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For the things, we must learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
― Aristotle.

Almost two decades ago, there were plenty of trained software engineers, a significant boom in the IT industry, which led to the construction of IT Parks in India. However, on the other side of this spectrum were people who still had no access to education to help them achieve success then.
The government of Maharashtra believed education was essential. Not just primary, but higher education was the key to a literate nation. Dr Bhatkar, a keen proponent of higher education, a college degree, believed making education available to areas with little or no learning opportunities was the key to progress.

Though urban development was rapid, and India was quickly becoming an IT hub, yet, those living near these parks were not literate. Software engineers trained in India were moving to other countries. The question was “Who would train those residing in India?” Literacy was a vision that would take decades to become a reality.

The Eureka Moment

Computers. Everyone could become literate digitally.

Dr Vijay Bhatkar, Prof. Ram G. Takwale and Vivek Sawant came up with the idea to promote “Digital Literacy”. They believed the macro goal literacy connected to the nation’s policies; digital literacy could be the short-cut to fulfil the goal quickly. The program would need to be taught using computers and by computers -to ensure the quality of e learning in higher education and offer standard certified courses for 21st-century skills across all training centres to make this idea a reality. Providing training on the latest tools and technologies through their medium of language to 15-22-year old’s, whether it was Hindi, English or Marathi was critical.

To give a boost to this idea, the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited(MKCL) was introduced on 20th August 2001. The idea was to promote a universalization and integration of Information technology in teaching, learning and educational management especially systems and the transformative socio-economic developments as well.

The idea was to offer training through eLearning content that could be pre-packaged in CD’s and sent across to each training centre in Maharashtra at first. To implement this idea, Multiversity was roped to develop eLearning content in 2003.

The Plan of Action

Digital literacy was the mission and to fulfil the goal; we set up a small team of educational content experts, graphic artists and multimedia developers in 2003. The programs were designed to teach the learners everything from switching on a computer to advanced office applications.

The Challenges

eLearning in India had just begun, and customized learning was not even an idea then. The first issue – would a Learner in the village learn from a computer-based tutorial? Another problem was converting classroom training through computer tutorials that were easy to assimilate. Another question that plagued us was a dearth of good trainers, especially in the rural areas.

The Solution

To make sure that the Learner was enticed to learn from the tutorial, we consulted the best teachers to help us convert classroom teaching principles to eLearning programs. We also decided to localize the content to cater to a diverse audience. To make up for the absence of trained teachers, we hired artists from nearby arts colleges, taught them for six months on tools like Adobe Suite, Sound Editing Tools, Microsoft Office, Open Office, etc. and then got them to develop live tutorials. Of course, as an added measure our courses and programs we designed to self-play offering plenty of assignments for learners, assessments, and knowledge checks to ascertain the student’s progress in a language they understood quickly.

The Impact of Implementation

MKCL eLearning programs offer more than 500 skills today in different industries like IT Concepts and Awareness, Job skills needed today, cyber security skills and more. Multiversity’s eLearning programs are today offered not only in Maharashtra but are also available in Rajasthan, Odisha, Haryana, Bihar, Saudi Arabia and others. Moreover, customized programs and pilots are now run in Malaysia, Sri-Lanka, and Egypt.

The Industry Scenario

eLearning has now become omnipresent. People are more mindful of the marvels it can perform for both instructors and students. While it’s helping to cut down costs and efforts invested for instructors, it is also aiding in the development of quality learning content across the globe. A recent study found eLearning decreases the use of additional frills in learning by 25-55% as compared to standard classroom training.

All the progress achieved in the last few decades has motivated the Maharashtra Government to make MS-CIT programs compulsory and a part of their new syllabi. The growth-rate of self-paced eLearning indicates the revenue opportunities in each country. According to the International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET) report, India is at the top with 55 percent growth-rate, while China, Malaysia, Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic follow.

With new technologies like cloud computation, video training, augmented reality-based programs, gamification and more, eLearning in India will advance rapidly making India one of the leading service providers for eLearning content. New initiatives, proactive measures, and increased investments will make customized learning quite popular in the next few years.

