Lido Learning was founded in 2019; Lido Learning is the first-mover in small-group online tutoring in India’s K-12 segment. The company currently offers classes in Maths, Science, Coding and English, for students from KG to Grade 12. Designed by experts from Stanford, Harvard, and IITs, Lido classes have just 6 students in a class, and use a combination of AI, immersive curriculum, and gamification to ensure success for every child. The company’s pioneering ACE program guarantees improved test results within just 8 months of classes.
Sanket Narkar – Head of Marketing, Lido Learning, in an exclusive chat with MediaNews4U talks on the launch of the platform, how the pandemic has changed the way learning is imparted and much more.
What made you launch Lido Learning?
To put it simply, Lido’s core team shared a unified vision to make learning personalised, easier, and a lot more fun for Indian students, by using technology. All of us grew up in a culture where joining a tuition class, especially when you’re in Grade 8 or above, was the “normal” thing to do. There were 2 extreme ends students had to choose between – join the same group tuition class as your friends, stay unnoticed in the crowd, and learn exactly what the 20 other students in your class are learning, or invest more money in one-on-one home tuition classes, that you eventually feel burdened and bored by. We wanted to resolve the limitations of both, and bridge the gap between learning from others and getting personalised attention from your tutor. That’s how we came up with the concept of a Small Group Tuitions platform, where the learning journey is tailored to the student’s needs, and not the other way around.
Today there are so many ed-tech companies, what is Lido’s USP?
The entirety of the learning experience we offer at Lido, is unlike any other ed-tech platform in India. From day 1, our focus has been on leveraging the benefits of both personalised and social learning, which we achieve by creating small batches of maximum 6 students. In turn, Lido-ers get the dual advantage of a tutor ensuring their individual progress, and discussions with batch mates spurring them on to think critically. Research has linked peer interaction with increased conceptual clarity, and student engagement, and we’ve observed the same results in our small batch classes. We take great pride in being the small-group tuitions platform driven by guaranteed learning outcomes that one-to-many or one-to-one classes cannot promise.
Every step of the student’s learning journey is customised by AI to perfectly match their individual needs, right from the batch they’re added to and the tutor they’re allotted, to the homework they are assigned. Each Lido student receives individual attention and instructions from their tutor, while also acquiring skills like logical thinking and problem solving by interacting with others. We offer both targeted improvement and holistic learning, we guarantee both concept clarity and practical understanding. Lido’s academic faculty comprises the top 5% tutors across the country, all of whom deliver world-class education by following subject curriculums designed by Stanford, Harvard, and IIT education experts. We also maintain a remarkably high student engagement rate, by organising dozens of extracurricular events and workshops every week. We pride ourselves on being the perfect 360-degree learning solution for every child, instead of an ed-tech platform they visit for supplementary learning material.
Have ed-tech companies now go to for students thanks to the pandemic?
The pandemic didn’t create a demand for ed-tech platforms; it simply accelerated a growing demand. We had already started recognising the unparalleled ease and convenience of e-learning, but due to COVID-19 and the subsequent national lockdowns, this mode of learning was thrust into the spotlight. It wasn’t long before users realised the unmatchable perks of learning exactly what you need to, at whatever time you wish to, from the comfort of your home. Ed-tech platforms give you access to a host of effective learning tools at bargain prices. For instance, as a Lido student, you get the benefit of AI mapping out the best learning journey for you, along with constant measurement of success enabled by tech. The time gap between a student raising a concern and the availability of a learning intervention is miniscule, thanks again to data and technology. Features like 24/7 parent monitoring on the Lido Super Parent App, and the usage of gamification concepts to boost academic success like progressive mastery points for each chapter, were unimaginable without the bridging of education with technology.
You recently launched a TV campaign, #MakeSuccessAHabit, what made you do this?
