Explore The More Interactive and Engaging Mode Of Learning with MarkSharks
Reading and learning are no more tiresome to school students these days. It’s all fun for young minds which are more tuned to gadgets than books. Among the few edutech and e-learning startups in India, MarkSharks leverages the power and popularity of mobile devices to make learning of maths and science a fun, interactive activity for the students of secondary schools. MarkSharks is a cutting-edge app-based learning system that combines superior pedagogy with the power of a device to meaningfully engage students and enable ‘true learning by doing.’
Despite penetration of educational technology in India’s classroom teaching and learning system, the process has largely remained unidirectional. Whether a teacher lectures through a chalkboard or whiteboard or smart board or audio-visual system, children continue to be taught merely by watching and listening. Passive learning or the passive mode of learning made Aditya Tripathi think of an active mode of learning which developed into MarkSharks, a mobile app based learning system for today’s schoolgoers.
INTRODUCTION OF FOUNDER
The founder and CEO of MarkSharks, Aditya Tripathi is a graduate of IIT Ahmadabad and London School of Economics. He treasures over 20 years of experience in marketing, sales, business development and content creation. Prior to launching MarkSharks, he held senior leadership positions with prestigious media houses such as the India Today Group, Hindustan Times, the Outlook Group, and Discovery Networks. Before donning the hat of an entrepreneur, Aditya Tripathi successfully led the launch of magazines, websites and TV channels by means of his extensive business-building experience. He developed a passion for edutech while helping a global business enterprise develop strategies for one of its clients in education.
BUSINESS MODEL AND USP
What truly sets aside MarkSharks from other edutech companies is the solid pedagogical foundation and innovative mobile-friendly content. Using MarkSharks, students can learn actively by playing brain games, exploring interactive exercises and discovering the principles behind the concepts and theory taught in classrooms. Students can take tests before and after learning a lesson, track the time spent on lessons and analyze their performance. Even both parents and teachers can monitor students’ learning, performance and progress. MarkSharks also facilitates social learning networking among students, allowing them to share notes and collaborate with each other for group learning.
“At MarkSharks, we are not trying to replace teachers but only make students efficient and active by giving them the opportunity to immerse themselves in the learning process and actually understand concepts, rather than learning formulas and definitions. We currently follow the Indian Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum for VI to XII classes,” says Aditya Tripathi.
COMPETITION TO MARKSHARKS
MarkSharks has its own point of differentiation to stand out in competition with other edutech startups in India. Being a content driven app, MarkSharks delivers exclusive learning content which is utterly interactive, interesting, experiential, and easy to understand as well as grasp. The driving force behind the content power of MarkSharks is the team of senior educationists who have over 100 years of collective global experience in education, training and curriculum design. “We believe our innovative content is a big differentiator. We have worked on our content extensively and are sure it’s a clear winner in the market,” says Aditya Tripathi.
CHALLENGES TO MARKSHARKS
Since its launch, MarkSharks has made its way to the market and target audience through a number of challenges. The key challenge was deciding on the format and nature of learning content, according to the founder of CEO of MarkSharks. He further said, “There are many players in the market but there was still a pressing need for relevant and interactive content for experiential learning. We didn’t want to be a ‘me-too’ product; hence we spent a long time researching the market, available options and most importantly the issues that needed to be addressed.” Another big challenge was to build a strong team. Aditya Tripathi worked hard and long to build a team of the best professionals in the industry.
RESPONSE TO MARKSHARKS
Positive, encouraging feedback from the users of MarkSharks app is the most precious response that the team has elicited till date. The app has been downloaded more than 1, 00,000 times from Google Play store. A number of schools across the country have come forward to work with MarkSharks and add its content to their curriculum. MarkSharks is currently being used in schools in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat.
MISSION AND VISION
Aditya Tripathi and his team are on the mission to technologically revolutionize the teaching and learning system in India for the holistic growth of today’s children into creative, responsible and healthy citizens in future. The team is working hard to develop and release much better content in multiple Indian languages at regular intervals. They have recently filed for their first global patent. MarkSharks is in the process of rolling out a comprehensive marketing campaign to build more awareness about creative teaching and learning among teachers and parents. They are planning to approach potential investors to fund the startup and support its marketing campaigns for growth as well as development.
