We Must Stop Thinking About Technology And Focus On The Learning: Rameshwar Mandail, CEO & Founder, SkillMonk

Nowadays, our learning is characterised by our gadgets. YouTube, Google Classroom and Zoom Classes have become the new norm. In such an environment, how is the world around us changing?

To have a discussion on these lines, BW Education hosted a panel discussion on "Remote Learning: Technology The Saviour" as a part of its 40 Under 40 Summit & Awards.

"Remote Learning: Technology The Saviour, is a topic of great debate. People have picked up a great many skills in this period of lockdown. This has opened up a great and growing market for online learning. It has opened new doors and various long term implications," as perfectly elaborated by Tudhar Bansal, Founder of Avtar Education. 

“Online learning is an emerging source of learning in the eyes of parents. There is something new to learn now. We are able to deliver something different now. Parameter has shifted from skills to what has been the learning. “Technology is here to stay for the future to come", says another panellist Tijay Gupta, CEO of Bachpan Schools. "Online learning has democratized access to quality learning to people. Quality learning has been enabled in the current situation," he added.

Of course, with all these changes, there are bound to be behavioural shifts. They say it takes 18-20 days fo develop a new behaviour and we will soon be into 180 days of lockdown. That statement carries a lot of implications. “The pandemic has been the catalyst to this. However so, it has kick-started a lot of innovation. It is all a mindset game and we can see people overcoming it," underlined Vineet Patwari, Co-Founder of elearnmarkets.com.

Of course, no one expected any of this. We weren’t prepared for this spike or this lockdown. However now, most businesses that started during this time are not even thinking about offline offices for the next 6-12 months. Vinayak Garg, founder and CEO of The Lazy Gardener said, “For the first time, everyone’s narrative's are the same. We are are all learning to adapt to it. The market has moved to a complete digital story. Where the customers are, that is where they need to be."

Of course, all of this didn’t come easily. Rome wasn’t built in a day, as they say. These enterprises faced various challenges, especially when it came to acceptance to this way of life in the minds of the consumers but now, we are all ready for the future. They just went where the audience was - social media.

The future for online learning looks very interesting. With the market growing and people adapting to this shift, we can expect even more innovations and ventures to come up. “The new approach should be towards learning. We must stop thinking about technology and focus on the learning," ascertained Rameshwar Mandail, CEO & Founder of SkillMonk. Referral and word of mouth always help these companies. However, the value of online learning in the minds of parents is the real challenge and companies must work to prove it.