have highlighted one of the most creative and advanced E-learning Solution Providing Companies, PeopleSide Consulting, which is a fast growing company providing services and business solutions into people management and people development areas, SumConcepts Technologies, providing end to end solutions for companies looking for educational projects under CSR, Apollo Infoways, a leading provider of education solutions enabling academic institutions and corporate organizations to improve performance by facilitating knowledge enrichment and skills enhancement, Edunext Technologies, a technology company catering to educational institutions, Multiversity Group, a company advancing the application of Information Technology in the areas of education, governance and services, Pratham Foundation, an innovative learning organization created to improve the quality of education in India, Swift Solution, associated in the area of e-learning, simulation and video/multimedia technologies, TinyTapps Software, a leading educational company which focuses on early learning, and Zobble Solutions, a company providing unique and innovative training solutions to customers in various segments.

Do not miss out the articles on “Microlearning and its Importance at Workplace” and “Revolutionary Technologies Shaping e-Learning” from the editorial desk.

So, do flip the pages of our magazine to uncover the insights of Most Valuable E-learning Solution Providers!

Most Valuable

THE

10E-learning Solution Providers

Learnnovators

,

Creating Award-Winning E-Learning Solutions for the Workplace

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We design innovative e-learning solutions tailored to clients’ requirements

Ravi Pratap Singh Co-Founder

n a world that wakes up to new trends, tools, and technologies every day, the key competitive advantage for an organization is a motivated, trained, and highperforming workforce. Learnnovators, through its awardwinning learning solutions, provides this competitive advantage to their clients.

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programs to the satisfaction of a worldwide clientele. These have been deployed on a variety of devices, including mobile phones, tablets, interactive whiteboards, and interactive kiosks. They have also crafted several just-intime, micro-learning modules and performance-support solutions for their clients.

Crafting E-learning Solutions

Learnnovators also offers a simple, intuitive and mobileready learning platform, Learnosphere.

Learnnovators is a multiple-award winning organization that specializes in the design and development of custom e-learning solutions for the workplace. The company helps clients address skill and performance gaps in their workforce by creating tailor-made solutions that are aligned with their business goals.

Since its inception, Learnnovators has successfully developed nearly 11,000 hours of e-learning content for a wide range of domains including Advertising, Automotive, Banking, Defense, Education, Engineering, Healthcare, Hospitality, HR Services, IT/ITES, Insurance, Manufacturing, Nuclear Energy, Oil and Gas, Retail, Safety, Soft Skills, and Telecom.

Their services cover a variety of solutions ranging from high-end interactive scenarios and simulations, gamified interfaces, bite-sized learning nuggets, and slick animations and videos, to simple quick reference sheets and job aids.

Most importantly, they have the capability to help clients decide what works best under what circumstances, and see to it that it is designed and implemented as required.

Whether it is about choosing the best mode of learning techniques tailored to organizational objectives, or designing interactive modules with the help of games or simulations, the company has implemented innumerable

An Experienced Business Leader With over two decades of experience in the L&D field, Ravi Pratap Singh, Co-Founder leads the company and handles sales, marketing, brand building and strategy. Over the years, he has built learning businesses in nearly 50 countries across five continents. Ravi has been a member of the United Nations’“ICT Task Force” from 2003 to 2006, and has served on the judging panels of two of the elearning industry’s most respected awards - the Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Awards (2006 to 2009) and CLO Magazine’s LearningElite Awards (2012 to 2017). He has been a member of the prestigious Chief Learning Officer Business Intelligence Board since 2014. Currently, he is serving as a member of CII’s “Education” and “Skill Development” sub-committees.

Recently, Ravi was also featured among “The 2017 Corporate eLearning Movers and Shakers List” and also named among the “25 eLearning and L&D Thought Leaders to Watch in 2017”.

Take on Current Scenario of E-learning Industry “The rapid adoption of mobile technology is changing the game for our industry. The stupendous growth of

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We create engaging learning solutions that can work across a range of mobile devices and platforms

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Over the years, we have delivered e-learning programs in 27 Indian and international languages

smartphones is allowing people greater access to the Internet via mobile devices, thereby enabling them to learn on the move. So we are seeing more and more learning and performance support solutions being delivered via mobile devices. An extension of this development is the use of Internet-enabled devices to deliver personalized learning experiences.” asserts Ravi.

According to Learnnovators, another trend to watch out for is ‘gamification’. It can excite and motivate learners to go through otherwise mundane topics and fast-track the achievement of learning outcomes if executed either as simple game elements added to existing content or as fullfledged gaming experiences. Lengthy, long-winded learning modules are passé. And relevant, concise, byte-sized content delivered at the point of need is in. Micro-learning is a buzzword that's garnering plenty of attention these days, though the concept by itself is not new.

There are huge strides being made in the use of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) for learning applications. Big data and analytics also hold plenty of promise in providing insights into how people learn and translate their learning into enhanced behavior on the job.

Working as Client’s Extended Arm Learnnovators approaches clients not as a vendor, but rather as a thought partner who thinks for the client and their success. With a focus on maximizing results and return on investment, the company works as their clients’ extended arm. They practice honesty and transparency in all their dealings with clients, enabling them to see long-term value in their association with Learnnovators.

The team of Learnnovators is highly skilled and can meet even the most challenging e-learning requirements of different industry verticals such. The company understands that learning challenges can be unique to every industry and

businesses. And many times, having the best tools, techniques and approaches is not sufficient. Clients need a unified strategy to put them all together to arrive at solutions that work.

The company also helps clients to implement e-learning standards, conduct need analysis, specific learning requirements, develop evaluation methods, enable LMS implementation, develop e-learning content, and review and fine-tune e-learning processes. Learnnovators says that they’ve enjoyed a long and successful journey helping organizations at various levels improve the performance of their workforce.

