The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : A virtual class after school hours

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

A virtual class after school hours

Staff Reporter

Extramarks.com helps avoid dull coaching classes

It creates a collaborative triangle of students, teachers and parents
Introductory packages priced between Rs. 300 and Rs. 700

Bangalore: The Internet, a fathomless sea of information, is something that is a part of everyday life, and now even a part of academics. The marvels of technology have ensured that education can now be imparted through the Internet, and the dull environment of private coaching classes may soon be a thing of the past.

Extramarks.com is one such website that hopes to improve academic performance of the new generation of e-students with the help of virtual classrooms.

This website, launched recently, provides an educational support system offering academic help after school hours to students of classes between 6 and 12, and is based on the National Council of Educational Research and Training syllabus. Extramarks is also an option during holidays for students who want to make the best use of their time.

What is more, sessions’ packages use innovative educational tools such as online tests, model papers, practice papers and question and answer blogs.“It will change the way we look at information and communication technology in education and allow for the freedom and flexibility of choosing our time schedules, subjects and topics,” said Atul Kulshrestha, chairman of the company. The website provides a forum where students, teachers and parents can interact with one another, thus creating a collaborative triangle where they support one another as well. Abhinav Srivastav, a class 10 student from Mumbai, is one such user who believes that extramarks.com is more exciting than conventional coaching classes. “Every question is personally answered by the experts and all my doubts are thoroughly clarified. The best part about this website is that the portions are taught to you with the help of mind maps. Students are able to learn by creating mental images of the theory in their minds.”

The website uses modern whiteboard technology that enables live online tutorials and student-teacher interaction by voice and text chat.

Their introductory packages have been priced between Rs. 300 a month and Rs. 700 a month, keeping the price per session of virtual classes a reasonable Rs. 20. Abhinav, who is gearing up for his board exams this year, also feels that learning through extramarks saves him travel time. Anjali Shrivastav, Abhinav’s mother, thinks it is a wise decision to log their kids onto extramarks.com.

“This method is more convenient as I can monitor his work and make sure he is not wasting time. The fact that there are expert teachers always available makes it as good as any other coaching class, and direct contact with the teachers helps, as the child can concentrate much better,” she adds.

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