Running an Industry led skill based course on Augmented Reality

So after having run School of Innovation India from Facebook since 2018, there are a few learnings that have come our way at Pupilfirst regarding teaching skills based education. Below is the account of some of what we found insightful enough to share with you...

How to teach a technology that is still finding its place in the world?

The School of Innovation India from Facebook powered by Pupilfirst started with a simple mission to teach Facebook’s emerging technologies to students. But teaching a technology that is still finding its footing in the world requires laying down the dots without exactly knowing how they are going to connect moving forward.

Developing a system that can be relied upon and produces reliable outcomes when tested was most crucial. And the task of teaching 500 demographically separated students uniformly during a pandemic, really put some heat on the system.

Let's take a look at what this system looks like and what goes behind the scene to make a feat like this possible...

Learner Centered Teaching

In the era after the industrial revolution, the expectations of the industry from an individual entering their well oiled machine was to take a spot in the massive assembly line to keep churning goods at a reliable pace to satisfy the demand. Therefore, our entire education systems were built to optimize rote learning where the learner is expected to deliver the same outcome over and over again with maximum efficiency without ever requiring the need to ask WHY?

And the method that was equipped to produce this kind of outcome was a group lecture in a teaching centered model where groups of learners were trained to repeat the thought over and over again until it got embedded in their subconscious mind.

This kind of learning was very valuable for that point in time when we didn’t have any computers that could automate these tasks.

But in this century, when computers and robots have generally taken up the place of manual labor, the demands of the industry from an individual has changed, allowing humans to do the kind of work where we have a natural instinct, that is to think and do creative work.

But how can the same system that was designed for the former, produce a different outcome?  

A learner centered model works on some basic assumptions, that every learner’s journey is different and there can be more than 1 and not necessarily related methods that can help push the learner towards the desired understanding.

When the task is to equip a learner to operate with a certain amount of ambiguity and building agency within them, the learner centered model suited the requirements of this system best.

Only few things that we needed to make sure were that the learners are provided with avenues and interventions to help them power through in the journey of learning, for example,

• Equipped knowledge experts (coaches, teaching assistants, faculty) available to answer doubts and demonstrate examples

• An ecosystem of students to engage with, facilitating peer learning

• An environment equipped to foster self learning

• Ample time and resources available at the learner’s discretion to avail, if need arises

And this was accomplished handily with the help of tools built within the Pupilfirst LMS.

Powering through the first 100 hours

Time is the single biggest variable in the function of building a skill. After cultivating a basic understanding and interest in the subject, all there is left is the process of putting in enough time to develop comfort with the ecosystem in this new world, and the first 100 hours makes or breaks it for most.

The curriculum is designed in a manner that it takes the user incrementally forward in building their capability in the subject by breaking down the subject in chunks of topics, which then have dedicated exercises and quizzes for the learner to access themselves and move ahead.

This mammoth of a task when divided into digestible chunks starts becoming more approachable for the student and allows them to clear off anxiety and target towards smaller achievable goals that directly translates into skills gained.

This allows the student to work in a framework that the student can understand and since the student can self measure their progress, the feedback looks more like a conversation than a monologue from a lecturer or a trainer.

Let’s see what exactly does this feedback cycle looks like...

Continuous feedback cycle and reviews… Lots of reviews!

“A well thought out critique is more valuable than gold”

When the student approaches a problem statement, the problem statements are broken down into smaller tasks known as rubric items, completing which the student can self evaluate their progress.

A Coach feedback based evaluation thread of a student project

The ability of a student to self assess their progress combined with the targeted feedback by an industry expert creates a little bit of a perfect storm. Feedback all of a sudden is actionable and there is no start or an end, as a student can keep working on their skills in any given topic to any length they wish to proceed.

Building an ecosystem

Most learning cycles can be shortened and move faster if the user gets a nourishing ecosystem that builds an hospitable environment to learn and motivates and encourages them to the outcome.

We infused some agents in this ecosystem to help the student in their journey,

• A cohort of experts (coaches/teaching assistants) that are well equipped with the current know-how of the technology and are practitioners themselves.

• A community of peers that the student can relate to, based on their age, demography or generally similar interest in learning the same skills.

• Ample resources available at their disposal, be it logistical resources like a capable and working device and internet or clear and well articulated pieces of content that can be referred by the learner at their own convenience.

And some timely motivation and encouragement never goes unappreciated.

Industry <> Student <> Industry

Any training done in isolation is meaningless. Unless the training is put to test by the practitioners themselves, and in a similar setting that is reminiscent of the real life production environment, no measurable progress can be ascertained.

Transfer of knowledge from an expert who is a current practitioner and is well-versed in practical application of the technology is a key deciding factor of whether what the student learns is ultimately of any value to the industry or not.

As the true mark of a skill is whether it is accepted by the industry, we onboarded 5 amazing and enthusiastic industry partners as Theme Partners.

Industry Theme Partners for the School of Innovation India from Facebook 2.0 (2020)

These Theme Partners then hosted a theme or a category in which they operate, and shared live problem statements with students. This allowed the students to apply the skills they learned to a meaningful task in the form of a Capstone Project, accomplishing which could vet their training amicably.

This puts the student right at the center of this system between an industry seasoned trainer on one side and the industry looking for solutions to fix their problems on the other side.

Outcome (Drum Rolls...)

So what does all of this manifest into?

A skilled student that is a valuable resource to the industry from day 1. No points for guessing… :D

Here are some of the student projects deployed by our partners that speak volumes about the kind of work the students have done and establishes the credibility of the system more than any words can say…

And the students have also loved every bit of it, as much as we have in this journey… <3

Finally, some of the industry partners who believe in our students as much as we do… And are now proud employers of this quality stream of talent that we are able to see on the other side of this massive undertaking...

Some industry partners that hired students from the School of Innovation India from Facebook 2.0 (2020)

What Next???

The road is long ahead and the agenda is to make a difference in the way education is done in the country and impact the maximum number of students we can reach.

We have already started on this journey and there are partners joining on board.

As Facebook likes to say it, the journey is just 1% done!

Upwards and Onwards…


To know more about my experience helping students achieve real learning outcomes, find me on LinkedIn or send me an e-mail.