Recent Client Success Stories A project Learnnovators did in 2015 resulted in tremendous business success for the client. This was a novel, innovative solution that made use of QR codes and videos, and was delivered in the form of a mobile app. Users could use the QR code reader built into the mobile app to scan specific parts of a CNC machine, and watch a short video explaining how that particular part works. As a result of this solution, the client realized substantial savings, in addition to other benefits like improved productivity and faster billing cycles. This project bagged several prestigious national and international awards and accolades for Learnnovators.

Another recent solution that the company designed used gamification and storytelling to deliver compliance training to the employees of a call center. This was a highly innovative project that used advanced technology to provide an engaging experience to users, and an effective outcome for the client.

Offering Employees ‘The Freedom to Fail’ ‘Learning & Innovation’ are the two words weaved into Learnnovators’ethos because they feel that they are the true

The essence of innovation lies in one’s ability and willingness to take risks. So, at Learnnovators, they offer something unique to their employees that many organizations actively discourage - the FREEDOM TO FAIL. They have consciously built a culture where team members are encouraged to think, ideate, explore, experiment, and innovate without the fear of being ridiculed or reprimanded in case they fail.

In an industry which is highly driven by numbers (viz. number of hours spent on a project, number of bugs found, etc.), the company adopts a slightly different approach; they recognize and reward innovation, risk-taking, and great attitude in their employees. This approach stems from the belief that the right attitude towards work and life automatically leads to greater involvement, better creativity, and higher productivity.

Future Vision of Learnnovators Learning and Development is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world today. This is because the biggest differentiator of any business, in any sector, across the globe, is its people. L&D is in a unique position to help people to not just do their jobs well, but also to innovate and adapt to an ever-transforming business climate. Having said that, the key opportunities for L&D lie in; first, understanding that people learn everywhere and all the time, not just in a formal learning session, and second, supporting them in that endeavor.

At Learnnovators, they work side-by-side with organizations to comprehend the distinctive characteristics of their requirement, people and environment. The company then crafts the solutions, which helps in building necessary skills and attitude for current job requirements, as well as those necessary to adapt and transform in response to changing conditions.

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differentiators of their business. And that's literally the company’s mantra.

Learnosphere is a powerful, exible, and easy-to-use mobile-ready Learning Management System (LMS) from Learnnovators

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Company Name

Management

Brief

Apollo Infoways Pvt. Ltd. apolloinfoways.in

Ravi Prakash Director

Apollo Infoways is a leading provider of education solutions enabling academic institutions and corporate organizations to improve performance by facilitating ‘knowledge enrichment and skills enhancement’.

Edunext Technologies Pvt Ltd. edunexttechnologies.com

Ashish Jain Director

Edunext Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is a technology company catering to educational institutions.

Learnnovators learnnovators.com

Ravi Pratap Singh Co founder

Learnnovators is a multiple-award winning organization that specializes in the design and development of custom e-learning solutions for the workplace.

Multiversity Group multiversitygroup.com

Nachiketas Bhatkar CEO

Multiversity Group was founded in 1998, at the threshold of the new century, to advance the application of Information Technology in the areas of Education, Governance and Services.

PeopleSide Consulting Pvt Ltd peoplesideconsulting.com

Narendra Karale CEO

PeopleSide Consulting Pvt Ltd is a fast growing company providing services and business solutions into people management and people development areas.

PRATHAM EDUCATION FOUNDATION pratham.org

Rukmini Banerjee CEO

Pratham is an innovative learning organization created to improve the quality of education in India.

SumConcepts Technologies (P) Ltd kompkin.com

Biren Dharmasi CEO

SumConcepts Technologies provides end to end solutions for companies looking for educational projects under CSR.

Swift Solution Pvt. Ltd itswift.com

Keshavan Belagod Founder & Director

Swift Solution Pvt Ltd is a 9 year old, ISO 9001 – 2008 certified organization, associated in the area of e-learning, simulation and video/multimedia technologies.

Tinytapps Software thetinytapps.com

Altaf Rehmani CEO

TinyTapps Software is a leading educational company which focuses on Early Learning. Its existing portfolio has 53+ educational apps which are a part of integrated curriculum for 3-6 year olds.

Gunjan Gupta Founder & Director

Zobble Solutions Pvt. Ltd. provides unique and innovative training solutions to customers in various industry segments, such as, Education (K-12 and Higher Education), Airlines, Healthcare, Publishing, Banking and Finance, Application training, Logistics, and Telecom.

Zobble Solutions Pvt. Ltd zobble.com

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MAKING EXAMS ACCESSIBLE FOR EVERYONE: Insights from Nitin Goyal

Nitin Narayan Goyal CEO & Founder OnlineXm

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his is a transcript of the interview with Nitin Narayan Goyal, the CEO and Founder of OnlineXm.com. In this exclusive interview he shares with us some memorable events and struggles that went behind establishing OnlineXm. So read on to know about the current scenario of the online exam and preparation platforms from the expert in the ďŹ eld himself.

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| November 2017 |

Interview with Insightssuccess Q. Please tell us about the inspiration that led you to come up with OnlineXm, the online exam preparation platform.

I always wanted to catalyze something that would help the society and make a change. About 15 months ago in a meeting regarding IT Services with an institute, I came up with this idea. Most of the exams being conducted in online mode, from the exam notification to result announcement, everything happens online. I have seen many students struggling for these updates. After analyzing year 2016 data, we observed that out of 2-3 crore only 20-30 Lakhs students are using online platforms for exam preparation; still the 90% of the audience is unaware. So when we analyzed the audience size and the opportunity, we decided to come up with this concept.

We are providing a complete exam preparation platform for students in terms of everything that includes Exam details, online tests, Quizzes, Job and Exam Alerts. We also provide B2B platform services that we cover by reaching to institutes/coaching & educational bodies. Institutes provide offline test series to students even when exams are going to be conducted online. So we look after for institutes/coaching to provide them fully managed online test series services from their own portal and mobile app.

