Pedagogical Inappropriateness in Pakistani Universities
According to a research ‘approach to teaching’ in Pakistan lacks the enhancement of critical thinking and self-reflection among students along with their teachers who seem to ignore such elements in their pedagogical process. The lectures in universities are aided by boring PowerPoint slides providing no interactive learning for students. Although in some universities the concept of participant-based classrooms is there on paper, its implementation remains negligent. “We championed ourselves on the idea of participant-based classroom learning but the content we were using was very dry which was communicated through ppt slides.” says Dr. Farrah, an ex-professor of a renowned university.
EdTechWorx by Dr. Farrah
Dr. Farrah, who is a contestant of the Acceleration Program for Women Entrepreneurs (APWE), has a PhD in Business Management. She has decades of experience in teaching. While she was teaching in LUMs, she realized the importance of interactive learning. Dr. Farrah is a sort of person who embraces the importance of having a local context to business management studies. A business student must also have local knowledge to apply theory in the real world. The shortcomings in mainstream education led her into launching EdTechWorx. EdTech Worx is an experiential learning platform that offers online digital products for business education, mainly targeting university students and corporate executives.
EdTechWorx has a team of professors who have taught in top notch universities of Pakistan like LUMS and IBA. The team produces content rooted in various aspects of business education. EdTechWorx started with an aim to:
- develop an digital interactive platform for anyone who wishes to study business.
- target students, executives and SMEs.
The platform offers short courses that are based on simulations like animation, moving images and interactive graphics. Dr. Farrah says that the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) of their platform is its interactivity. “When the interaction increases, the attention increases and when the attention increases, the students grasp the content better.” says Farrah.
EdTechWorx and Other E-learning Platforms
When asked about what sets EdTechWorx apart from other e-learning platforms, Dr. Farrah said: “One of our USPs is localized content which means we offer localized case studies and examples.” This helps their students in gaining insights of the Pakistani market.
Pitfalls in the Business Education
EdTechWorx’s goal is set. It provides interactive business education at affordable rates. It targets people who are seeking business knowledge no matter what background they belong to. “It could be anyone from any strata of society who is seeking business education at an affordable price,” says Dr. Farrah. She says that EdTechWorx has enrolled many students who are getting a formal education in the business field. This shows that there is something missing from the curriculum which has pushed them to seek services from the outside, believes Farah. Mostly the business field students belong to second tier universities which lack quality education.
More About EdTechWorx
EdTechWorx offers various courses and mentorship programs which are taught by well qualified faculty. The content that is used is very interactive as per Dr. Farrah. “Our innovative learning technology empowers individuals to push their limits to what is possible and realize their professional goals through creative problem solving and strategic leadership.” says her. While talking about some of their latest offered courses, Dr. Farrah said: “Our supply chain management course was developed by an IBA professor, finance course’s content was developed by the active dean of LUMS Business School while our recent course on supply chain management was developed by a fellow LUMs professor.”
Challenges and Future Goals
“It is a cloud based technology hence anyone from anywhere seeking quality content can access it.” she added. EdTechWorx’s has a digital savvy internet connected market. Hence their challenge is to convince people that there could be valuable content on the internet. “Another challenge is copyright infringement. This area is very much overlooked in Pakistan. Hence it becomes hard for us to protect our content.” says Dr. Farrah. She wishes to gain more traction for her platform by enrolling more people in their courses. Moreover the founder aims at expanding her market in the Middle East. “Pakistani diaspora is one of our biggest markets.” says her. EdTechWorx is also generating some general content on topics like leadership and on other topics which are currently in the making.