Face-to- face classes, last minute studying and appearing for exams is what the traditional mode of education entails. Though many questioned this method of instruction, very few are ready to look for a change. The Economist identified three changes in higher education, i.e. the rising costs of education, an evolving agreement that universities were meant to educate students after they graduated and the technological advances in learning methods were the leading causes why traditional methods were questioned on their efficiency.

Forces driving the change in Education today

Consumer Actions: Consumers, in this case, students and professionals, are often searching for information, which they acquire quickly through an online search. Most millennials between the ages of 18-34 are adept at using the Internet today. Also known as digital natives, they spend close to 53 hours a week online. Therefore, they expect the digital world to carry over to their universities as they spend more time in classrooms each week. Students now consider colleges as the chief means of getting employment, instead of just a self-development tool.

Current Technology: Internet technology is multiplying leading to a rise in the proliferation of smartphones in the world. According to a Gartner 2017 report, the first quarter of 2017 saw 380 million mobile devices purchased, an increase of 9.1 percent for the same period in 2016. This proliferation along with reliable internet connectivity explains how social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube have millions of visits daily. These platforms encourage eLearning in different ways at no extra cost, anywhere, anytime.

Fiscal Burden: College and university tuition fees are continually increasing more so if you would like to study at a reputed public university abroad. The average costs for the 2016-17 academic year rose by USD 860 as compared to the 2015-16 academic year. At private institutions, the price rise in tuition was almost USD 8550, and it did not include textbooks and other study materials.

The Rise of Online Learning: Stanford University first introduced MOOCs in 2011 by, which proved to be a big hit among students paving the way for open-access online courses. At the end of 2016, 58 million students opted for 6850 MOOCs offered by nearly 700 universities transforming global education completely.

The Rise Of eLearning Providers: New-age technology and its efficacy have changed consumer needs for education while creating several business opportunities for private customised learning solutions. There are several players for eLearning in India; Multiversity being one of the first to offer such courses.

Now that you get an idea why a shift to e learning in education is imperative. Here are a few Tips on how best to go about making the shift. Read 5 Tips for Colleges to Make the Shift To eLearning.
Sources:
Gartner. (2017, May 23). Gartner Says Worldwide Sales of Smartphones Grew 9 Percent in the First Quarter of 2017.
The Economist. (2014, June 27). The Digital Degree: The Future of Universities.

Voice processes are one of the most critical parts of the salesforce BPO solutions even today. It is as much critical to train the process executives on accent and knowledge management measures. At Multiversity we work closely with our telecom partners to develop online training module for their SMEs and process executives. Following are the few aspects of online training for developing the front end sales force.

Check Out the Salesforce Infographic Below

Rapid change in technology has enabled organisations to move beyond their geographical boundaries and setup successful Multi-National companies with a culturally diverse staff.

E-Learning has proven to be an essential component to help in the proliferation of teams across globe. With a changing need to adapt training modules to truly make an impact, translation of training content gained prevalence in the past decade.

In recent times, the need for providing experiential learning has become critical in helping teams connect with the training content and help them implement this knowledge in real-life situations.

At Multiversity, we are aware of this change in training demands and pursue a holistic approach to localising training content.

So whats’s different?

Localisation of content goes beyond the stereotypical approach of translating content to another language. It’s more than just a copy-paste job from the several online translation softwares that are present on the internet, that use SMT based tools to translate content! At every stage of the process, we look at various aspects of content localisation. Here’s an insight in to our process :

• Estimation
• Pre-Planning
• Development
• Integration

Estimation

During this phase, our team works with L&D managers, subject matter experts & company executives to understand the scope of work and consult on solutions that would be effective and easy to integrate.