Q. Can you take us through the initial journey of OnlineXm? Coming into a business is extremely difficult. But the motivation was that many players were doing things incorrectly and 90% of the audience remains unaware of online exam preparation platforms and it has vast market and audience size of various classes. So we began this in a pair of B2C & B2B models, with a better manner in single platform using website & App covering all the exams classes like SSC, Banking, MBA, GATE, ESE, Engineering Entrance or Medical Entrance that are fifteen with one hundred exams.

It took 4-5 months to build the online test platform and on 31st may 2016 we launched fully functional website ‘www.onlinexm.com’. Our IT experiences worked out to create an easy UI and UX, and we created an awfully smart platform in terms of web and mobile app each.

Q. Explain us your role in the entire journey. I mean the sacrifices you made, the landmarks you achieved and much more.

We were running an IT company from past five years and worked on 800+ projects including websites, ecommerce, mobile apps, software & SEO. So technology, design and architecture were not a big deal for us.

From this experience we designed and developed the platform in a very good manner comparatively.

Then the problem was about content development and we were lucky to find best content experts in our team. Another challenge is to find some good institutes to deliver our B2B services so that revenues can be managed. This was a big concern to us, because from starting to now we are bootstrapped. We don’t have any external funding till date. So my role is to be a centralized body to connect all the domains including design, web development, App development, content development, digital promotion, marketing, sales and customer support.

If we speak about sacrifices, I don’t think something has worth in front of your dream, So I have made no sacrifice as a result of OnlineXm, which does not have any worth from that I will compare, rest ups and downs in business is usual.

According to me if you are the founder & CEO of a company you have to be passionate about your work and keep believing in you and your idea.

| November 2017 |

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In starting because of less content fewer users used to land on site. But from past 3 months we have registered 50,000 users and they have attempted 1.2 lac+ online tests on our website. Over 40 Lac questions have been attempted.

Q. Apart from all the Hundreds of good selfpreparatory sites & Mobile apps found online, kindly enlighten us with the features of OnlineXm that gives you a competitive edge.

Why 90% of the audiences are still unaware of Online Exam Preparation Platforms? Answer of this question gave us a competitive edge and encouragement to make it better.

Following unique features bettering us: - Students find easy UI & UX to use.

- Plenty of free test series.

- Regular Each and every updates about exam notifications, job alerts or current affairs.

- PDF Download option after completion of test with solutions.

- Daily current affairs and monthly current affairs quiz and PDF. - Live question & answer board, where student can share queries and details among them for discussion.

In B2B model we have added big 10 institutes from Jaipur with us to manage their online test series for their thousands of students using our platforms in backend.

Q. What is the student’s reaction to your platformOnlineXm (Web & App)? What are the important lessons you have learned from those reactions?

This is the question I eagerly wanted to answer and which makes us different from others. From starting we worked on prospective of a student. If you want to succeed always take care of your users. Student were struggling to get all content on single platform with simple user interface So we created all in one platform where student can get everything.

Q. Any massive pitfalls that you have overcome and would like to share with us.

It happened twice in my journey of 6 years; 3 years ago one of my big overseas clients of IT denied me to pay and just disappeared. I had many running projects with him and many team members were working on them. So it was a big turning when I had to step back and the other one was when we failed with our startup in real estate sector. I think these pitfalls are the part of game; and I have learned from them and move ahead.

Q. So what are those core moral values and ethics that has made Nitin Narayan Goyal the person he is today?

I follow only one thing in my life; do what you do with ethics and honesty. If you fail at any place, first look at yourself wherever you place lesser efforts or less input rather than blaming anyone else or blaming conditions. I always work with my business ethics given by my father. I belong to a business class family where from birth I saw the only business. From the age of 12 I used to help my father in our family business. So from that age I started loving Numbers.

Q. What are your future plans of action for OnlineXm?

What we learned is - Student doesn’t need fancy features; they need quality content and Error free Platform. And according to feedback we are providing all these features in single platform.

Now our target is to reach 1 lakh registered students till 31st March 2017. Recently we have launched our fully featured android app and getting very good response and feedback from users.

We are getting 97% of the positive feedbacks from our users. Day by day we are working on OnlineXm, to make it better and get the 100% satisfaction of our users.

The ultimate goal of OnlineXm is to reach each and every student who is appearing for any exam in India. Also we want to move ahead in online education services like Marketplace for study material and anything related to education, online training and sessions for technical courses etc.

Q. What steps have you taken to enrich the entire online experience of taking an exam on OnlineXm? I mean about the layout, the interface and the entire idea behind the smooth functioning of the website.

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| November 2017 |

The Greatest Artist in the world is the one who can

Teach the

Art T

here is a quote by Antoine de Saint-Exupery that goes as,

“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

It is said that teaching is like lighting a fire. Teachers just act as facilitators between the heat and the paper to enable them to combine with the oxygen from the environment. A Teacher can use various tools to produce that flash, to create that environment full of oxygen. In the end, it is all about the adjustment of the child to the world.

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| November 2017 |

Mentor’s Mind

The same applies true for any adult learning programmes, even with the minds of the brightest kind. Albert Einstein affirmed that, “I never teach my pupils, I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn”. Learners must be left free to express themselves. They must discover knowledge for themselves. A teacher just brings the learners to the subject.

The wisdom behind The Learning Pyramid Dale’s Cone of Experience, that is shunned by some and accepted by others, states that, teachers can introduce the world to the learners through scripts, speech and sight.

Higher percentages of memory retention or subject recollection are happening when the learners are involved in the actual process. It is the purpose of the teacher to provide those conditions where the pupils could get involved. The involvements include a dramatic representation of the subject where the students are involved in it, simulation of the real experience or doing the real thing. Naturally, these things are implementable on the basis of the subject and the conditions available for them.

