Microsoft, partners to launch e-learning platform soon

Microsoft, along with its partners, is set to launch an e-learning platform in India for delivery of educational content at a highly subsided rate, said Pratik Mehta, Director-Education at Microsoft India.

“We have been working with our research organisation (Microsoft Research) and a couple of partners in creating a platform that can help deliver content in an effective manner. This is work in progress as we speak and would be launched in a couple of months,” Mehta told BusinessLine .

While there have been previous initiatives in this space by companies, not much effort is going into the delivery of content, under the assumption that the student is going to download and consume it, he said, adding that this new platform will focus on delivery.

Mehta said, “Content will be prepared by an expert of the subject. Microsoft will provide a unified communication platform, and student will download the content through the platform. Both student and teacher will have a login each.”

Teachers or subject experts would be able to address the query by the student real time, he said, adding that webcasts will also be possible through the same platform. The company is also taking inputs from academicians, State Governments, students, as well as educators.

On whether it would be a philanthropic initiative, Mehta said, “It would depend on how the partners view it. It may not be pure play philanthropy but it would be offered at a highly subsidised rate.” Eve Psalti, Global Leader, Education Audience Strategy, Microsoft Corporation, said, “We are going to see more products designed for the education space rather than products that were meant to be in the business scenario.”

The company has been running many IT literacy programmes such as Project Shiksha, Project Jyoti, Project Oorja and Imagine Cup.