Top of the Class

#11 How to Create a Global E-Learning Platform in High School

• Crimson Education • Season 1 • Episode 11

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While some students may tutor a few friends, Daksh Chuchra has set up a whole e-learning platform. Econocomics started as a resource sharing site which now has a global reach and he's doing it all for free!

On top of that, Daksh was one of the early applicants to the International Study Ambassador Program. Being one of the first to join the student-run organisation has helped Daksh to shape the program in his role as COO.

Daksh gives his advice on setting up an e-learning platform, the key to running successful student programs and taking part in the Harvard Summer program.

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Podcast Host  00:17

Hello, and welcome to the top of the class podcast. I'm your host Alex Hawke. And in this episode, I chat with Daksh Chuchra. Daksh is the CEO and co founder of an E learning platform called Econocomics and the CEO of the international study ambassador program. We talk about setting up an E learning platform managing successful student organizations and his plans for after school. Let's check with Daksh Churchra. Hi Daksh, great to have you on the show. Can you tell our listeners a bit about yourself?


Daksh 00:46

I'm Daksh. I go to Trinity Grammar School, I'm a year 12 student and I’m 17. Alongside my projects that I've commenced, I'm the CEO and founder of an E learning economics platform called Econocomics as well as the CEO of an international study ambassador program, a unique program of its kind catering to international study needs for all students around the globe right now.


Podcast Host  01:10

Fantastic. Well, obviously, it's an interesting time for international study with COVID disrupting a lot of things. And we'll get into that soon. But just for our listeners who are all around the globe, you're from New South Wales, you're from Sydney. Is that correct?


Daksh 01:24

Yes. New South Wales, Sydney. I've lived in Indonesia, and Malaysia prior to coming here to Sydney. Right? This came here last year. So it's a bit of international experience that I have.


Podcast Host  01:36

That's great to hear. Now, let's talk about Econocomics. It sounds like it's very near and dear to your heart. Can you talk us through I guess why you set that up? And when you set that up?


Daksh 01:46

Oh, well, yes. In fact, education has been pretty close to my heart traveled around the globe, as I've stated, and it's always disheartening to see like, young children on the streets, for instance, not getting provided an adequate human need more human right, in fact, of schooling. In terms of Econocomics, I started it last year, with a couple of my friends, because we used to tutor children, economics at lunchtime or recess. And it used to be really fun. Like, I wouldn't do it just for the sake, it would be like a tool for me to gain my revision. But it would also be really enjoyable, and nice to see other people enjoying the subject. But after that, I had to relocate countries as stated to Australia now, right? Like, I've always thought that education shouldn't stop like it's a human right, as I stated, and especially with COVID. Now, this elearning system has gotten like really argumentative, and it's become part of so many students lives right now. So I started even though I didn't start economics, even though I studied economics before COVID-19, I really started it just to help people around the globe. In economics, which is my favorite subject coincidentally, and putting one of those social needs as well.


Podcast Host  03:10

Let's go to that week that was started. Like you're there with a couple of mates, you're all pretty passionate about economics. And you'll want to turn that passion into something that helps other students when you said you started tutoring kids, how old were the kids? And how did you get them involved?


Daksh  03:27

Oh, well, they were not that young. They were, I would say 14 to 15


Podcast Host  03:32

 You would have been like just a year or two older, right?


Daksh 03:34

Yeah, yeah, it was like about helping the younger students who had just started economics, in my old school days to start, I think in grade nine, and I would have been a great 10 students. Okay, so I've had that one year experience, which is not a lot, but it was significant enough to, I guess, make a change or help these students struggling, but I got them to starting an economics club at school. So I was the president of that. But the demand got like so high that we actually had to start offering lunch and sessions and recess just to help these kids out.


Podcast Host  04:06

So it was high demand, you had a lot of students coming in wanting to learn. 


Daksh  04:09

Yeah. there was.


