Friday 29 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in Digital Edge, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on April 11, 2022 - April 17, 2022

Struggling students have been plagued for decades by a one-size-fits-all education method that consistently proves to be detrimental. 

Large classes contribute to burnout among teachers, who are unable to provide the attention and care each student needs. Inevitably, struggling students are left trailing behind, with no solution in sight. 

Lack of access to equitable education, mentorship and guidance are the main deterrents in preventing students from escaping this vicious cycle. Eer Kai Song was just 17 when she realised this fact while volunteering in a low-performing school, where she was exposed to the harsh realities faced by students who are not afforded a conducive environment to succeed. 

“That was a big turning point in my life, where I realised that the lack of a good education in your early days really affects your social mobility,” says Eer, a former consultant at McKinsey & Co in London.

She was moved to set up GuruLab with Vicky Tan, who co-founded learning firms Veritas Academy and Co:Ed Learning. The one-year-old start-up has since raised RM4.3 million in seed funding from a strategic corporate investor.

GuruLab is an online learning platform with a proprietary app; it was conceived to contribute towards the education system in Malaysia. A language learning platform, GuruLab focuses on English, owing to the team’s strong belief in the opportunities that the language provides students. 

Students who are not sufficiently motivated because of a lack of educational resources, be it personalised learning or mentorship, tend not to pursue tertiary education. This is dependent on a variety of factors, including low scores or low proficiency in the English language, says Eer, who holds a master’s degree in information engineering from Cambridge University.

Students who do have high scores hit a stumbling block when pursuing their tertiary education because of their low proficiency in the English language. Their university and career pathway could be bolstered by speaking the language. 

Tan, who has a master’s in education from Oxford University, reflects on her childhood in Sibu and how she was given many opportunities — such as attending international camps and toastmasters’ events — owing to her proficiency in the English language. 

She believes every child should have access to education and be given the opportunity to learn English, despite their background or geographical location. 

“Currently, we are only focusing on language education because we strongly believe mastering the English language is a good way for students to be exposed to future opportunities, whether it is tertiary education in Malaysia, Southeast Asia or the top UK, US, Australian universities and then transition to [office] jobs, which usually also requires English communication skills,” says Eer. 

Online and hybrid learning platforms are becoming increasingly prevalent — its popularity driven greatly by the exigencies brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic — and students are privy to more information and able to access information that was previously out of reach. 

As e-learning became more popular and familiar among parents and students, the founders of GuruLab saw the opportunity to leverage data science to provide impactful solutions to improve the way the English language is taught. 

While the pandemic-induced switch to online learning has left much to be desired, the move nevertheless helped teachers, parents and students accustom themselves to e-learning methods.

The convenience of learning from anywhere has shifted the tide, says Tan. “Students are more likely to attend more classes now that it’s quite easy to register for online classes, you can test it out and all you need is a laptop, and you don’t have to worry about the logistics.”

While physical learning methods provide higher levels of engagement between students and teachers, the personalisation that online learning provides is what truly makes the difference in a student’s learning process, say the founders.

The cutting-edge analytics of GuruLab’s proprietary app allow tutors to gain insights into how students are performing. They can personalise their intervention for each student by giving assignments and taking appropriate measures to address their issues.

Through the data collected, GuruLab is able to place students in their appropriate level, be it intermediate or advanced. Instead of having a class with mixed capabilities, students are streamed according to their needs, enabling them to focus on the areas in which they need to improve. 

What sets GuruLab apart is its tutor lab model, where a teacher is a crucial component of the educational process. There is synergy between leveraging data science and empowering tutors with the collated and tabulated data. 

“Our platform provides the analytics to supercharge the teachers, without the laborious work of checking every single thing, which is just not humanly possible,” says Eer. 

One-on-one tutoring can be costly, limiting the number of students who can afford that level of personalised learning, they note. GuruLab aims to replicate this experience in an online setting, at a monthly fee of only RM80. 

“Not everyone can afford one-on-one tutoring, so what we are trying to do here is to achieve that level of personalisation to contribute to learning outcomes — but at scale, so that students don’t have to pay such large amounts to get personalised tutoring,” says Tan. 

This also opens up opportunities and levels the playing field for students who previously, owing to their geographical access to education, had limited access to educational resources. 

“We built a tech platform that uses data analytics to enable teachers to teach in a tailored manner, so that all students — whether they are fast or slow learners — receive the kind of intervention that can help them improve in their skills,” says Eer. 

Online language learning platforms that work on subscription models, such as Duolingo, require the user to be self-motivated to complete a lesson. Eer says having a tutor sets GuruLab apart, as students are held accountable by their tutors. 

“If you think of other education technology (edtech) solutions in Malaysia as a gym membership, then you will think of GuruLab as a personal trainer,” she adds. 

To fully benefit students, GuruLab focuses on the entire learning pathway: instructions, practice, evaluation and intervention.

“If you reflect on your experience as a student, I’m sure you would agree that instruction alone will not be enough to get results. Practice alone would also not be enough. Usually, it’s a mix of the different stages in the learning pathway. We chose to be end-to-end because of the learning outcomes we want to achieve,” says Tan. 

Despite the growing popularity of edtech, developing GuruLab was no mean feat. Hiring suitable tech talent was pivotal to the development of the venture. The efforts of the founders paid off when they were able to put together a team comprising graduates from some of the world’s best universities, including those who hold postgraduate degrees in education and teachers with decades of experience.

Eer shares that improved learning outcomes would be the North Star that they constantly strive for. GuruLab aims to scale beyond Malaysia eventually, to bring personalised language learning to other Southeast Asian countries. 

Increased accessibility to online learning platforms could provide students with opportunities otherwise unavailable to them and eventually lift them into a future that might have been previously out of their reach.

“My hope is for all of Malaysia to have higher English proficiency so that [English] doesn’t become an obstacle but, instead, becomes an enabler for Malaysians to achieve their hopes and dreams,” says Tan.

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