There is no singular style of teaching and there is no singular style of learning. The Cone cannot be held true in matters where certain minds could conceive more than 70% of what they read while many could hardly remember the entire specifications of a car that passed by their window a few days ago. In an unfortunate environment, even the stars can be termed as failures and in a supportive environment, even failures can shine like bright stars. This again emphasizes on the creation of the right platform for the right mind.

Teaching should be more of a Passion than a Profession As Peter Drucker rightly said, “Teaching is the only major occupation of man for which we have not yet developed tools that make an average person capable of competence and performance. In teaching we rely on the ‘naturals’, the ones who somehow know how to teach.” It is a known fact in today's digital age that attention spans are running short and the retention capacity only increases when the instructor mixes short lectures with peer collaboration. In the end, it is always the teacher that makes the difference, not the classroom.

Learning in a structured manner This brings us to the modern style of learning called the structured learning where the subject is introduced by the facilitator through print, visual or through the traditional formal classroom setup. The next stage involves, interacting with fellow pupils or peers having similar interests. This is all about sharing the knowledge you know and getting the knowledge they know. Although there are cynics who state that learners with half the knowledge could create more confusion among others with a similar condition. Again, the teacher can play the role of the facilitator to alleviate the ambiguity. Finally, the learner has to get involved with the subject by actually implementing the knowledge on a day to day basis under the able guidance of the teacher. On various occasions, this has proved to be fruitful for the learners to grow at the speed of business.

It is the responsibility of the teacher to give the pupils the right content, at the right speed and place, to the right team and in the right format. They need to establish a safe proactive learning environment that would challenge the learners to transcend boundaries. The learning solution providers need to replace reading, writing and arithmetic with a curriculum that develops bright minds, skilled hands and a kind heart.

| November 2017 |

It is worth mentioning again that teaching is a noble profession, not because it shapes the character, caliber and future of an individual, but because a good teacher is remembered by thousands of people, not for the subject they taught, but for the way they taught it. They knew when to explain and when to let the students discover things for themselves. This is superfluously described in William Arthur’s words when he said that, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”

It is the acumen of a great artist to dish out the right act at the right moment for the right audience. The job of a teacher is no less than that of a performer when it is said that teaching is 10% theory and 90% dramatics. A teacher’s job is not done until and unless the pupils understand what they have been taught.

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.”

–Albert Einstein

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PeopleSide Consulting: Advancing People Development Company in E-Learning Industry Narendra Karale Founder and CEO

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-learning in India is almost a decade plus old. It is still struggling to gain feet as Corporates, organizations are not able to ďŹ nd right use, effectiveness and cost factor viability. Many large Corporates-organizations made huge investments initially when the e-learning trend started in India & invested heavily into software, infrastructure and LMS. However were not able to see effectiveness and failed in application.

Now the trends are changing and thus the rules of game in E Learning industry space, PeopleSide Consulting Pvt Ltd is a training company entered into this space, which offer the excellent and engaging, cost effective eLearning solutions. The idea of E-learning revolves around objective of training, Learner proďŹ le, Content with the blend of most modern available technology.

PeopleSide Consulting Pvt Ltd is a fast growing company providing services and business solutions into people management and people development areas.

Evolution of PeopleSide Consulting The company initiated their program around six years back as a training company and now have gamut of services and innovative products in talent management and people management areas. Today they provide the wide range of most modern solutions.

In People Management vertical they have developed and

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loaded a baggage of innovative HRMS-and work management cloud based solution called InOfďŹ ce (inO) InO. They are strategizing to launch their next web based application for People opinions, surveys and assessments called as PeopleSay soon. Under People Management they have payroll outsourcing, HRMS, and assessments.

While they have started as training and consulting company, the organization have been working in this space with various corporates, large organisations particularly in training and developing people capabilities to improve business outcomes. They offer training solutions which impacts business performance.

PeopleSide Consulting have been working across country in multiple sectors like Automobile, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Banking, IT and ITES. The company has trained over 10 thousand people from rural India in agriculture and farm mechanisation. This gives them pride and happiness as they are able to make this contribution in developing job skills, help organisations with better people engagement and inspiration to work, help people to perform better, earn better and stay employable. Essentially for people staying in rural India.

The company holds two approaches to deliver training solutions, one through facilitator and other with help of technology- E-learning solutions. | November 2017 |

Today, PeopleSide Consulting have better edge over their competitors in developing e-Learning Solutions. Their e-learning solutions are very engaging, effective and helps in quick knowledge transformation.

The Man Behind People Side Consulting Narendra Karale, CEO and Founder of PeopleSide Consulting is a science graduate and MBA in marketing to hold 20 years of experience. He has experience working with different sectors like Consumer durables, Automobile and Retail . His passion for training and developing people, business skills made him quit successful sales career, to get into training and development space. He has worked with large corporates in learning and development department, managing large training and learning projects. In his training career, he has worked with training and consulting companies of international repute. He has interacted and worked with best trainers and coaches of international repute in last one decade.

The company proudly holds an excellent ability to design and develop e-learning solutions to suit most modern LMS technology, HTML5 based technology, having engagement tools like gamiďŹ cations, simulations, Real time content search and FAQs with audio and video content.

Challenges that Overcomed by the Organization Two major challenges the company had faced, is most of the times client companies are not able to make quick decisions, while the work is in progress companies delay giving their feed backs and do the reviews. This many a times causes delay in delivering entire project. And on the other hand stakeholders from client companies are not updated with change in technology, like authorizing tools, animation tools, and other production tools. Technology in this sector changes very fast, as this industry is growing globally and at fast space.

Thus managing this space is critical from the course ware production point of view and investments.