Podcast Host  04:11

Oh, that's awesome. And and was it teacher supervised? Or was it just something that you kind of like started with a couple of mates? And you know, didn't really check in with it? Like, did you check in with your economics teacher at the time? or How did the teachers in the school fit in with that?  Oh, yeah, the teachers played a huge part in helping me start up but it was never a student led activity overall. So it was students engaging directly with the other students. And I think that's what made it so successful. Because it kind of deviated from that traditional teacher to student learning, which they had in classrooms. And we kind of put a twist on it. Like we didn't directly just like tutor them the content, but we would apply it to like, real life skills. What's going on in the news right now? How can you apply that and that wasn't typically taught in the Course at least that I was studying at the time. So how is it changed? From tutoring at lunchtime and recess, to now being economics, like an E learning platform that you are still part of, and still a big part of here in Australia.


Daksh 05:09

Yeah, so it didn't like directly change. Like, we didn't go into this virtual tutoring thing. Instead, we put up like a plethora of resources on the website. But we didn't want it just to be like a typical, you know, study kind of resource place, we wanted to like, put some twist and make it engaging. So we added like, an economics humor section on our website, we post like current economics articles, so people can apply to their real life situation. And in the question to like, how it formed, I guess just after me realizing that I had to relocate countries, I didn't want to stop this process that I really enjoyed. So I just wanted to continue. And I like, one one time, my friend suggested Why don't we like open up some elearning platform, and that's how it started. 


Podcast Host  05:57

Okay, so how many people are actually in the team that you have like, as part of the the management of economics? And they are they Australia base? Or they some in Indonesia as well? 


Daksh  06:07

Well, it started off with five students, yes, like Indonesia. And now it's spans 150 team members around the globe. And I think a successful way to do that is like through advertising, not by like paid advertising. But maybe like a LinkedIn post would be great. It gets a lot of engagement, or people putting up on their Instagram stories, just the social media of nowadays. And people just by word of mouth, telling your friends Oh, I've joined this platform. But yeah, it really expands pretty quick.


Podcast Host  06:39

And the students who work in economics, are they getting paid at all?


Daksh  06:42

The amazing thing about this is all voluntary, you know, not a single dime is yet going out. It's not so much like they're only forced to do tutoring, because some people may not be comfortable tutoring. So it's more about like sharing notes sharing like flashcards that somebody has made some people like creating doomer jokes and stuff like that. So it's just like incorporating every buddy skills and putting them in where they can be used. Because, as I stated before, it's like doing this for a passion. If you're doing something you're not comfortable with and just resume padding, it's not really going to add the value, like Sure, it feels like what the goal or what the program does now is it kind of brings economic theory, which is obviously a theoretically heavy subject and brings it to life. 


Podcast Host  07:27

Right? You're taking real life examples, you're trying to put a few spins on it, whether it be the humour side of things I'm going to get this from economics memes that you've got going on etc. They've been shared around. And so it kind of takes the theory of the classroom and makes it more understandable and more digestible for students. Is that what you're saying? Is that what you see a benefit for students?


Daksh 07:48

Yeah, the original aim was to do that. And it's like, kinda like, I've read a few psychological studies where they said, like, nowadays that students are more engaged with like visual devices, rather than the typical notes. So if we're trying to provide study resources, we do it in a wide variety of means, right? So that it's accessible to each student and caters to their needs. 


Podcast Host  08:09

Okay, so are you still very hands on with it? Like, how many hours a week or month do you think you'd be putting into something like this?


Daksh 08:17

Well, the great thing about this is an online platform. So there are times when I'm like busy, perhaps during exam period where I can just leave it on, and the websites working perfectly people can manage. But there are other weeks when, for instance, like there's technical glitches on the website, or anybody's notes aren't opening up, then you get a bunch of emails. But yeah, those are some weeks where you have to do it. But if you're busy, it's great that I have a team that can always help me. So I'm putting perhaps I would say, one to two hours into that every week.


