EdSense is an education management platform. Their solutions focus on core educational facilities and not just on administrative management. Their unique blend of academics and psychology offers a great deal of flexibility to teachers in personalization of education to each student, to implement different pedagogies. In an interview with The Knowledge Review, Kiran Jupudi, Founder and CEO of the company, sheds light on the organization’s mission, educational procedures, career development initiatives, and future plans.

What is your organization’s vision/mission and what steps are you taking to achieve the same? Kindly state some examples about how you are incorporating them mission/vision with educational activities.   

Our mission is to make learning a truly enriching experience for students, and helping schools, teachers, and parents assist them with the same. We believe students have different learning capabilities, and education when catered to them in the way that best appeals to them, is more effectively accepted.

How is your organization implementing modern technology in education?

The platform uses AI that identifies patterns of an individual child’s habits, dispositions, and aligns learning/teaching strategies accordingly. 360 degree learner profile, personalized content/course recommendations are the core offerings. The platform equips the school with latest advances in teaching methodologies such as flipped classroom, assessment for learning  and evaluations based on ‘Bloom’s Taxonomy’ and monitoring the child’s 21st century skills. The platform offers easy to use intuitive mobile app called Stitch that even a primary school student can easily use to collaborate and enhance learning.

There is extensive research going on in the field of Education, Neuroscience, and the possibilities are unlimited and with advances in AI and ML, students are going to have a rewarding journey of learning.

Please tell us about yourself and your opinions on the current scenario of vocational education in India.

With over 15 yrs. of experience in building EduTech solutions for US Education market and with over 3mn happy customers in US, we have built modern technology backed (Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Power BI, and Cognitive services) education management platform to suit Indian market.

We did an extensive research on the Indian school systems, technologies, and methodologies being used across different schools, and the general education scenario, before conceptualizing EdSense. Combining our expertise in technology and education, we developed a unique platform that helps schools plan, define, and implement a digital strategy to incorporate new ways of teaching, and match the dynamic standards and requirements of today’s learners.

Students today, have various supplementary materials for reference, in addition to their curriculum. However, teachers are not always in loop about the references students depend on, and their progress with it. This is because schools still depend on One Size Fits All pedagogy. We have a world of high-quality content available on the web, and schools should be equipped to personalize and customize that content to match the skills, interests, and capabilities of their students. Schools must delve deeper into the learning aspect of education, and emphasize on overall development of a student. This holistic approach towards learning and student development is what EdSense brings to the table.

What are the scopes and career opportunities for students pursuing vocational education?

Every student is unique, the capability of students needs to be identified, tracked, and nurtured. There are certain skills needed for some professions and some of the skills are common for any professional; this needs to be identified in the school level.

Education and cocurricular activities are equally important, there is a lot a student can express with their interest, passion, and behavior and these points are great sources to predict in which field they can be successful.

EdSense offers such toolset to the teachers and helps students in their higher achievement.

Having gained rich experience in the IT sector, what is your opinion on the current IT scenario of the country?

Education System in India has been a topic of concern and discussion for ages, yet very little has been done for it. Almost every aspect of life today has been modernized with changing technology, but something as critical as education stayed far from its shadows, still clinging to the same old arrangements that didn’t stay on par with the current generation’s needs. Although technology did make its way into schools, replacing blackboards with smart screens and note books with laptops, it failed to infiltrate into what really mattered – the several aspects of learning.

At EdSense we Do NOT promote technology, technology is just a medium. We offer right blend of Academic Excellence and Psychology.

To arrive at derivatives, the platform uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) that identifies patterns of an individual child’s habits, dispositions, and aligns learning/teaching strategies accordingly. The fact that some of EdSense’s features are awaiting patent, goes on to show the uniqueness of the platform.

Please tell us about EdSense. How is the company contributing in the development of the education sector in India?

EdSense – school’s digital strategy partner, bridges this gap between the education system and student learning, through technology, artificial intelligence, and insights from stalwarts of the sector, to ensure overall development of students.

• School’s online learning platform: Make school the center for learning & teaching again and get up to speed with today’s generation of learners with a platform for teachers to aggregate & curate open content and track their progress.
• Personalization of learning: 360-degree profiling of students that illustrates behaviors, learning styles, strengths, interests, health, nutrition, family, psychometry, and academic progress on a regular basis to understand them intimately for more personalization of teaching and learning.
• Continuous professional development: Empower teachers with modern toolset and courses to improve their teaching & management skills which can bring positive impact in student outcomes.

What are the career opportunities and exposures that your organization provides?  

EdSense believes in upskilling and reskilling, this comes when we have right performance and skill metrics. As a part of EdSense’s continual professional development program, every individual is empowered to innovate and present the solution towards automation or optimization. Every associate is allowed to pick up available career paths and pursue their passion. We are an education management platform with ample scope to find their passion in the field of education, psychology, or digital content.

How is your organization ensuring overall development of the students?

EdSense connects schools/teachers, students, and parents on a single platform, and seamlessly integrates existing B2C supplementary learning methods, digitized student records, effective teaching methodologies, artificial intelligence-based learning and performance tracking, and more. As we put it–EdSense is an educational system that focuses on the unique combination of “Academics – Child Preferences and Psychology – Technology” to guide the key stakeholders “School – Students – Parents”.

Empowering Students

• EdSense encourages students to explore various learning methodologies, recognize their interests and strengths, and hone the same. Seeing that learning is not just confined to the limits of a classroom, students learn at their own pace.

Mentoring Teachers

• EdSense believes excellence in students comes from excellent teachers. Hence, it lays added emphasis on optimizing teaching efforts and automating repetitive activities, to help teachers make better use of their time in the class. Our company emphasizes the integral role played by teachers in the success of this ecosystem.
• The platform assists teaches with shared lesson plans, cognitive assistance, scheduler and alerts, measured outcomes, and instructional design platform. Teachers are required to take continuous professional development courses, to better help students.

Assisting schools

• EdSense assists schools with centralized data, curriculum development planning, analyzing learning patterns, and drive decisions based on data from across all its institutions. New learning paradigms, monitoring techniques and governing capabilities, pedagogies and technology, empower schools to put their best foot forward in shaping the leaders of tomorrow.

What are the future plans of your organization?

EdSense currently has 8 schools in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, some of them in pilot model and some on paid subscription, bootstrapped so far and finished 80% product development. EdSense aims to reach out to multiple cities in the country to ensure the benefit of the product reaches multiple geographical locations. Started with CBSE/CIE Schools in three states Telangana, Andhra, and Karnataka, EdSense has achievable sales targets.

By end of 2018, EdSense aims to on board 75 Schools in three states under paid subscription model and have at least 50 schools on board for pilot. Currently our sales conversion rate is 90% and we are in discussions with several large networks of schools.

By end of 2019 ( 18 months from now), EdSense is confident to have 200 CBSE Schools, 20 engineering colleges and 20 b schools using EdSense on paid subscription model.

What is your advice to the up-and-coming professionals of the industry?
You are unique, build the right team, and identify the right pain point – Sky is the limit