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He has excellent entrepreneurial skills and also works as a business coach for entrepreneurs and startup organizations.

develop solution around the technology; this restricts learning and has gap in knowledge transformation, the reasons why e-learning programmes would fail.

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Narendra likes to travel, he is Researching is Major issues for the companies always a bag pack person and in this ďŹ eld are talent & skilled this has helped him creating workforce. We as a country have understand different cultures, huge potential to be leader in this languages that he very new knowledge segment, and become tactfully uses to connect with development partners for course his audiences. development, content development He has vision for the and learning production for Global organization and is very carefully markets, which will also create huge nurturing PeopleSide Consulting employment opportunities in India. with steady growth and expansion.

His vision is to make PeopleSide Future Executions of PeopleSide Consulting Consulting the best Indian organization in The industry has a promising future, many consulting and people management – People organizations, education sector will have to adapt this development space, be a success partner with Global change and move to technology based learning. The skill Organizations. gap and bridging skill gap in limited time frame will force industry to make use of technology. Have right content and They See Advantages over others Most e-learning companies have IT background and limited right delivery technical platform, being innovative, cost effective will play a key role. training background, thus they fail to understand the science of training. They would have good technology At PeopleSide the staff is highly focused on content understanding, but E- Learning is not only about development, courseware production and content delivery. technology alone. The major role is about the content, The company is working on developing the capabilities to context and knowing the audiences. Thus the course ware develop courseware that can be easily deployed through any and content plays upper hand role over technology.

LMS technology or with available open source of LMS. PeopleSide has fabulous work culture, while the staff is PeopleSide Consulting has completely different approach. highly committed for the high quality services, the culture This advantage is because the company comes from that can foster creativity, and build world class solutions. training background and has now developed technical capabilities. The company develops the solution around the PeopleSide engages excellent and high quality of talent which gives them great advantage.

Learner and content, while many of the competitors | November 2017 |

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| November 2017 |

Tech Trends

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E-learning: Reshaping the Future of Education

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one are the days where no one knew or relied on e-learning. While the traditional classroom setting is still an integral part of our education, many are adopting e-learning as a facilitator these days. There are many benefits to this. E-learning allows students to consume, learn and utilize educational content in a manner that's suitable to their needs.

India's online education market is set to grow to USD 1.96 billion with around 9.6 million users by 2021. Today’s smartphone-driven generation wants quality with convenience and flexibility. E-learning covers all of it.

Trends in E-learning The use of technology has allowed e-learning to evolve over the years. Here are some of the trends that are redefining the e-learning space.

1. Cloud-based learning systems Quality educational content has always been essential to shaping the future of students in India. Unfortunately, there is an inconsistency in the quality of education imparted to students.

Cloud-based storage systems allow ed-tech platforms to centralize and store quality educational content, techniques, inputs and data that can then be mobilized to users across the country. It also gives users flexibility, transparency and consistency which they otherwise cannot get.

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2. Mobile learning 409 million people in India use an internet-powered smartphone today. That’s almost 31% of the total population. The use of mobile phones is allowing ed-tech platforms to mobilize quality educational content to users across India; right at their fingertips. Together with cloud-based services, this ensures that students aren’t inhibited by a lack of adequate teaching material or infrastructure.

3. Big Data Big Data allows ed-tech platforms to study user inputs and create behavior pattern models. They can then use these models to predict user behavior and personalize their offerings based on the individual learning ability of each user. As a result, students can focus on their strengths and weaknesses and learn at their own pace, maximising output for the effort involved. This amount of personalization is unlike anything offered by the traditional offline teaching setup.

4.

Goal-based learning and Gamification

Goal-based learning is a key catalyst in the personalization of education. By letting students set and achieve their own goals, ed-tech platforms are turning them into co-creators, instead of just receivers. The use of gamification techniques (with achievements) keeps students motivated by giving

| November 2017 |

EXPERT INSIGHTS

About the Author: Toppr is the India’s most advanced and comprehensive after-school learning app for classes 5th-12th with a vision to personalise learning. They are backed by SAIF, Helion and Fidelity.

Zishaan Hayath, Co-founder and CEO of Toppr, started a phone commerce marketplace Chaupaati Bazaar in 2008.

In 2010, Chaupaati Bazaar was acquired by India’s largest retailer Future Group (NSE:FRL).

Earlier, he worked with Opera Solutions on strategy and operations consulting projects for Fortune 100 clients in North America, Europe and Asia. He was the rst employee in Opera Solutions’ India ofce. He an angel investor in a few Indian startups including Olacabs.com and Housing.com and runs an angel investment group called Powai Lake Ventures. He has graduated from IIT Bombay in 2005 and was awarded the Institute Citation and two Institute Colors.

In 2015, he was awarded the Young Alumni Achiever Award.

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them an objective to work towards. It also fosters social learning by letting them compete with their friends.

5. Augmented and Virtual Reality The true potential of AR and VR has yet to be tapped into, with most ed-tech platforms having harnessed only the tip of the iceberg. The creation of virtual environments gives students a unique, immersive and interactive learning experience like never before. This not only enhances the way they learn but also helps with retention and assimilation.

Challenges in e-learning While the ed-tech space is moving in a promising direction, there are still a few challenges it is striving hard to overcome.

1.

Preference for offline learning

Many students and parents still prefer the interpersonal dynamic of offline learning. It inspires more faith and confidence.

As a result, many students prefer a mentor or teacher who can guide them, instead of e-learning that makes them accountable for their own learning.

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Insufficient motivation

E-learning puts the onus of learning on students. It empowers them as co-contributors by letting them set and achieve their own goals. In some ways, it most benefits those who want to improve themselves. If students are not as driven to excel, they might not utilize e-learning consistently. They may thus fail to see improvements that are necessary to stay motivated.

3.