Podcast Host  08:49

That's manageable, right? Like, hey, huge impact one to two hours a week. Did you ever see that? That was the potential of the program when you first started it that it could become 150 members around the world teaching tutoring students, I'm sure you've got a couple times more that in terms of the number of students who have been taught on the platform. Did you ever see the potential of that when you first started it? Well, I


Daksh 09:11

didn't see the direct potential of growing that big like I thought is maybe like 20 team members around the globe would be pretty amazing to have, right? Yeah. But it just grew so big, and people felt so passionate into it. So I was like, yeah, it sure shouldn't stop growing, cater to more students needs, let more people help out because people, I think they enjoy helping students out.


Podcast Host  09:32

Can you take us through some of the logistics of setting up an E learning platform, things like the website where the cost comes from those kinds of things, and how you went about, I guess, delegating that to other members of your team.


Daksh 09:45

Yeah, so I haven't paid for anybody doing the website with a free website, platform maker called Wix.


Podcast Host  09:54

Are you using Wix? Yep, sure.


Daksh 09:55

Yeah. It's really great. It's really simple. I mean, I haven't done it all by myself. I've had a couple of friends helped me out. But all high schoolers, yes, in terms of making the website and when I think about the website, it's a gradual process. So if you saw my website a year ago, it would look completely different to what it is now. So it's just about adding steps. And the main thing is listening to what you're like, what my students are, what the people that use the website want, and how we can cater to their needs more, because you're never gonna have it perfect first time. That's just the reality of it. So it's always about evolving it. And I think it's pretty simple to make a website like it's not much coding in Wix. Also, I have done a bit of coding to make it seem a bit more flashy here. Yeah, in one sense, it's pretty simple. And I think the main thing is just having the content of what you want to start right before you go into the website, there's no point building a website to know where what you want to achieve through it. So my goal was initially to help students and economic system as simple as that, I think, once you have that vision can cater to your website's needs. And it's just about getting that mission vision, what you want to achieve to it, and then it just grows from there.


Podcast Host  11:13

How much do you think you learned at school to get this off the ground? And how much do you think you have to self learn or other members have to self learn to make this happen?


Daksh 11:22

Well, I had a very lucky experience of taking computer science as an elective in my home school. So I got that kind of coding kind of background, which definitely helped me performing the platform. And I think school plays a crucial role. But for instance, I'm not that good at art, to be completely honest. Yes, my friend should take art and who are especially they can work on the designs of, for instance, the logo, or Instagram posts or stories. So it's kinda about combining the skills that you learned from school and the things that you're passionate about that you learn at home by yourself. But it's about building from those foundations that you learn at school and evolving it into something like this.


Podcast Host  12:00

So what have been some of the biggest takeaways for you? You know, you're probably thinking, geez, I'm actually learning a lot from this, that I'm sure employers would potentially really like to say, or, you know, as a personal development, it's had some great impacts as well. But yeah, what have been some of your biggest takeaways? Well, I


Daksh 12:17

think my biggest takeaway is you can do anything by yourself. Yeah. Like a team is always a group of minds is always better than one mind. My opinion, it wouldn't be as successful as it is without my team. Because as I said, it's like catering to different skills that potentially I don't have. And other people can help me with that. So everybody's doing in their speciality in terms of key lessons, choose an easier name. Yeah, just a small thing, but actually had an incident where my notes were being sold online, for like money when they're published on our website for free. So they write so that was a bit of a hassle. But we're trying to fix that now by like, putting at the bottom, like in a footnote, these notes are available for free, shouldn't be resold for a monetary value. But that's just the reality of business and project. So this, I guess, it's your part of the real world now, and there are going to be challenges and obstacles that face your way, but never let them dishearten you always try to approach them. And if your friends because we're all high schoolers that are doing this, and maybe seek like your teachers advice, you have professional advice in this field, because they might have a better idea than you. And it's always great to get on the ideas.


Podcast Host  13:37

Did you ever think of monetizing it at all? I mean, someone did. Someone obviously tried to monetize it. Have you ever thought about that? And why didn't you decide to go down that path?


Daksh 13:47

Well, I would be like, say, I haven't thought about it. But that's definitely not the path I want to follow. Because right, the original aim was like, education for everyone, economics for everyone. And there's no point putting a monetary barrier between like, those who can afford stuff like this to people who can always stop that education should be accessible to everyone. So that's kind of the reason why I haven't gone down that path. But yeah, money does play a crucial issue. But the only amount of money I spent on this project is for the domain name, which was not that expensive. So it shows that you can go a long way without money in our current day and age.


