How would you like the class served - Customised or Standardised?

Let's start with why am I even writing about this

Let's go 10-15 years back - you would see teachers taking classes in the school and after the school. Every teacher had a different teaching style and the classes were taken in small groups (talking more about K-12). Even students were/are of different types and this marriage of students and teachers had a way of fitting naturally.

Some students would flaunt how a teacher told them a "technique" that they no more have to think about solving a specific type of sum - they just pick up elements from the problem; throw them in a pre-defined structure and bam! you have a solution.

Other students would not be satisfied with this approach, they want a detailed understanding of the topic. They want the teacher to enable them to solve any kind of problem.

There were students who would not practice by themselves [a behaviour issue and not capability issue]; the teachers knew this and, hence, were slightly stricter with them. There were students who wouldn't be given the background of a topic because the teacher "knew" it would confuse them. There were students with whom the teacher would keep the class more interactive and others where the teacher would don the hat of a disciplinarian.

In all these cases, the teacher "knew" the students or was able to quickly tweak the process because everything was happening live - in front of them.

Let's fast forward to the current times and focus solely on the new age edtech companies. In most cases, technology has taken the front seat and this is what is happening -

• content first companies are pushing the same content in front of the students - no differentiation
• live classes are being conducted to teach hundreds of students together in a broadcast way learning method - no differentiation
• every student is being pushed the same level of lecture or content and is judged on similar level of questions

And why have we done all this → simple reason → ed-tech has to become tech-ed in order to scale. Everyone will tell you that if you need to scale - standardisation is the way to go. And this isn't the story of last ten years - this is the philosophy of industrial revolution.

But here is a small problem → not everything can be standardised; not everything should be standardised. Creative fields - things related to art - should not be standardised. And let me take this bold step and tell you this - there is no better creative job than to teach! Education should not be standardised.

Now I don't mean to say that education should go back to what it was 10-15 years back and technology should not interfere with the process. What I rather mean is that we shouldn't take the soul of education out just before standardisation. Remember that the old system wasn't without its flaws as well. What we need is a mix of love and customisation from the old school and amp it up with technology. The power of technology should come in to aid the teacher and students in the process (and not overwhelm them!). Some examples could be -

• As a student, why should I have to select a teacher in my neighbourhood? I should have access to the best teachers in the world!
• As a student, I should be able to go back to the lectures if I am unclear about what the teacher taught. I should also be able to ask my teacher personally in the class
• As a teacher, I should be able to access students through out the world
• As a teacher, I should have a record of the students - how have they performed in the past, what are their strong and weak areas
• As a teacher, I should have access to question banks, worksheets etc
• As a teacher, I need not have to carry out the admin work - my job should only be teaching!

and much more..

Today edtech is more about tech than ed. This is the reason of the shocking stat mentioned below

99% of the after-school education market remains unorganised. Parents who have subscribed to one or more edtech platform haven't let go off their traditional tuition.

The solution lies in bringing the best of both worlds - a solution which would be superior to both the worlds. And here is the business problem - how do you scale it?

The next time you get asked how would you like the class served - respond with confidence - customised!

Let's not just do scalable things - let's do the right thing and then figure out a way to scale it up. That's more exciting. Just doing scalable things is boring, isn't it?