Our first TVC campaign was all about communicating the central role Lido plays in a student’s overall development. Each of the #MakeSucceasAHabit campaign videos portrayed the practical problem-solving skills Lido-ers learn here. Yes, we focus on exam marks and thorough understanding of subject concepts, but equally important to Lido is its students’ ability to apply what they learn in a class, once they’re out of that setting. Before the TVC, we had only advertised through online mediums like social media, so this was our 1st shot at tapping into a wider audience segment, by showcasing the life-transforming benefits of joining Lido.
What was the thought and strategy behind this campaign?
The chief strategy was to establish Lido as the platform for parents and students who want overall success, not just academic success. We also wanted to highlight the unique small-group tuition aspect, in which Lido is the first-mover in the country. We developed short films for this campaign that show regular relatable scenes, but from the lens of an imaginative middle-school child with a drive to solve existing problems. The value added by Lido to a student’s life is conveyed through the effectiveness of simple but important decisions, like where you should stand to board a bus at the stop or which ingredient to reach for while baking a cake. In each of these films, the Lido student manages to achieve a goal or an objective by recalling the factual information they learnt in a Lido class, and applying it to a real-world situation. The core thought was to display how Lido students look forward to learning every day because it all ties up with their lives and helps them succeed daily in life’s big and small tests, in different ways.
Is online Ed-Tech learning an urban phenomenon or has Lido Learning also addressing the aspiring Tier 2 & 3 demography?
I can’t speak for other platforms, but we’ve developed Lido to cater to the learning needs of students from every nook and cranny of the nation. In fact, our first TVC was an attempt to reach the more far-flung Indian cities. Because we use AI to match each student to their perfect batch, tutor, and classmates, every Lido-er gets a learning environment best-suited to their individual needs, regardless of which geographical area they come from.
Today India is known for rote learning and mark oriented, what are you doing to change this attitude?
Lido is all about practical learning, and each of our platform features bear testimony to this objective. Our subject curriculums are designed for in-depth understanding, as are the exercises students complete during class. Every Lido course is packed with periodic quizzes, and application-based projects. Classes include answering questions, collaborating with batchmates, and contributing to discussions, not just reading paragraphs of text. Parents nowadays too, recognise the pressing need to learn practical skills along with academic concepts. I have noticed a shift in the desirable learning outcomes outlined by parents during Lido’s orientation sessions, from by-heart learning to learning how to think and reason. The compatibility of our objectives makes it possible for us to develop sturdy parent-tutor-child partnerships, which is an essential part of delivering the results we promise. We also continue to build on this pre-existing thought by hosting expert sessions and seminars for our parents, which enable them to gain a deeper understanding of what successful learning should look like. The thing is, marks are important, and that’s not going to change, but as an educational organisation, we focus on conceptual clarity as the ladder to academic success, not memorising chunks of information.
Any out-of-the-box initiatives to make learning fun for the students?
The list is quite long! Well, for starters, Lido has established the most fun reward system to keep students motivated – the Lido Gems store. Lido-ers get to collect points, or Gems, every time they do something that contributes positively to their growth, like submitting a project before it’s due, or participating in class. Once they’ve racked up a collection of gems, students can visit the Lido Gems store, which offers a catalogue of cool gifts like headphones and tablets they can exchange their gems to win. We assign weekly study goals to students, which they can win badges and honours for achieving. We use tools like fun quizzes, games, and missions to keep Lido-ers engaged in every subject class. Weekends at Lido are packed with extracurricular opportunities like expert-led workshops and talks by industry experts.
When it comes to the online space in education, what are the trends you are seeing in recent times?
I’ve definitely seen an uptick in the use of augmented and virtual reality by online education platforms. Artificial intelligence is becoming the driving force for several ed-tech features, including Lido’s own offering of a personalised learning experience. Speaking of technology, I have also been noticing cloud-based e-learning platforms sprouting up across the globe. But to summarise as a whole, I think we are moving towards a more adaptive learning focus, and I honestly couldn’t be more thrilled!