Podcast Host  14:24

Yeah, absolutely. Well, no, I think you've made a good call there and the students who are interested in starting a business, I think you should have a look at Dexter's story. But yeah, let's let's go into the other project that you're pretty passionate about as well, which is the ICF International study ambassador program. Can you talk us through I guess how or why you got started with the iset program?


Daksh 14:45

Well, yeah, that's like similarly on that education kind of basis. And that I SAP is like, another free student, kind of LEAD program. And through that program, it like helps Students who want to go who have like an interest in international study opportunities to develop new skills and to see like, how we can facilitate and how we can add, tend to advertise. This international study that many students here, at least here locally in Australia did not have a thorough knowledge of. So it's all about bringing in that wider community to make sure they know all their wider educational opportunities.


Podcast Host  15:27

A few of your extracurriculars are student run organizations, how much of that is a part of your decision making process when you're choosing an extracurricular to be a part of?


Daksh 15:37

Well, yeah, in school, I do like debating Model United Nations club here and there, and they're mostly teacher kind of lead. Yes. Which I don't see a problem with. It's great. But I think just one subtle advantage of like student led, is that freedom that you're talking about? Yes. Like, you kind of have that idea, like you're exploring into the big world of what you want to do. And these I think, are, can be more applicable to like after high school and real life skills. For instance, with like economics, the people doing designing or in the marketing team, they can like, say that, oh, yeah, I've had prior experience in this. And they're taking the risk now, which will help them in the future, learn from it, whether it's good or bad. They'll learn from their successes and failures. And I think that will help them develop more as a character which school programs don't offer as much hope. But right, I think with the way society is moving, like there's a lot of more student led programs going on in schools, and high schools. So that's kind of incorporating the freedom that they have.


Podcast Host  16:38

Fantastic. And now you were one of the very early adopters of ISAP. And that you were one of the very first members to join. Fantastic. Now you're one of the very early adopters of isef. In that you're one of the very first members to join, can you give us a little bit of an insight into how that may have changed the direction of the organization and how that has helped you to take more of a leadership role?


Daksh 16:59

Yeah, so I was lucky enough to meet you. And then as well as Gerard is the current director doing great, but at the beginning of the program, I think I was the first ambassador to join the program. And those are really early days. Those were days of setting up like the platform or discussion ideas of how are we going to go about this, like forming an Instagram page versus a Facebook page? What should we include in those pages. And those were the really early days of like, brainstorming ideas, for instance, and coming up with the content that we want to post. And slowly after there, I think we inducted our first group of ambassadors, formerly known as intake one, which was like 2018 students around Australia who, and a lot of them played a part. But surprisingly, that kind of intake at the end of I think, a month kind of slipped down the road and just like stopped responding, most of them, which I've also had problems with certain team members in economics just like stop responding, like, maybe they're busy with something and it's fine. And it kind of like a roadblock in your kind of business or project aims. But we didn't like get deteriorated by that we got another intake intake to have, I think 25 more. And that was when the project really stood out. Took off, everybody was keen in that kind of intake, we're all collaborating pretty well, I got thing, my role got upgraded to head of marketing then. So I was leading a marketing team, kinda in producing, like how we can expand our followers on Instagram and our viewership, they went from there. And it was a gradual process, it didn't suddenly like spike up was all just a steady process going on. And now I'm the chief Operations Officer just got that role. And now I'm kind of looking at the overseas like international kind of operations and how each team is doing it. So we went from an Australian locally based programs now expanding to several countries around the globe.


Podcast Host  18:59

Yeah, the content you guys create at isep is fantastic. So if you want to check that out and want to learn a little bit more about overseas study in the process, make sure to follow isep.hq on Instagram. But one thing I wanted to chat with you about was how do you not take it personally when someone signs up for your organization? But after say a week or so they're already kind of ghosting you, does that affect you? And how do you move forward from there?


