The
Moonshot

The Moonshot Better Learning, Better Possibilities

Puja Joshi Founder & CEO

Education, in many countries, has been declared a fundamental right. Whether or not this right is exercised by everyone, is another matter of concern. More often than not, getting a formal education requires an infrastructural set-up and a host of other resources. To access and maintain this entire set-up, finances are required, which is often a big hurdle in small towns and villages..

It has been observed that a weak financial condition is one of the top-most reason why many youngsters are unable to finish their high school and proceed for further studies. As such, many talented stories are cut short before they could even write the first chapter.

However, with the emergence of technological assistance, e-learning has proven to be of great help in such situations. With the growing penetration of the internet, e-learning is now reaching even the remotest areas and delivering education at comparatively nominal costs.

With such thoughts, The Moonshot was started to reach out to lesser penetrated layers of the Indian education sector and offer them an opportunity to secure themselves financially through its proprietary programs. A product of Whooping Crane Ventures, Moonshot is the world’s first Human Equity Company.

By investing in the untapped high-potential young intellectuals, the company is helping to build a secure financial future for graduates, while helping organizations tap into a bigger pool of skilled & ready to deploy graduates.

The Right Path: Fate v/s Will

Life, they say, is the most rigorous teacher and strange are its ways of teaching. A Computer Science Engineer by education, when Puja Joshi started her professional journey, it was as an HR Coordinator in one of the Big 4. This, in spite of having a good hand at coding and development. Even after her first professional assignment, she would not have much success in getting interview shortlists in a career path of her choice.

It was then that she realised that her degree from a small town engineering college was turning out to be a roadblock. Tenacious by nature, Puja decided to address this issue of preference of “brand name colleges” on the resume over the individuals or their capabilities. And with that, she embarked on the mission which is now The Moonshot. With her business acumen, perception, vision and impeccable execution strategy, Puja has already made Moonshot a big name in the market.

e e LEARNING INDIA'S MOST CREATIVE COMPANIES TO WATCH

We open up a larger pool of “ qualified, welltrained and ready-to-deploy students for the companies “

Exhibiting Excellence

Moonshot is a career incubation program which believes quality education does not have to be financed with decades of debt unaligned with student outcomes. In India, elearning penetration is at its best and continuing to grow, but the opportunity penetration is not yet resolved. Moonshot gives not only upskilling opportunity but also complete profile upliftment to its students. “The way we have designed it, Moonshot is not just a program, but becomes a learning habit for life. On the other end, to our employers we provide well-groomed, ready to deploy professionals,” adds Puja.

Moonshot aims to be ‘top of mind’ for college graduates’ placements, and the best hiring partner for employers to hire fresh graduates. Other platforms are simply upskilling platforms, but Moonshot is a unified solution for all the hiring needs at entry-level. It differs from some of the players on crucial pointers like: • AI-enabled detailed screening of the students for selection into the program. • Active training program where the talents are mapped to a talent manager who acts as an external motivator to ensure performance milestones are achieved timely; and • Most importantly, it invests in the talent upfront unlike any other program in the market.

Enhancing Reach with Technology

Moonshot’s business strategy is a simple 3 step model: Spot - Fix - Deploy. It employs advanced technologies to drive operations in all three stages for the best efficiency. For example: in the “Spot” stage it uses machine learning to assess the subjective answers to its assessment questions which reduces manual intervention and the biases that come with it. Today it is at capacity where even 10k students can appear for the Moonshot assessment test at a time.

In the “Fix” stage it uses video analysis tools that can alert talent partners on 15 traits of the talent including a drop in the level of attentiveness. This helps talent partners to continually monitor non-technical aspects of the personality of the talent as well. In the “Deploy” stage it is working on algorithms that aim to assess the candidate for a given role as easy as an assessment for lending.

Lessons from the Pandemic

Moonshot was in a growth stage just before the pandemic. For the company, the current pandemic has turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Since it has an intensive screening and on-boarding process, it has had to spend significantly more time than usual to on-board the talents. It has had several technological interventions to the platform, which has ramped up its testing capabilities manifold.

Moonshot has also expanded its team in the last couple of months to ensure that it maintains its committed talent manager to talent ratios. Adds Puja, “A remarkably simple approach of structured operations and technology interventions has allowed us to scale up our operations. It has also been a great lesson for us to find the right approach to cater to the talents, companies and our own goals as we continue to grow.”

