Learning comes a full 360 degrees here

The three were friends from their college days at BITS Pilani. They were into the business of teaching and training – teaching students appearing for various entrance examinations and training employees, particularly those working in the IT sector.

They thought why not pool their expertise and use technology to reach out to a larger number. This was the trigger that led to the founding of 361 Degree Minds, or 361DM, a Chennai-based start-up that is in the online formal education business for colleges and universities since 2011.

The founders – CP Gopinathan, P Ram Mohan and Ritu Gopinathan – have put in ₹3 crore of their money, obtained loans of nearly ₹60 lakh and now plan to raise funds from investors for their next stage of growth.

India has over 600 universities of which fewer than 200 offer distance education programmes. In 2012-13, over five million people enrolled for distance education courses. With the increasing reach of the internet, this is slowly changing to online education, especially management programmes, says Gopinathan.

361DM has tied up with Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu and acts as its extended arm to offer courses online. All the courses are delivered using cloud computing. Its business model is simple: 361DM receives content from an institution, completely overhauls it and delivers it to the learner online in an easy to understand form. “We package the content by introducing graphics and interactive charts to make it easy to learn,” he says.

Normally, online education and training providers upload and broadcast videos and audio, have a digital library and provide mail and chat provisions for students to interact among themselves and with teachers.

They also provide student feedback. 361DM does all this and also uses cloud-based technologies to offer live interactive classes. Simulations are used to enhance learning.

361DM not just converts the textbook into a virtual one. Its entire process involves data-driven analytics through dashboards to course providers and programme administrators, analytics that can drive learner choices and organisational choices, says Gopinathan.

For instance, the company added game thinking and game mechanics into the learning process.

“We ensure that right through the programme, human interaction with the learner in various forms is at the heart,” he says.

For Annamalai University, 361DM offers nearly 20 of its UG, PG and diploma programme courses online, and is adding more programmes. A learner can experience class interactions and peer learning like in a regular classroom, but without having to pay hefty college fees or attend regular classes. They can get in with 361DM mentors when needed. They can study at their own pace and place.

“We have covered a range of learners from school drop-outs to top notch corporate learners. In the last three years, over 35,000 undergrads, graduates and managers from 20 nationalities in five countries have completed their higher education and non-formal learning at 361DM,” says Gopinathan.

“We have a scalable platform and offer quality training on the cloud computing. These are the main issues that universities grapple with. An institution need not worry about issues like software or hardware, which are taken care of by 361DM. They need to give the content and concentrate on curriculum, which is their core competency,” he adds.

361DM has a tie-up with the UK’s Edexcel, a part of the Pearson Education Group, offering academic and vocational qualifications and testing to over 25,000 colleges, schools, employers and other places of learning in a hundred countries.

Thousands of professionals, including CEOs and top level executives of nearly 20 nationalities working in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the US, have benefited from the company’s corporate leadership development programme, he says.

361DM gets its revenue from the universities for taking their programmes online, a share from each fee-paying student; from colleges, it follows a B2B model where the institutions sign up and pay; and, for companies, it signs up with the HR or training department to train the employees.