Daksh 19:24

I think that initial stage is always like that second thing that you mentioned, like oh, what went wrong kind of thing? Why are people leaving us? But as it goes, like, I think people just like drop out some states that they're busy with high school, which is fine. Some state that they're not really keen in this project and the way it's going, which I think is just a part of life for them to not take it personally. Because for every one student that leaves you there's another 10 that are still committing their heart to their project. Yes. So don't let that distract you in the way that it can and just take it on as like maybe ask them for why and how they improve it. But don't take it personally just try to learn from those mistakes, if any that has been made, and try to make sure it doesn't happen again.


Podcast Host  20:09

Yeah, that's good advice. Now a big part of the organizations that you're involved in really rely on student engagement. What kind of advice would you give to students who are wanting to start or who are already part of student run organizations to help them maintain student engagement throughout a month, two months, six month period, because people's lives change and things happen? So how do you keep people coming in? And when people are in the door? How do you keep them engaged in the program?


Daksh 20:36

Yes, I think in the student led programs, there needs to be a bit more freedom and like responsibility laid out on the students in terms of what they want to achieve through this program, like sure you have a mission in the program. But what did they want to do by joining this program? Is it that they want to develop a certain type of skill, for instance, you need to try to cater to their needs, as well as yours and kind of just incorporated into one. For instance, if there's somebody looking to join the program, for instance, if if they have an interest in international study, but also they're really keen artist, they can work more on the design team, don't necessarily put them in the marketing team, because you need more people to try to help on that side. So just help each student out individually. And it's more about getting to know them in a sort of community rather than a formal business kind of vibe that many high school students find boring nowadays, because I think, in economics, one of the first lessons I learned pretty early on was that they're your friends, not just your business kind of partners that are starting up this program, we need to treat everybody as a friend kind of a community, rather than going down that direct business kind of Oh, we lost this much followers or whatnot, it needs to be like a community. So everybody feels like they're valued there. And that's what I think drives the success of many of these student led organizations.


Podcast Host  22:00

Yeah, and I think it's really important that students understand when they do join a student run organization, that it does differ a lot from a teacher run one, where often there's a set list of goals and a set curriculum, whereas like a student run, one has a lot more flexibility, but it also requires a lot more initiative. So how important is it for students to kind of have that switch to know that they no longer seen as a student in a student run organization, they are more seen as a designer or a marketer or a leader or someone who can actually be contributing to the overall success of the program?


Daksh 22:36

Yeah, indeed. And it's kind of like it's for many, it's like a chain. So they're used to the high school and like, program going on. So as much as I hate to say it, there needs to be some like sort of rules incorporated in the overall program, like in terms of your language that you use, how you treat others, just a basic thing. So it's not a completely freedom, go for whatever you want kind of thing in the program, because to some extent, it does need to have an adequate, and it does need to be managed coming up from each student. But apart from that, on your note about like contributing, yeah, it's imperative that you let them do what they want to do, rather than forcing them into a field and let them pursue their passions. Because I think you can say on your resume, for instance, well, I was part of this program. But I think just my perspective, like many jobs, or even universities, they say, Okay, you've done that, but what have you actually achieved or done within that program? Sure, you can be just an idle member, but that doesn't really contribute too much. And I think, if you learn skills, like for instance, in the ISAP program, or economics, you can write that on your resume. And for instance, there's an interview, you can say it, and people might say, Well, yeah, I could just lie about that, like I could just get in the program. I do not do anything. But I think it's much harder to lie, at least in an interview when you're like direct and for instance, the interviewer asked you, oh, well, what have you achieved in this program? And it is stuttering a bit. And it kind of shows like if you done something, and it's really authentic, and it's true to your heart, I think be conveyed in a manner that is that resembles that.


Podcast Host  24:12

Yeah, no, that's good advice. One thing I want to chat about as well as what's next for you, you've got your 12 and you're obviously part of the international study ambassador program. So you do have a strong interest in overseas study. Talk us through I guess, why the interest in international study and what you're hoping to do?


