Backstory
I have spent all my working life introducing world-class edtech products to institutions and enterprises to aid them in research, teaching and learning. I realised early on that technology was the ONLY lever to deliver learning at web-scale in the 21st century. The promise of empowering thousands of individuals, institutions, and businesses with enterprise-class software was too compelling to ignore. I decided to put my experience in the field and build a technology platform that could democratise assessments and transform learning.
Image courtesy of Ugo Mendes Donelli via Unsplash
Democratisation
I chose ‘assessments of, for and as learning’ as large-scale digital transformation has eluded this space. Big businesses and institutions could afford legacy systems and the costs associated with implementing them. The enterprising ones were getting by with a potpourri of ‘free’ technologies and content, notwithstanding the latent deficiencies in this approach. The seeds of SCORA® were thus sown with a resolve to address problems of efficiency and choice in publishing science-driven assessments and putting such a platform in the hands of all those who could benefit from it.
The Challenge
The challenge, of course, was to design and build a simple, scalable, yet affordable platform that would eventually have an ecosystem play. I have never compiled a line of code in my life, and the irony of this was not lost on me. The pandemic-induced dynamics and a host of hurdles facing bootstrapped start-ups had to be overcome.
The words ‘software develop panni paar’ kept echoing in my ears! But then, I had signed up for a marathon! Eventually, the stars would align themselves. The labour of love manifested in a beautiful piece of software, feature-rich yet easy-to-use SaaS, that would compound the efficiencies of users.
Image courtesy of William Bout via Unsplash
Road Ahead
Unstinted support from family and friends during this journey made it possible to bring SCORA® to life! I am sure that there will be many more who will cross paths with us as we stay the course and nurture SCORA® to realise its potential. It does take a village to raise a child!
I invite you to join us on this journey to democratise tests and assessments.
