Mobile based E-Learning software to create buzz in India

Bangalore: You would have often seen students studying in a bus or other vehicle during exams. Or a line of students sitting outside the examination hall and doing last minute revision. Wouldn't it be great if you could fit your huge textbooks in your mobile phone? A mobile startup company plans to transform this vision into reality. Wandflower Software Technologies has created a mobile based e-learning platform to create a unique learning experience for students. Narayana Rao, Managing Director of Wandflower Software Technologies thinks this is the future in education. "Nowadays mobile has become a personal thing and we use it to listen music, watch videos, chat and it is always with us. So we thought why not take advantage of mobile and related technology and create a market for e-learning," he says.

Mobile penetration in India is increasing at a fast pace. Almost 50 percent of population in India carries mobile phone. In this situation, potential in mobile e-learning market will be tremendous. Rao, who was an Engineering Manager, came up with this idea when he was working in Motorola. "I had started developing mobile application so when we were doing that, me and my friend came across an interesting software that was developed by a European university and it was successful there." That is how the journey of this four member team started.

But how does this process really work? Basically, Wandflower has entered into tie ups with content owners for their database. "Right now there is one content partner, that is, Success Key. They do campus recruitment training. They provide content and use our solution to provide it to their customers," says Rao. Companies like Globarena, MeritTrack and iPowerFour are functioning as data evaluators as well. They are testing the product internally and creating content which they give to students and ask for their feedback.

If a student wants to use this product then he can send a text message to the company who then replies back with a link. If a student has GPRS then he can straightaway download the software and start using the application. If he does not have GPRS then he can download it on PC and then transfer it to mobile through Bluetooth or data cable. Currently, Wandflower is using coupons to sell it to students. Students need to buy scratch coupon from success key. Once you enter the coupon number it will get validated with the database and then you can access the data.

The target audience for this product will be people who are preparing for competitive examinations. Through this application, users can view the data on their mobile phone. "Across India lakhs of aspirants are applying for one or other competitive examination which include civil services, banking examination or management examination every year. Through this application aspirants can take mock test for various exams," says Rao.

Wandflower is trying to reach out to the Global audience as well. "We are sending a MoU to a company in Kenya. That company is providing value added service to Kenyan operator and they are going to use our solution and they are going to make it available to the people who are taking competitive examination in Kenya" says Rao. Wandflower is also trying to tie up with Idea and Reliance in India.

There is no doubt that there is great opportunity in Mobile based e-learning but there are challenges as well. This software runs on Java application. So a mobile phone which does not support Java will not be able to run this application. Even though this application can be installed through computer but if a mobile phone does not have GPRS then it will have problem in updating the database. Challenges are many but with the launch of 3G technology in India there are opportunities too. Hence, this might revolutionize the education system in India.

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