Daksh 24:31

Yeah, so of course school life, I'm hoping to go study University overseas, particularly in the US that I'm looking for. There's some great educational opportunities there that I'd really love to have and gain an experience of that. went to Harvard pre college program and that like really set my foundation that Yeah, I want to go because they're kind of different environment to the typical Australian unis that offer they're more like students like their student contribution detective community as well. We're in Australia, at least a unit I'm looking for. It's like, Okay, you go to uni, like twice a week. And then it's kind of done from there. I mean, you get meaningful friends. It's a great college. Don't get me wrong. But I think I'm more disorientated on having like living on campus and partaking the student activities in terms of economics, and I sat, I hope that I can still continue with them throughout my college experience, and maybe even further, you never know. Yeah,


Podcast Host  25:28

But one thing I just want to go back through, though, is we kind of glossed over it, you took part in a Harvard program?


Daksh 25:35

Yeah, a summer school kind of thing. It was a great experience. It was like living like a Harvard student for two weeks and immersing yourself into that culture kind of thing. I was studying macro economics.


Podcast Host  25:48

So you You did a summer program at Harvard, in Boston, Massachusetts. And you're like living on campus for two weeks? It happened?


Daksh 25:57

Yeah. And it was a phenomenal experience. And we were taught by like, the professional or Well, the Harvard unique lecturers. Yeah, no, it was like a small class. So you get to get directly interact with them. And I just found it exceptional and amazing. How did you apply for that? 


Podcast Host  26:13

Like, how did you get involved in something like that? Because that must be like a pretty sought after program by a lot of students from around the world.


Daksh 26:20

Yeah, fortunately, it was before COVID-19. So I always like, we had that opportunity to travel overseas. But you just submit the form alongside I think your extracurricular essays, I think, five or six essays that you have to complete as well as a teacher recommendation. Right? So yeah, to get all of that, and I think they compile and choose their best to the candidates. And many people also say that, like it's financially kind of burden, which is completely true. But there are other programs like for instance, last year, I applied to Cambridge and got a scholarship, one of their essay writing competitions, was an economics essay, one through 10. coincidence. But yeah, COVID hits or it was a pretty, it was pretty disappointing that I couldn't attend. But I wanted to get kind of that UK also kind of feel about me and what it but I think now over like the last year, I've come to the conclusion that I want to go to the US.


Podcast Host  27:15

Absolutely, I think it's it's great to open your eyes to what else is out there and kind of understand what life might be like not just necessarily the degree or you know, the prestige of the university, but what's life going to be like for three or four years on campus? But one question I have is how do you come across these opportunities? Is this something that your school is telling you about? Like these essay writing competitions? And the Harvard you know, pre college program or summer programs? Or are you following social media accounts are like how you learning about these opportunities, so you can apply?


Daksh 27:46

Yeah, fortunately, for me, I was in Indonesia, I went to an international school. So that international opportunities were always there, right, like many people were applying to perhaps Columbia, pre college, or whatnot, so that Harvard kind of was from there. But when I moved to Australia, like I found there was a significant difference. There was not much talk about overseas, studying, but now through the international study ambassador program, and through me regularly talking to my like, career counsellor, or Yes, we've kind of tried to develop this international study kind of thing. We're not forcing anybody to study internationally, because some people just might not boy, just raising the awareness.


Podcast Host  28:26

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much, Daksh. It's been awesome having you on the show. For students who would love to connect with you, what would be the best way to connect with you? Is that LinkedIn or?


Daksh 28:36

Well, yeah, I've LinkedIn and Instagram and a heap more social media, but I think LinkedIn would be a great way to start or an email would be perfectly fine.


Podcast Host  28:44

No worries, we will drop a couple of links and emails into the show notes on the Crimson Education podcast page. We hope you have enjoyed today's show. We hope you have got a lot out of today's episode. Thank you so much, Daksh, for joining us. Hopefully, next time we chat you will be over studying in the US at Harvard or something like that, and doing your thing which would be amazing.


29:04

Thank you very much, Alex for having me.