About

My work on this blog in the public domain reflects my own personal views and not the views of my employers or endorsed by them in any way. An education researcher with over 24 years of experience in elearning and technology, I have a rich and diverse senior management experience and have held positions in the past in Technology (CTO) and Operations (President), Chief Product Architect and as CEO for a start-up. I currently work for a leading publisher as its Director for Product and Digital Transformation. I have pioneered initiatives in technology and learning in India such as prototyping one of India’s earliest learning and assessment portals in 1997 at IGNOU, the nation’s largest open distance learning university, building the technology infrastructure (2000-02) for egurucool.com, India’s first K12 online learning portal, and creating a pioneering 18 month long blended learning programme for the nation’s premier management institute, the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (2003-04). I was also the technology architect behind the acclaimed product for English language training (English Edge) in 2004, created with BBC Worldwide. My work in serious games and simulations space has been recognized by industry through the two Best Use of Games in Learning Brandon Hall Awards (2009 and 2010). Subsequently, I helped establish a simulations and serious gaming company, Atelier, first as the start-up’s CEO and now as an advisor and mentor. Atelier was selected to receive seed funding from over 16000 ideas in a business competition run by the Indian government and the prestigious B-school, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. I am also the co-founder of the National Association for Simulations and Serious Games in India (NASSG) and a country representative at the Asian Federation of Serious Games. In 2011, I had the privilege of speaking at TEDx, on the theme Order from Chaos. I have also had the privilege of presenting and facilitating a panel discussion on Educational Analytics in India in 2012 at the FICCI Higher Education Summit. In 2012, I organized EDGEx, a unique research conference in India, which brought together stalwarts in the MOOCs space including George Siemens, Jay Cross, Stephen Downes, Dave Cormier, Martin Weller, Grainne Conole and Alec Couros as well as experts on simulations and serious games like Clark Quinn. I was also one of the first 25 for-credit students for the first MOOC – CCK08, held by George Siemens, Dave Cormier and Stephen Downes in 2008. Apart from my work on education & technology for some of the leading education companies in India, I am a contributor to government and industry association led committees on technology in education for K12, Higher education and Teacher Education. I am a frequent blogger, featured on eLearningLearning.com and have authored about 300 blog posts and articles.

Presentations Order from Chaos, TEDx Speaker, 2011 Introductions and Summary Sessions, EDGEX, 2012 Standards in Serious Games and Simulations, SGSA Singapore, 2012 (Slides) MOOC – Invent vs. Innovate, Manipal Education, 2012 How to Monetise Serious Games, Panel Discussion, SGSA Singapore, 2012 Learning 2.0, 2009 Educational Analytics, FICCI Higher Education Summit, 2012 (Slides) CCK08 Final Project Submission