Lack of uniform smartphone and internet penetration

Many students, especially in rural areas, are still not comfortable with the use of technology for learning. Maximizing their potential through e-learning can only happen after the necessary skilling has been completed. The lack of internet access in the hinterlands of India also prevents the inhabitants of those areas from accessing quality educational content like their counterparts.

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Inundation of material

Quite often, students are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of course content available on e-learning platforms. They don’t just want to know what to study; they’re looking for the best way to study. In such cases, there are two necessary steps that need to be taken to make e-learning fun and motivating – a good course design and a personalized approach to offering solutions.

Despite these challenges, the presence and impact of e-learning continue to grow every day. This isn’t limited to just higher secondary students either. By 2021, primary and secondary education will be the largest market at $773 million.

What will be key in the future, is how these trends are harnessed to personalize learning for individual students.

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| November 2017 |

SumConcepts Technologies Pvt Ltd: Revolutionizing Rural Education Through eLearning Biren Dharamsi Founding Director and CEO

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Learning for schools has been an established concept since last couple of decades, albeit for affluent class schools. However, it always remained out of purview of rural or underprivileged schools due to high costs and technology incompatibility. A social entrepreneur took it upon himself to change rules of the game.

To be exact, 1,100+ ZP schools in one of the most economically deprived districts of Maharashtra, Dhule. All schools are digitized using multimedia devices and eLearning making Dhule first such district in India and all these funds are generated through CSR, Community contribution and NRI funding. All 25 Government recognized schools for hearing impaired students in Pune district use eLearning in each and every classroom and students explore the new opportunities which never existed for them before. Behind all these feats, there is one common name, Kompkin, which took up the challenge and treaded the path never travelled before. Today, it is Maharashtra’s most popular school eLearning brand by SumConcepts Technologies Pvt Ltd. In 2009, Kompkin was launched with specific aim of reaching out to masses with a user-friendly technology and the price point which was affordable. The rural schools still couldn’t afford it and that’s when SumConcepts started approaching corporate giants active in CSR for their support. Today, SumConcepts boasts of 50+ reputed

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corporate clients and NGOs who have sponsored 12,000+ installations across Maharashtra reaching remote villages from Gadchiroli to Gadhinglaj and from Akkalkuwa to Akkalkot benefiting more than 2 million rural and underprivileged urban students.

The journey was not easy. It was all about concept selling.

First challenge was to convince the teachers that their jobs are not under threat. Next being working with bureaucracy and convincing them to allow the official usage of eLearning in day to day classrooms. In parallel, efforts were already started at corporate levels, making them understand that this investment will bear long term benefits, and the results were sustainable, measurable and visible. The road ahead was treacherous but it yielded results. Today, SumConcepts is the most trusted name for companies active in CSR for Rural Education.

A Professional with Corporate Culture-Efficiency and Social awareness Biren Dharamsi, Founding Director & CEO, rose from being a trainee in a company with a turnover of hardly RS. 2 crores in 1993 to become its youngest President (Business Head) managing a vertical of more than Rs. 100 crore in 2006. During this period, he travelled extensively across continents for various projects and gathered rich macro

| November 2017 |

level experience in Marketing, Finance and Administration.

But it was his first meeting with Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam in 2007 that was a game changer. Inspired by his conversation with Dr. APJ, he decided to go back to basics and plunge into an unknown territory to leave an NRI life and go back to remote villages. He was adamant not to work as NGO but set up a social enterprise for profit, bringing in the efficiency, culture, competitiveness, discipline and scalability of a private enterprise. He was joined by his colleague Chetan Khona who is an IT geek and today, works as the backbone of all the innovations and developments at SumConcepts.

and competitiveness of a private sector combined with compassion and ownership of a NGO. As dozen plus Engineers set out for installations, upgrades and service in remote inaccessible villages, their mission is to take quality education at affordable cost to the masses that will help build tomorrow’s powerful India – one of Dr. Kalam’s dreams. Kompkin eLearning provides students from rural and underprivileged backgrounds to aspire and dream about opportunities that seemed unattainable to the earlier generations. The strong belief is that the projects, services, and products have to be socially relevant to be able to create a sustainable organization with multifold growth.

The eLearning platform for rural schools was a novel concept and setting a trend in the market required humongous efforts. It was relentless efforts from the team and the enthusiasm of the teachers and students and also the support of Corporates and NGOs like Lupin, Tata, Wockhardt, Rotary, etc. that eventually yielded results.

It’s high quality products with unmatched service professional attitude and care for community has resulted in Kompkin being the highest selling and most popular eLearning brand in Maharashtra for schools. Awards and accolades have duly followed with Kompkin winning Best CSR Projects award by Tata, Significant Contribution to Rotary International, Vocational Excellence Award, Sarathi IT Award, eASiA 2011 Award, Udyojakta Puraskar by MCCIA to name a few and appreciation from likes of Dr. Mashelkar, Dr. Bhatkar, Narayan Murthy, Bajaj, S. Ramadorai and of course, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

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The Business Model SumConcepts is not merely a software developer. It has positioned itself as a Project Management Company providing end to end solutions. Its tagline ‘Sustainable-MeasurableVisible’ says it all. The corporates need to allocate the funds for eLearning project.

They either identify the schoolslocality or ask SumConcepts to identify the beneficiary schools on their behalf. Team SumConcepts executes the complete project on behalf of Corporate donors which includes setting up hardware like Projectors, TVs, Computers, Tablets loaded with eLearning software from pre-primary to 12th.

The audio-visual high quality animated content is easy to operate and requires minimal technical proficiency for rural teachers. The teachers are trained and the setup is maintained for a period of 3 to 5 years including upgrades and repairs. The Corporates, in turn, earn the credibility in the society for doing good in the world. The usage and impact is tracked and improvements are shared with the sponsors.