We offer localisation in the 7 most widely spoken languages across the globe and 9 Indian languages

The deliverables can vary from developing pure content to audio & video transcription and production

True localisation through development of characters & animations that are in sync with a varied set of cultures and traditions of a team

Pre-Planning

In this phase, our Instructional designer creates a design approach that is simple, flexible and localisation friendly

The ID at Multiversity, dwells in to use of signages & colours used that can affect cultural aspects of planning the training material as well. For example: A Thumbs Up sign in western culture is perceived as a sign of approval while in the Middle East it’s construed as an offensive sign

We also select the style of narration based on the culture of the teams we are building the training content for. There have been marked differences in studies carried out between Asian & Western professionals

Designing to make content easily readable & navigable is of importance as well. Our design team works with our language experts to carve out a clean & well designed interface

Development

Our team uses unicode characters that are compliant with various LMS tools

Use of idioms in the English content developed is not the best way to pursue localising content to another language

We use advanced localisation softwares for a quick turnaround without comprising on the quality of the content. This is possible because of our expertise in using tools like Articulate Storyline to best of its capabilities

Integration

Our developers understand that every country uses the internet in vary different ways. And even the platforms through which they consume information are different.

We develop the content in formats that are most easily accessible and most widely consumed. For example: Countries like India & Nigeria have lower bandwidths of internet than the Middle East or certain south-east asian countries like Singapore. Hence content is optimised to suit these discrepancies

Usage of devices & browsers have also been known to vary from region to region. During the final stages, our team conducts extensive testing to deliver glitch-free training modules

Hence, localisation goes beyond the most common understanding of translation content from one language to another. Translation might just bridge the language barrier but localisation uses techniques to employ regional specificity. At Multiversity, our team understands the nuances of corporate training across cultures. Get to know more, visit our office or contact us, today!

Customer service is critical for any organization striving to make profits and survive. At Multiversity, we integrate with our partners to develop customised mobile learning solutions for the work-force to use on the go! Below are the ways we make a difference.

Gamification takes the essence of games, attributes such as fun, play, transparency, design and competition and applies these to a range of real-world processes inside an organization, including learning & development. According to a study, the Gamification Market is estimated to reach up to $5.502 billion by 2018 at a compound annual growth rate of 67.1% from 2013 to 2018.

According to Gartner Inc.’s Brian Burke in a contribution to Forbes, “When designed correctly, gamification has proven to be very successful in engaging people and motivating them to change behaviors, develop skills or solve problems.”

Using gamification technology, banking and financial planning can be turned be turned into a more interactive experience. It can help clients to run a variety of scenarios in a simulated environment with the goal of determining the best options for saving and investing given market volatility and unforeseen market conditions. It is proving to be a good way to engage and retain consumers.

Getting millennials to embrace “traditional” financial services isn’t easy. The new-age customers are more dependent on technology than any other previous generations. And banking was never a smooth experience as many face on regular basis. However now financial technology companies have transformed to offer whole new ways to turn bill payments (and other services) into a smooth and seamless, almost one-click process. This relationship can further be improved by gamification of application.

The idea of gamification is to bring the elements, design and principles of a game into non-game environments in order to engage, educate and bond with customers. In addition to increasing engagement, establishing loyalty and improving financial literacy, gamification is believed to be one of the ways of painless and cost-effective transition to intensified usage of digital channels instead of physical. As a result, banks can significantly reduce operational/processing costs.

Banks can gamify the customer-facing tools to enhance customers’ understanding of their own financial health and allow them to monitor progress towards personalized savings targets, among other examples. Gamification could also be used as an educational tool to inform and educate people about many financial aspects that would otherwise usually require a one-on-one session with their relationship managers.

Here gamification in banking can operate on a similar model as those fitness apps. Instead of getting points on burning a certain number of calories or walking a specific number of steps in a day, users can get points when they perform a certain number and type of transactions using the gamification platform. It could be anything from watching videos about financial aspects such as investments or savings to even transferring funds to purchase new stocks. The point is to make sure the journey is as awesome as the destination i.e. users should enjoy this experience which is the only way to ensure they continue using it. Besides gamification platforms will not only eliminate some of the capital investment and implementation challenges of large-scale deployment but also help reduce the complexities that otherwise discourage users.

Benefits of Gamification

The biggest benefit of gamification is that providers can guide a new customers to the markets through all stages of trading i.e. right from analysis to trend identification to trade placement and finally onto risk management. This is essential because it is going to be in a lot of cases the investors first experience in the financial markets and that first experience can determine if the investors remains in the markets with confidence and thus becomes a great benefit to the financial markets and all its participants. On the other hand, if the investors are not able to understand how to proceed then they may abandon the process and look for better alternatives. So providing an excellent UI is of paramount importance in gamification.

