In the learning community, there’s a theory which is very popular – it’s called the Remembering Cone where learners will remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, 50% of what they hear and see, 70% of what they say, and 90% of what they both say and do. Eminent educator Edgar Dale dedicated his life’s work to experiential learning, driven by audio and visual aids, and strongly believed in the power of doing as opposed to mere reading, hearing or observing.

And yet, school systems worldover can't seem to break away from the rigmarole of rote learning. While this manner of learning may augment the success rates of schools and educational boards, the real beneficiaries – students – are at a massive disadvantage when they enter the workforce. This is what Subbarao Siddabatula, Charu Noheria and Ilangovel Thulasimani seek to change, through their startup Practically. Founded in 2018, Practically is an intelligent, interactive and immersive learning app for students of classes 6-12 with a focus on STEM learning. It is the only experiential learning app that brings learning alive through immersive videos, interactive augmented reality and 3D simulations. It offers an edge over other learning apps by enhancing conceptual understanding and improving retention of concepts with features like life-like video content, hands-on learning, experiential learning, live classes and AI assistant. 

Siddabatula, who spent a considerable time in the healthcare IT sector, cofounded another edtech startup called Corsalite, which deploys gamification and adaptive learning for test prep candidates. Along with Noheria and Thulasimani, also cofounders of Corsalite, Siddabatula decided to start an entity that would focus on experiential STEM learning. “India is currently experiencing its ‘Silicon Valley’ moment – there’s a rich infusion of capital, widespread availability of quality talent and strong policy measures to support the growth of startups. Moreover, the adoption of technologies is also robust in India. So far, tech like AR/VR have been extensively used in healthcare, and is slowly finding relevance in the education sector too.”

The past couple of years have seen a windfall in the number of edtech startups in India - companies like Byju’s and Unacademy have gone on to become unicorns, multi-million dollar acquisitions like WhiteHat Jr. by Byju’s have beckoned a new era in online education. The demand for a wholesome learning experience catered by technology is finally catching on among formerly conservative Indian societies, as shown by the rising adoption of these e-learning solutions in remote areas of India too. While Siddabatula was emboldened by the positive response of a market like India, he realised that the time was perfect to introduce a new paradigm in education. This was especially exacerbated when COVID19 began early last year, forcing schools to shut down and adopt online learning. A report by NASSCOM titled ‘Reimagining Edtech – the COVID Effect’ launched in October 2020 had some interesting data:

• Student engagement witnessed a 50% jump, while subscriber base witnessed a more than 80% increase
• Schools and universities would eventually have to partner with edtech companies to deliver courses more effectively
• Hybrid learning, increasing investment in tech infrastructure and making faculty more tech-ready would become dominant trends in the coming months/years
• Edtech companies have to make tools, services and solutions more easily accessible and economical

The Practically School Solution, a B2B2C offering, gives schools and its teachers access to the Practically teacher app free of cost. 60-90 minutes of content is compressed into 5-6 minutes of succinct videos, allowing students to understand diverse and lengthy concepts faster. Once they master the basic levels, they can move to advanced levels of these concepts. Over 3000+ videos and 1000+ Simulations/AR and features are available like reports, test prep documents, polls, analytics and homework assignments. The app covers universal curriculum across Math and Science for 6th to 12th grades. Over 130 schools across India are already using Practically to enable online classes during the pandemic.

While AR and simulated content is the core value offering, Practically also relies heavily on AI to deliver solutions to end users, and manage a host of other variables. An AI assistant called Proton serves as a study buddy, and helps students with queries and navigation. Other interesting features include assessing student needs and emotions, using an open Computer Vision based AI with DNN; and gauging attention levels using open Computer Vision with TensorFlow and DNN. This can also be used to conduct online proctoring eventually, added Siddabatula. In a bid to enhance a personalised path of learning for each child based on his proficiency levels, AI helps bundle concepts based on interest, relevance and difficulty level – this eliminates the traditional model of completing courses, and instead allows a student to acquire expertise in concepts. The startup using the RASA model and Google’s BERT model to train its AI models.

In addition, Siddabatula revealed that they have developed an image extrapolation algorithm that is patent pending with a 97.5% level accuracy, and will string together content across the platform in various formats based on single image identification.

Practically has raised $9million in funds to date from investors like Siana Capital, Exfinity Ventures, IDFC Paramparaa, YourNest Venture Capital and HNIs. So far, there are 300,000+ students and 15,000 teachers on the platform. The startup is working to consolidate its presence in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and is working with schools like Dr. KKR’s Gowtham Group of Institutes, International Delhi Public School - Rajahmundry, JCR Chaitanya - Tirupati, Raghavan School – Chittoor, Darwin: The Next Generation School-Hyderabad. Other schools that are using Practically include Sanjay Ghodawat in Kolhapur, DPS Duliajan in Assam, GEMS Millenium School in UAE, Madhuvan Vatika Public School in Punjab and Satyakaam International in Meerut. This year, Practically is going to expand its presence in India, followed by the USA.