A primary school pupil learning about pictorial equations via a live online class on the Spark Education platform. - PHOTO: SPARK EDUCATION via The Straits Times/ANN
SINGAPORE: Every day, Primary 4 pupil Rheyaa Chelsea Mogan comes home from school and continues mathematics “lessons” on Koobits, an online learning platform on her computer.
The 10-year-old, who goes to Evergreen Primary School, said she likes the platform’s interactive features, which keep her engaged. She gets to create her own avatar and compete with peers who also use the platform for a place on the learning leaderboard.
During school holidays, she and her nine-year-old brother, Reuben Dhylan Mogan, go on another online learning platform, 88tuition, to learn science.
“Sometimes, the answers are not clear to me, but the teachers in the video are able to explain it clearly. If I still do not get it, I can go back and watch it again as I try to figure it out,” said Reuben, adding that he enjoys watching the videos online before science topics are taught in school as it allows him to answer questions more confidently in class.
Both Rheyaa and Reuben were introduced to these platforms by their father, Mr Chandramogan Gunasekaran, during the Covid-19 pandemic, when he wanted to occupy their time at home after school.
The pandemic may be over, but educational technology platforms are still seeing high interest from Singapore students in their resources and lessons.
The Sunday Times spoke to five such companies, which said enrolment for their online learning programmes had at least doubled during the first two years of the pandemic.
Most have maintained their enrolment figures and are looking forward to expanding their reach.
Their subscription fees range from as low as $288 a year to $268 a month. Most have online exercises that are auto-marked to provide instant feedback. Some feature interactive teaching videos and live lessons with tutors.
Parents say they are drawn to the convenience and affordability of such platforms, which allow for more independent learning.
At 88tuition, a Primary 6 pupil would have to pay $288 for mathematics resources for a year. This works out to $24 a month.
Mr Anil Ahuja, 88tuition’s founder, said its enrolment quadrupled from 2020 to 2022.
A primary school pupil learning about photosynthesis via a live online class on the Geniebook platform. - PHOTO: GENIEBOOK
Spark Education, which offers mathematics lessons and activities, now has more than 1,000 students in Singapore since its launch in 2022.
Some e-learning platforms like Geniebook go a step further by using artificial intelligence to customise students’ learning.
Geniebook’s chief executive Neo Zhizhong said parents can get real-time updates to track their child’s progress in lessons, and get insights into their child’s strengths and weaknesses.
He said: “The pandemic has given all of us, including students, the opportunity to get savvier with tech. The way we learn looks set to change fundamentally.”
Some companies have opted for a hybrid approach.
At Overmugged, students can opt to attend lessons in person at the enrichment centre’s location, or virtually through Zoom.
Mr Darrell Er, Overmugged’s founder, said a growing percentage of its students are opting for online lessons as they find it more convenient and saves travelling time.
The rise of online tuition mirrors the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) efforts to feature more digital learning in the national curriculum, by weaving in the use of laptops and tablets during lessons for secondary school students and for home-based learning.
Primary and secondary school students would be familiar with the Singapore Student Learning Space, an online platform developed by MOE that schools relied on during the pandemic.
Mr Chandramogan, 41, a financial planner, said he was unlikely to sign his children up for a face-to-face tutor or group tuition classes.
His children, Rheyaa and Reuben, use Koobits every day when they return from school to attempt mathematics questions for about an hour. They use 88tuition during school holidays for at least two hours a day.
Mr Chandramogan likes that they are also becoming responsible for their own learning. “And what we need to do is just oversee the process,” he added.
Still, some parents prefer the traditional methods of tuition. Ms Sujatha Nair, a lead wildlife facilitator at Mandai Wildlife Reserve, feels that face-to-face tuition is still beneficial for her daughter, who is taking her O-level exams.
“Although she does have to travel for tuition for her mathematics and science subjects, I don’t mind it as the current tutor has great chemistry with her and is excellent at what he does. That benefits her learning,” she said.
Mr Arul Bala, a tutor at Amazing Learning Place in Serangoon Central, which offers face-to-face group tuition classes, foresees its biggest challenges to be rising rental costs and competition from about 20 other tuition centres nearby.
His centre, which runs English language, mathematics and science lessons for primary school pupils, has a current enrolment of 25 pupils.
While he does not feel the pressure to take the business online as his pupils prefer going to the centre, Mr Arul is open to exploring digital learning if there is demand from parents and pupils.
“If that is the direction of tuition, then we will definitely think about it. We’re definitely open to doing a hybrid approach,” he said. - The Straits Times/ANN