Gamification has a strategic role to play in the digital banking era. As banks make the shift from enabling transactions to creating experiences, they can find in gamification a powerful tool to engage, educate, motivate and influence their digital customers.

In today’s stern competitive business setting, organisations are required to stay informed with the latest market developments and business necessities that show a discrepancy periodically. Therefore, forming a learning philosophy will help employees and organisations outclass rivals through easy access to the essential information and expertise. For this very reason, a lot of customised and certified courses have been developed keeping in mind the ever increasing demands of the clienteles in this internet age. Hence, it becomes necessary to go with the flow and keep on updating your expertise.

As we all know that, banking is one industry in which the adoption of the latest technology is crucial to business and growth. In a challenging environment where employees are chasing targets, keeping pace with new technology and processes is not easy. From mobile learning in banking to customised eLearning in investment banking, BFSI players rely on self-paced learning for their customers and employees. But when it comes to the choice between certified training courses and customised courses, the choice is not easy to classify and knock into the ideal course as per your requirements. However, before making any selection, it is important to understand what each type of course offers. This understanding is important and key to making a selection and getting ahead as per your requirement and learning needs. Regardless of the fact whether you go for a certified course or a customised course, the most important factor to keep in mind is the quality

Certified training courses come with a promise of standardised, certified curriculum. These are the off-the-shelf solutions that do not provide tailored courses specifically designed to meet organisational needs.. On the other hand, customised courses can be tailored as per your specific organisational training and learning needs, in turn saving a lot of money, energy and time.
Based on these challenges and business objectives you want to achieve, an e-learning expert creates a course according to your learning and training requirements to update with all the developments so that so that can compete with your counterparts with élan.
This scenario can be understood with the help of an example. For instance, you have launched a new and unique insurance product that provides insurance cover for women toward cancer treatment, and you want all your employees—from tellers to marketing executives—to talk about this product to your customers.

Obviously, all your employees can not be trained for this purpose at one go. To train them you need a systematic online or offline training and learning program. For this very purpose, either certification program or a customised program can be chosen as per your need and the situation. If you go for a certification program on health insurance, your employees will become conversant about the details of health insurance such as: who provides the insurance, the importance of health insurance, all the benefits related to it, how to calculate premium, and how to convince prospective customers.

On the other hand, if you go for a customised course it would be tailored and would be exactly according to your specific needs and would talk about your product. This course would help your employees understand the minute details too, such as: who the product is for, what is unique about the product, its benefits, what is the fine print, and what are its limitations. In other words, the customised training would help train your employees in each and every aspect of the product, and this is the biggest advantage of this type of learning.

In a nutshell, Certification courses and customised courses have their own unique benefits. What you choose depends on your learning and training requirements. For instance, in a banking industry, where employees are in diverse locations and functions and the products are unique to each bank, customised courses would be helpful for keeping up with the latest trends and would prove productive saving a lot of money, energy, time and resources. . As per your needs, level of the customised course can be selected too. For example, you can choose a Level 1 course for micro-finance and a Level 3 course for digital payments. Customised courses cater to your employees and their needs and help you achieve your organisational objectives.

So, what are you waiting for?

Contact us and get going with customized courses for your organization!

Going from teaching in a classroom to training online is a massive change, no doubt, but with a little study and preparation, you can gain the flexibility and quick admittance that students are looking for. Carefully preparing is a must to ensure the success of an eLearning course, to offer a positive student experience and maximising time spent with students. Here are few tips on how to transition smoothly based on our experiences over the last decade.