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SumConcepts is a

project management company providing

Challenges Propelling them Towards Success Biren acclaims, “The first and foremost challenge was to convince the school teachers that their jobs are not threatened but complimented with the use of technology. The second biggest challenge was donation model wherein to convince the donors that the project was worth investing as there was a unique situation of the buyer not being a consumer or beneficiary.”

Sustainable - Measurable - Visible end to end solutions for CSR

A Company with Strong Social Motive The company takes pride in differentiating themselves visa-vis competition on their customer support standards and is built on a foundation that thrives on meeting challenges of rural schools. SumConcepts is a fine example of Social Entrepreneurship, which combines the efficiency, quality, | November 2017 |

Footprint towards Promising Future The future of eLearning is in making the technology more effective, measurable and affordable. Internet connectivity reaching to the most remote village will entail more benefits with affordable technology. It will also standardize curriculum across Indian states which will ensure easier scalability. Kompkin has already expanded its reach in states like Rajasthan and Haryana and plans to target other states in the near future. The retail segment is also picking up with parents looking for more innovative means to enhance students’ knowledge base. Kompkin is also launching its online version soon along with new valueadded apps going beyond the curriculum. Innovation and Social Awareness will be the key for growth of SumConcepts

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Learning & Development for Senior Leadership Roles: From Anne Prabhu’s desk

Anne Prabhu Senior Partner

Hunt Partners

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| November 2017 |

Pioneer Vista

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UCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) is a new normal in the current business environment, characterised by accelerated change and disruption driven by technology innovations, globalisation thereby inter-dependence and interconnectedness of businesses, political and regulatory changes, amongst others. A leader’s role has become so important; so also the demands on him / her to grow business and thrive in this rapidly changing environment.

In this context, organisations are evolving their learning & developing programs to equip senior leadership to show up as leaders, understand the current business context and take decisions and drive transformation whether to build capabilities for innovation, manage costs, build alliances or focus on whatever business goals need to be achieved.

The approach to developing leaders has changed right from: 1. Setting measures for success that were traditionally number of programs run, participants participation etc to business outcomes that could be as specific as building a pipeline of leaders so as to meet the need for 3 CEOs in 3 subsidiaries through internal promotions, building a culture of learning within the next 2 years, creating new products of which at least 2 are commercialised in the next 3 years etc.

2. Kind of Competencies developed -Apart from critical thinking skills, some of the competencies that have become ever so important in leaders of today are learning agility and the ability to adapt; ability to collaborate across levels, geographies, functions et al; ability to make sense of the chaos and provide direction and clarity, and provide vision; and to be in a constant mindset of discovery and learning.

From a command and control era successful leaders allow for dissention and are open to possibilities of what might emerge, empower their teams, engage deeply with individuals and teams, align expectations (rather than managing expectations), manage and grow opportunities rather than risks, and are continuously curious and open to learning and transformation of the self.

3. Methodologies of providing Learning & Development For learning to be long lasting and for real development and transformation; the approaches are multi-pronged.

Leadership development programs cover methodologies like: Case studies - where leaders are expected to analyse the case as if they were in the situation as a leader and are expected to come up with decisions. Thus it involves examining the causes, coming up with different courses of actions, presenting the same and listening to alternate | November 2017 |

viewpoints etc. The process is participative and enriching as there are diverse ideas, and opportunity to even come up with something that no one person had initially thought of.

Coaching - Behavioural change is not just a matter of acquiring knowledge. For shifts to truly happen, engaging with a coach in a safe environment and in the process gaining insights on deep beliefs, fears, values, discovering ones purpose enables real shifts. For instance - to empower ones team members, the leader may first need to become comfortable about letting go, and become aware of his/her deep seated needs and fears. Growing one’s network and learning to influence through trust begins with first trusting one’s-self.

Workshops where the leadership curriculum is covered in an interactive and participative manner by a trained facilitator. The facilitator’s skills in allowing space for reflection, gaining insights, drawing out the wisdom from the group itself make true learnings emerge.

Experiential Learning - Where through structured activities and group processes, and skilfully facilitated discussions post the activities, awareness is built on specific leadership competencies.

Action Learning - where post the learning program, specific and real time projects / situations are taken up and the learning is applied. A mentor can be assigned to support the individual in taking the learning forward.

During and soon after a leadership program, there’s a ‘wow’ feeling among participants. The program however is only effective if business outcomes are achieved once participants go back to their work situation. To enable and support learning, organisations and leadership development institutes have structures that support continued learning like peer learning circles where smaller teams meet on a regular basis to share learnings, provide support and encourage each other.

While learning & development is more important than ever for senior leaders, in this collaborative and empowered world, future trends point out to a need to democratize leadership development across the organisations as decisions are now broad based; and greater innovation in the development of methodologies for developing leaders.

The writer is a senior partner at Hunt Partners. She leads the Human Resources and Logistics Practice in the firm.

The writer is a senior partner at Hunt Partners. She leads the Human Resources and Logistics Practice in the firm.

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hen we wake up every day, we are in a rush to complete our daily chores and reach our workplace in time. We grab the newspaper and go through the headlines of the day while sipping a cup of coffee as we don’t have much time to go through it entirely.

While dressing up for office, we may switch on the TV and catch up with the day’s news, and while driving to the office we may switch on the radio to listen to the top stories of the day. So, we gather the entire news in bits and pieces from different sources. This is an example of microlearning, which is widely prevalent in these modern days of stiff competition.

