Cognitive skills platform: WizKlub
1) Tell me about WizKlub and when it was started?
This generation of school-going kids would be working on jobs that don’t exist today, solving problems that we don’t even know are problems yet, and working on technologies that have not been invented yet.
In such an uncertain yet exciting future, the most sought-after skills would be Higher Order Thinking Skills, collaboration skills, and the ability to use technology to solve problems. However, the school system is still largely focused on delivering content instead of building these skills. Research from the World Economic Forum lists the top 10 skills as:
That is the gap that WizKlub is filling. We are an ed-tech startup that builds Future Skills for school children aged 6-16 years old through our research-based programs, delivered on our AI-powered tech platform. The platform provides a personalized approach and learning path for every child for cognitive and tech excellence.
2) How is WizKlub different from other ed-tech startups?
There are many players in the ed-tech space today with each one having a different focus area.
Our target, the k-12 market, can be segmented into two – One is that which caters to the curriculum support and has players like Byju’s, Topper, and Vedantu. The other is the early year’s category where the programs are beyond the school curriculum and focus on developing other key skills. This segment is by and large fragmented and suffers from a lack of quality solutions. WizKlub caters to the latter segment by offering affordable solutions that impart quality learning at scale.
We focus on preparing a kid holistically with the underlying skills like logic, creativity, critical thinking, and a tech perspective that would empower them to create solutions to complex problems.
A key aspect of differentiation for us is that we go into deep skilling the kid, who acquires the skill at a high proficiency level. We ensure that the kid becomes highly skilled and have so far had 85% efficacy for the HOTS program and 95% for the Young Product Designers Program.
3) What are the programs WizKlub offers?
We have programs in 2 domains – cognitive excellence and tech excellence: Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS), and Young Product Designer Program (YPDP).
Our HOTS Program offers children to master 36 different HOTS abilities including critical thinking, logical reasoning, problem-solving, and creative thinking. It ensures that every child is a smart reader and an adept problem solver. These skills are the driving factor for new-age careers and most of the competitive exams are assessing students on these skills.
The coursework includes engaging activities, drills, and quizzes that they can practice and ace at their own pace. HOTS skills change a child’s trajectory, scaling it up from lower-order learning through memorization to higher-order learning involving analysis and reasoning. The program provides invaluable skills that help a child be more efficient, in thought, understanding, and action. It makes them intelligent from a place of logic, enhancing their math aptitude, science aptitude, and creative thinking, through our easy-to-follow proprietary online program.
The Young Product Designer Program (YPDP) enables children to experience a product designer’s journey by IoT Devices like Smart Light and Mobile Robots using the latest technologies. YDPD takes a kid through the journey of product designing that includes hardware, software, and design through an easy-to-use drag-and-drop block environment. Our Program exposes children to the latest technologies such as Conversational AI (Alexa), Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence.
The program builds lifelong skills and confidence of being a Tech Explorer and Creator for life!
WizKlub has progressed 10000+ children through its programs.
4) A brief journey of the founder and the idea behind the startup.
After spending a sizable number of years in the corporate world, I leaped faith and started up in the ed-tech sector. I worked on two ventures before Wizklub that were in the higher education space. We worked with over 50,000 engineering students across India during that time only to realize that at that age and stage, while we could create an impact by skilling students on specific tools, the core aptitude of a student is pretty much cast in stone, and cannot be changed significantly. So, if a student does not have programming aptitude, one cannot be trained to become a good programmer.
Research around the world such as the Center On The Developing Child at Harvard University establishes that the core aptitude of a person, which defines one’s suitability for different job roles, is defined in the first 13-14 years.
(https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-science-of-ecd/)
And unfortunately, the Indian schooling system is still focused on curriculum, instead of focusing on core aptitude that makes one smart learner and adept problem solver. We decided to address this issue by providing a scientific program to build these skills when the age is right. This led to WizKlub.
We worked on the product for six months including prototyping and pilots before a formal launch in June 2018.
5) Anything else, which you would like to share?
Talking about our plans, by the year 2022, we are working towards 50,000 students on our platform and acquiring these skills necessary for success. We would continue to invest in our product and use the power of technology to drive engagement and learning efficacy. We are looking to establish WizKlub as the undisputed #1 player for early-year skill development for Future Careers.
Website link: https://wizklub.com/
By – Amit Bansal, CEO & Co-founder, WizKlub
