In 2020, two female founders, Homerton alumna Kavitha Ravindran and fellow Cambridge graduate Dr. Rajeshwari Iyer, created sAInaptic to help fill the huge gap in the support available for students revising for their GCSE Science exams. Kavitha, with her PGCE in secondary science from Cambridge and over 12 years experience as a secondary science teacher and GCSE examiner, is the Co-founder and Chief Content Officer at sAInaptic. Here she tells her story and explains why her software offers such transformative support and learning equality for both students and teachers.
Back in 2008 Kavitha arrived at Homerton to complete her PGCE in Secondary Science Education. She fondly remembers her interview as ‘nerve wracking’ but yet ‘rewarding and fulfilling’, something that she attributes to Dr. Mark Winterbottom, who conducted the interview and was also her PGCE mentor. In her own words, Kavitha says he is ‘simply incredible.’
Kavitha goes on to say:
“The main thing that still stands out to me is how supportive and approachable everyone was. In 2008, when I joined Homerton College, I was a young graduate, having just moved to the UK from India, and was still in the process of getting used to UK culture. The world-class pastoral programme at Homerton meant that as a trainee teacher, I could focus 100% on my teacher training course. For example, I will never forget how, when I didn't have the funds to support my commute to the placement schools as part of the PGCE programme, my mentors immediately stepped in to ensure that this was addressed. The efforts placed by mentors both in Homerton and the Faculty of Education ensured that students' key focus always remains on the course and that they are fully supported during this period.”
The evolution of sAInaptic
sAInaptic evolved from a conversation that Kavitha had over a cup of tea with one of her closest friends, Rajeshwari, Co-Founder and CEO. The initial idea was to develop a product that would consolidate learning for children in Primary education (to support their own kids who were in Primary education at that time). Very soon, they realised that given their backgrounds in secondary education and Data science, they needed to focus on something that was relevant to their own skills and experience. Two years from then, after a lot of market research, iterations, testing, and long nights, they have sAInaptic in its current form - an AI-based auto-marking tool for descriptive answers with instant feedback.
sAInaptic addresses two key problems in the current education system:
1. Lack of timely, meaningful feedback on descriptive answers for GCSE students, affecting student outcomes. Personalised learning at this level is currently available only to students who can afford private tutors.
2. Overwhelming teacher marking workload, which is a significant contributing factor for teachers leaving the profession.
Benefits for students and teachers
Through sAInaptic, students receive instant, meaningful feedback. The feedback includes information on correct and missed concepts, offering an effective learning experience and enabling access to a tech-based personalised learning tool for all students.
For teachers, sAInaptic offers instant insights into student performance on descriptive answers, without requiring teachers to spend hours marking these answers and deriving insights. Assigning tasks and monitoring students' progress through sAInaptic will significantly reduce teacher workload and give teachers back their valuable time!
The future vision
Kavitha’s vision doesn’t stop there. Her and the team plan to develop an AI-based assessment model that brings feedback-driven teaching and learning to users at scale. As their offering is currently limited to GCSE/IGCSE science subjects, their next immediate plan is to expand to A-level sciences, and subsequently, broaden the scope to include other subjects and verticals.
Kavitha is a shining example of what can be achieved with ambition and commitment. Her advice to other enterprising hopefuls with a promising business idea:
“Start by conducting thorough research on the business idea and its market potential. Reach out to mentors, experts, or business professionals for guidance. Consider creating a business plan to outline your idea, target audience, revenue model, and marketing strategy. Finally, take small steps to validate your idea, gather feedback, and continuously iterate to refine your business concept.”
Kavitha and Rajeshwari are not only committed to their own business, making change happen for the better, but they are also committed to helping the next generation of forward thinkers. As part of that mission, they are now involved with Homerton’s Changemakers programme, mentoring young entrepreneurs and supporting them in developing their business ideas. They hope to continue this engagement and further extend it to workshops and more targeted 'surgery sessions’ in the near future.
Find out more about sAInaptic and Homertons unique Changemakers programme
To register for the Changemakers Catalyst Fund showcase event on 28 Sept, please visit here