Find The eLearning Course Format

There are different formats you can convert your content to. The form you select will help you shape the customised eLearning college course. The three ways are

a) Asynchronous Learning: In such a format the students and instructors don’t interact regularly. Favorite examples are self-paced online courses, Q & A’s, discussion boards and email. Asynchronous learning happens where a single learner connects right away to the content through a technology system, capitalising on time flexibility to allow the learner to control the pace, schedule, and location of the course.

b) Synchronous Learning: A real-time, teacher-led eLearning program where all applicants are logged on at the same time and communicate directly with each other. The interaction may also occur via audio or video conferencing, Internet telephony, or two-way live broadcasts. Online learners and teachers find synchronous learning more social, where asking and answering questions is possible in real time.

c) Hybrid or Blended Learning: Learning curricula that mix synchronous and asynchronous learning, with face-to-face instruction is blended learning. According to research and our experience, the hybrid or blended learning format has most advantages as it uses the benefits of both synchronous and asynchronous learning.

Investigate Various Instructional Design Models

There are several Instructional design models that can help you convert your traditional college degree course to an eLearning college format. However, the most popular one called the Nine Events of Instruction created by Robert Gagne is considered to be the most appropriate. Using an instructional design module is critical to ensure that the content offered is safe, firm, detailed and quicker than average.

Use of Communication

Communication is one of the most critical aspects of an eLearning course. But, understanding the need for communication and what you hope to achieve with it is a must. Interaction at the right time and right place are crucial to ensure success.  There are three ways to communicate

a)  Student to Content – this refers to the communication between the online student and the subject matter.

b)  Student to Teacher –this refers to the interaction between the tutor and the online student through e-mail, chat, Q & A, virtual classroom discussions or video conferencing.

c)  Student to Student –this refers to interaction among students with or without the presence of an instructor. Online discussions, group projects etc. are where such communication happens.

Depending on the format for the eLearning Course and the Instructional Design Model you have chosen, you can select the kind of communication for the online course.

Select the Correct Instructive Technology

Learning of any kind is more effective when you interact with the learning materials and the learning environment. Putting your knowledge to practical uses such as creating new learning material for other students and communicating with them about it, helps to enhance your learning capabilities. For example, based on a social pedagogy, Multiversity offers several interactive course features that will enhance an eLearning course. Thorough research to find the technology that is most suitable will help you attain your goals.

Revise

Offering the course to online students as soon as you finish converting it from a classroom curriculum is not the right approach. Take the time and revise your eLearning course before deploying it. Follow these simple steps when you want to review.

• Survey – Set up a study to check the effectiveness of -the content, site design, course plotting, and design aesthetics. The questions should include both qualitative and quantitative features, its usefulness, the GUI, ease of access, the content and instructional design standards used.
• Expert Panel – Make sure a panel of subject matter experts, eLearning developers and instructional designers review your subject matter thoroughly.
• Revise the Web-Based Course –Based on their productive responses, you must revise the eLearning course.
• Beta Testing and Expert Panel –Once your revisions are complete, the same expert panel should re-check the online course.
• Analyzing Data –Analyzing the feedback from the survey and expert comments should give you an idea on areas of improvement before the module is ready to be deployed.

After final revisions, you can safely offer it to your online students. However, do remember to revise content based on your students’ feedback.

mLearning or Mobile Learning is the buzzword around !!!

What is mobile learning ????

Mobile learning is just not accessing elearning module on smartphones or tablets. There is a lot of thought and instructional designing which goes in it. This content is responsive to device ,also structured and designed according to device dimensions. M-learning or mobile learning can be defined as “learning across multiple contexts, through content interactions.

We all would agree on the point that… with the era of smartphones and tablets the use of laptop/ desktop has been limited to stationed activities. With increasing competitiveness we are always trying to catch up with things in our personal and professional lives. So learning cannot be an exception to it.

Learning on the go ..is what is becoming popular. And the best part is it can be in Online and Offline mode. The contents can be installed on the mobile in the form of an application and accessed without internet connectivity. This data can be tracked.

This format of learning gives an easy access to people who are keen on learning and have a time constraint. These can be easily accessed during travel, breaks between meetings and so on.

Technology is available for developing mobile compatible elearning and also conversion of existing econtent. HTML5 format is compatible for smartphones and tablets. Authoring tools like Adobe Captivate, Lectora Inspire, Articulate Storyline etc. can be used.

Today mobile learning is in developing stage. But with all its limitations, there is a growing acceptance to mLearning globally. There is no doubt about the fact that Mobile Learning may have the maximum market share in years to come.