Created by Mexus Education Commercial Yes | Launched 16 April 2008 | |
Type of site Content Sharing & Social Networking Service for Learning Owner Rohit Jain, Saurabh Saxena, Kunal Sharma | ||
Iken.in is an interactive knowledge sharing & social networking site, built on a collaborative learning model. The website is built keeping in mind the specific needs & dynamics involved in a learning process. Its participatory learning model helps users to share content and connect with peers. Apart from User Generated Content, UGC, users can also learn by taking tests available on the website which is customized for each standard (grade) in the K-12 segment. Also, Iken.in has a play section which features educational interactive games.
Contents
History
Rohit Jain, Kunal Sharma & Saurabh Saxena, who graduated from IIT Bombay, set up Mexus Education, an interactive learning solutions company based in Mumbai, India, in early 2007. They were joined by Ankit Mehta (IIT Bombay) in June 2007 and together they created Iken.in.
The conceptualization of Iken.in had begun in July 2007, with a basic thought in mind that there needs to be a virtual learning platform that like a school, helps students learn and add up the study hours while having fun and interacting with peers. The key people involved in the team which designed and developed the website include Jyotsna, Head of Design, a National Institute of Design graduate, Anil Gelra and Puneet Maheshwari, Implementation, both IIT Bombay graduate.
The core development phase of Iken.in began in July 2007 up to March 2008. The website was made live to external users on 16 April 2008.
The Iken.in website development process was conducted in four major stages. The first stage involved introduction of a test and share section in April 2008 which was primarily aimed at providing a collaborative platform for sharing knowledge and assessing student’s understanding of education course material learn in schools.
In the second stage, social networking concept was added to the website in the form of the connect section which had all the user oriented key features available in web 2.0 social networking site like Orkut, Facebook, etc. in September 2008 Also a few games were introduced during the same time. Now users were able to connect with their peers apart from sharing their content and taking tests on the site.
In October 2008 during the third stage of development, the play section was added during the same time to increase stickiness of the website amongst students and provide educational interactive games, which help students learn while having fun. Also, a learn section was introduced, which features course curriculum resources in the form of crosswords, educational films, presentations, ibooks, etc. developed by Mexus Education customized for Iken.in users and its unique web interface.
The fourth stage involved introduction of applications in January 2009 which allows users to conduct web meetings (webinars), schedule events, form study circles with peers, create opinion polls, comic creator etc. Also, applications like graph plotter, scientific calculator, examer app to create tests, Wikipedia search, etc. were introduced which help students in their routine school work.
A lot of changes and modifications were made post launch, with the core belief that the website must always remain in Beta, moving towards a better user experience.
Technology
Iken.in is developed by using Asp .Net + Ajax technologies for the front end of the website. All on-site Flash integration has been done in .php. Further, use of Comet Ajax and Java has been extensive on all internal pages. The back end database is hosted on a MS SQL server.
Website
Built around socio-educational-networking concept, Iken.in primarily is a knowledge sharing website with a social networking feature. The course curriculum multimedia content available on Iken.in is developed by Mexus Education while users contribute by uploading content created by them adding to a repository of education oriented UGC.
The website is primarily targeted at the K-12 segment, in line with related course material developed by Mexus Education under the Iken Books & Iken Library brand. On login, users define themselves as students or professionals. Students or learners can access course curriculum content specifically designed for their respective standard or grade. Professionals can participate and share knowledge & experience in their field of expertise.
Although the website was designed keeping in mind the demands of school based curriculum, the definition of a student & professional could be extended to a ‘learner’ and a ‘teacher’. This provides enough scope for users on Iken.in across various age groups to learn from peers and also from other participants who could share their knowledge like school & college teachers, Graduate & B-school students, professionals working in different industries & sectors, parents, individuals employed in corporate businesses or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), etc.
The website is developed around key sections Share, Connect, Learn, Test and Play. The ‘Connect’ section allows users to connect with peers & virtual mentors. The ‘Learn’ section on Iken consists of curriculum oriented content developed by Iken which can be customized by users to meet their specific requirements. The ‘Test’ feature allows users to test their level of knowledge and provides a real time performance assessment personalized manner. The ‘Share’ section allows users to creative multimedia content with others in the form of videos, presentations, documents, etc. Users receive constructive feedback from peers & other participants. The ‘Play’ on Iken consists of learning oriented educational games which helps students learn in an interactive and fun way.