Microlearning at Workplace People in this modern age are accustomed with technology and with time they have accepted and adapted with technological changes. Their needs and demands have also

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changed; in fact, we want things delivered to us at lightning speed and indeed, we are getting them at the same rate. A recent study states that with this change in rapid demand and rapid delivery, there has been reduction in the human attention span from 12 seconds to 8 seconds. The similar also happens at workplace where our attention span fluctuates because of the above given reasons. Employees in an organization have the unsatiating urge to gather more and more work-related information and constantly hone their skills. However, these days, they find extensive training sessions, workshops and bulky manuals boring and outdated, and want short, simple and interesting workrelated contents that they can learn in their own pace and time. Employers can effectively use microlearning applications to fulfill the learning and recreational needs of their employees.

| November 2017 |

TECH BYTES

Organizations can use microlearning in many different ways including: · Digital employee manuals Organizations can replace bulky and huge work manuals with digital and online manuals, including multimedia presentations, videos and other engaging contents. They can also be instructed to read the contents thoroughly and complete a small quiz related to the contents within a given deadline. This makes the entire process interesting for the employees and will encourage them in participating wholeheartedly. They could access the contents anytime and anywhere as per their convenience. · Digital modules for employees Digital modules can be utilized by organizations to train and assist employees so that they can learn, practice and hone their skills. These can be used flexibly as per requirement at any time of the day. · Microlearning for enhancing workplace culture A well-developed microlearning content arouses the employees’ interest and engages them; it gives them the | November 2017 |

freedom and ability to learn and improve themselves effectively, at their own pace. This creates a sense of esteem in the employees and a feeling of being respected and trusted. · Easy updating and real-time learning A target employee could be easily updated via digital content directly without going through managers, making the process simple and easy. Employees receive workrelated contents in real-time and can go through them whenever they get time.

Efficient Implementation Microlearning is a very important concept in today’s corporate world. It helps in enhancing the skills and abilities of employees, which, in turn, contributes to the ultimate benefit of the organization. It is undoubtedly beneficial for the employees, but while preparing microlearning contents it should be kept in mind that the content should be suitable for the targetted employees; should be short, crisp and to the point so that they don’t get interrupted in the middle of important tasks.

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An organization, using microlearning tools, can conduct regular tests and quizzes to train and develop its employees.

It can regularly assess its employees’ performance levels based on the tests but should also keep in mind, that it shouldn’t distract them from their daily work. Every employee has to meet his/her personal targets, and hence, the microlearning contents should be prepared and delivered to them in such a way that they can learn and perform well at the same time at the workplace.

Microlearning invigorates the employees to introspect themselves in order to figure out where they require help and also helps them to assess their efficiency in delivering against specific tasks.

Many employees may feel the work pressure and experience fear, anxiety, and stress, ultimately leading them to committing mistakes which is unhealthy for an ideal work environment. They are used to performing similar tasks everyday which puts them in a comfort zone; but, as soon as they encounter something unfamiliar, they get stressed and panic. A similar thing also happens sometimes if there is too much workload, and limited time to complete it. Pushing employees beyond their comfort zone provides them the opportunity of exploring the unknown and testing their skills and abilities. Many microlearning tools provide

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options of creating virtual unprecedented real-life situations. This could be used as a test by asking the employees to solve the situation using their knowledge and tools, which would make them familiar with the consequences in an actual circumstance.

The Future of Microlearning in Organizations Microlearning is being efficiently used nowadays in most of the organizations. As per recent data, the interest in microlearning is constantly increasing over time. More and more organizations are implementing it for better results and performance. It is the need of the hour to motivate employees and improve their performances with the goal of accomplishing organizational objectives, and microlearning tools can contribute in doing so.

| November 2017 |

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oday we live in a time which is unprecedented in human history. Technology evolves at the drop of a hat and as it does, changes many tangible and intangible elements with it. Five years ago we never thought people would sell their cars and go the “Uber-way”. Today, that is a reality. And amidst this technological advancement and evolution, there lies opportunity. The question I’m often asked is how do we spot an opportunity and grow before it’s ever a trend and the industry becomes saturated? And my most frequent response is: If it were that easy we’d all be millionaires by creating the next big thing. But here’s the saving grace: it’s not that hard either! Here are a few tools I use which have helped me spot opportunity long before it’s become mainstream.

1. Start where you are: You’ve got to start where you are. Don’t wait for all the ducks to line up in a row for you because it’ll never happen. Another reason why this is so important is because so many people think that they need to get into a certain industry in order to innovate new and crazy ideas.

The next big thing could be in your very industry, whether it’s healthcare or construction. There’s a need for innovation and new tech everywhere!

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And if that’s not enough of a reason, here’s another: you know your industry best! If you switch industries it’ll mean you have to start over and learn about an entirely new industry and guess what, anyone who’s been in the industry any longer than you already has an upper-hand. So start where you are!

2. Look out! Keep an eye open for things not working the way they should. Like Seth Godin said: “Broken!” Looking for things that are broken. Broken stuff needs fixing and the reason it ain’t fixed is because when they made the thing, the tech didn’t exist. Today you can create tech that can solve the problem of the “broken” syndrome.

3. Usability and Functionality: It’s appalling to see the number of technologies that have been created that no one uses. I was recently on the judging panel of a start-up event and I was amazed by the kinds of technology that have been built without ever doing a user-base analysis. If you don’t have any users, you don’t make any money.

And if you can’t make money than this isn’t a business, it’s a hobby. It’s so simple but passionate entrepreneurs who believe in their product often forget this. I’m talking to me too!

4. Hire for attitude: So many leaders hire and fire people because a certain person had or didn’t have the right qualifications. Qualifications can be developed, skills can be build, techniques can be learned; but a deeply ingrained characteristic or attitude cannot be easily changed. We hire people for attitude and not just for what they know. This of course doesn’t mean you go about hiring people with great attitude, you won’t get very far with that mentality either. One needs to at the least begin to prioritize attitude more than we are currently.

The greatest entrepreneurs of our time are applying these very skills and turning industries on their heads. It’s time you did it too! And oh! If I were to add one more thing to the list, I’d say: 5. Feedback! Listen to your users.

Listen to what they’re saying because in it lies your very solution. I remember reading an article by Bill Gates once in which he said: “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”

| November 2017 |

PIONEER VISTA

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