Vivek Varshney, Founder, Speed Labs, advocates hybrid mode of learning which enables a student’s progress through better data and methodological inputs
Vivek Varshney’s tryst as an education solutions provider began after a long stint in financial services, industrial banking and private equity for 11 years, followed by work in the education space for about six years. A BTech and an MBA, Varshney came up with the idea of deploying technology to improve learning outcomes in 2016. Thus was born Speed Labs, a ‘Catchy’ abbreviation for ‘Specialised Education Lab’.
Describing the thought process behind the launch of Speed Labs and the service that the startup provides, he says, “If we look at the journey of a student, there are three aspects – lectures, self-study and practice. We are more focussed on the second and third aspects where we use machine learning and data analytics to improve learning outcomes for students and curate their learning journey.”
Varshney is a firm believer in hybrid learning as against pure online learning, and adds, “In 2016, I was among the few people in the industry urging to go hybrid and thankfully during Covid too we stuck to hybrid model. We never experimented with pure online because it’s not doing justice to students. Pure online has lots of challenges in terms of infrastructure, device, place at home and monitoring. Whereas you can use hybrid mode for better analytics, feedback and suggestions.”
Empowerment approach
What specific role is Speed Labs playing in a student’s life, and how does it plan to innovate its product? Answering the question, Varshney says that with NEP rolling out, school education as we understand will not be the same anymore. “The term K12 may not remain. It may split into K 8 and 9-12. NEP is emphasising making youth available for skilled employable force. And after CUET’s successful implementation in 2022, every stream, be it engineering, medicine, humanities or commerce will have some competitive exam to get into the college. So, a product like Speed Labs can empower students with more methodological, analytical and data-driven inputs for those exams.”
In the new scheme of things, preparation based on data and not perception will determine admissions. “It’s better if the student has right diagnosis. Speed Labs is providing the right depth of diagnosis to students so that they can use their time well and work on their weaknesses and make strategy for exams,” he adds.
