Education and technology have joined hands in recent years to revolutionize the way students in the developing world access education.
Far from a duplication of USA’s business models, some ed-tech platforms have designed resources that address the specific needs of Latin American students and society.
Here is a list of nine such start-ups that incorporate Latin American needs, such as English-language learning and adult-learning:
- Akdemia, launched in Venezuela, is an online service that connects students, parents, and teachers and improves school management.
- Descomplica, started in Brazil, offers online video classes to help users prepare for entrance exams and has partnered with Vivo’s mobile networks to send lessons via SMS to reach a wider market.
- Easyaula, based in Brazil, offers online payment options for offline classes and its recent partnership with Macmillan Digital Education will help its gain momentum in the online education market.
- Educabilia, launched in Argentina, groups existing informal classes according to their city-locations, and also tracks offline classes generated by students.
- Oja. la, started in Colombia but co-founded by a Venezuelan, offers online classes for aspiring Latin American entrepreneurs and techies by teaching courses on app development and community management.
- Open English, based in Miami, offers 12-month long English language learning courses and connects 50,000 users in 20 countries with native English speaking teachers.
- QMagico, launched in Brazil, initially offered custom videos and exercises but has evolved into a subscription-based system, through which teachers can add lesson plans and tests. Students can access these items individually and collaboratively. 10,000 students in over 450 schools are already benefiting from this service.
- Qranio, started in Brazil, provides a gaming platform through which users can take quizzes and convert their points and badges into real-life rewards.
- Veduca, based in Brazil, provides 5000 online classes that have been licensed from some of the world’s top universities, including Princeton, MIT, Harvard, and Yale.
Creative Commons Love: World Bank Photo Collection on Flickr.com
Written by Mantra Roy