Being a Name to Reckon with

Moonshot offers an opportunity for the talent to choose their own career path to start with. Curating courses for the numerous talents to bring out their individual best while estimating demand from the industry for the same is certainly challenging as it grows its talent pool and program offerings. And Moonshot’s ‘Proactive’ team is ready to face every hurdle.

“Every team member is always trying to be ahead of the curve and with that in our company DNA, we are already working on our latest program offerings which promise to cater to latent demands that seem to go unnoticed. Our mission is to be the first name for college students looking for the first job that they desire,” assures Puja.

How Voice Technology with AI will Reshape Education

As the education system transitions from the classic blackboard classroom to the online classroom, thanks to the pandemic, teaching-and-learning tools must simultaneously evolve too. Digitization in the education sector has gone up exponentially in the last six months in order to keep pace with the sudden transition. However, equal access to online classes for all is still questionable, especially in semi-urban and rural India.

Educationists are continuously striving to make the teaching and learning cycle as effective as possible in the new paradigm. The New Education Policy is also striving to pave the way for reforms in the Indian education sector. New teaching technologies are being experimented on incessantly by educators and ed-tech startups alike. Amidst all of this work, one technology that stands out as the way forward is voice technology. The term “voice technology” usually brings to mind Alexa, Siri, or everyone’s favourite - Google Maps. But the potential of voice technology is not limited to these use cases alone.

Augmenting Learning with Voice Technology and Artificial Intelligence

Even though online learning is a viable option during this time of crisis, it is still not available to a major part of the nation due to accessibility and cost factors. The feasible solution to this problem would be adopting voice technology.

13 Reasons Why

When compared to visual learning, voice-assisted technology is not only economical and easily accessible but also comes with its own set of unique benefits.

1. The devices used with voice-assisted technology are easily portable as they are very light on hardware. 2. Voice-enabled devices have very simple interfaces.

This eliminates the fear of usage among non-tech savvy users. 3. Voice-enabled devices typically require a minimum of 512 Mbps to work efficiently. Compare this ask to the higher bandwidth required by visual learning platforms to function. A 3G connection is usually more than sufficient to run a voice-enabled device. 4. Voice-enabled devices are now available with battery back-up thus eliminating the need for consistent electricity supply. 5. Voice-assisted learning solutions utilize the most natural way in which human beings learn - through listening and speaking. Thus, using conversation-style learning, voice technology ensures learning that is natural and effective. 6. Voice technology is not a passive interface. Welldesigned, pedagogically-based solutions will not only tell learners that they are incorrect but will also explain why. 7. There is no fear of fatigue with voice technology. It can repeat lessons, exercises, and assessments as many times as the learners’ requests. 8. Voice technology helps learners to make mistakes and learn in a non-judgemental environment. This is a critical aspect of learning confidently. 9. Learning in a non-judgemental environment is particularly important for adult learners. Voice-assisted learning takes care of this as well. 10. Voice technology can support individualized learning as well as pair, small-group, and large-group learning. 11. Voice technology is extendable to any academic subject and any use case. 12. The ‘only audio' medium of voice technology minimizes exposure to screen time. 13. Voice technology is particularly beneficial for learning communicative English as it ensures that MTI (Mother

Tongue Influence) is reduced while pronouncing

English words. A classic challenge being faced by learners in semi-urban and rural areas is that they do not have access to good models of communicative

English.

About the Author Saraswathy

Ramamoorthy is Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at

Learning Matters Pvt.

Ltd.(www.learningmattes .xyz). Recipient of the Innovative Digital Education Award from India Mobile Congress and the UK Government TechHub partnership among other recognitions, Learning Matters designs technology-based educational solutions to enhance the quality of teachers and the quality of teaching in schools, thereby improving student learning outcomes. They focus on improving mainstream school education with a special focus on schools in rural and semi-urban India. By impacting students, they create measurable end-results.

Saraswathy may be contacted at https://www.linkedin.com/in/saraswathyramamoorthy-33923025/

The Way Ahead

The education industry has already witnessed drastic changes due to the pandemic. Now with the focus on technology and an especial nod to artificial intelligence in the New Education Policy, technology is taking over the driver’s seat in the education sector. Increasing exposure to technology from a young age will go a long way in helping future generations lead the way to a new world of innovation and creativity.

While we take a leap ahead to transform teaching and learning for all, the main concern is to ensure that no one is left out of the loop. No learner should be deprived of learning due to accessibility to accessible and affordable technology. So, let’s make some noise for voice - the way forward.