Everest Scholars

Learning is a journey that requires active participation to truly grasp what is being taught. It entails engaging with materials on a deeper level, asking questions, and taking ownership of one’s own education. Active participation helps learners better retain information and develop essential life skills in a world of constant change.

As Teerath Grewal, CEO and founder of Everest Scholars, puts it, “The need for learning and teaching to be different is at an all-time high to keep up with the global transformations that are reshaping careers and employment demands.”

A virtual learning tech specialist, Everest Scholars focuses on providing students with robust digital learning experiences, helping them embrace change and look forward to new possibilities. Its tech-enabled learning environment engages students in 21stcentury skills—creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication—to help them adapt, self-direct, reorient, and upskill. Students are encouraged to explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate the information, empowering them to thrive academically and socially.

With its unrivaled excellence in EdTech, Everest designs engaging and rigorous lessons that help students become independent learners. The lessons, developed using current and relevant resources along with the authentic learning experience, address their knowledge deficits and incorporate appropriate modeling of key concepts. Everest makes learning more interactive by combining student engagement with academic excellence. Its educators also devise multiple ways to motivate students via interactive tools and instant feedback.

Created by a team of educators, Everest Scholars maintains an ongoing collaboration with parents and teachers—a key aspect that keeps it ahead of the competition. It informs parents about student progress and develops a strong rapport with teachers to provide support during tutoring.

The Theory of Connectivism

“Educators need to employ a new framework as the current students, known as digital natives, learn differently. That’s where the concept of connectivism holds optimum value,” says Grewal.

Connectivism is a pedagogical approach that embraces technology as a tool to connect people and create new learning opportunities. Its principles provide insights into students’ ability to make connections between ideas, synthesize information, and identify essential and inessential information, as they engage in various learning networks using technology and personal interaction.

Students are given access to digital resources that allow them to show their understanding of concepts.For instance, they can use Flipgrid and Screencastity to respond to prompts, while educators can use them to provide feedback. Its Padlet resource allows students to demonstrate their understanding of the subject and brainstorm in creative ways. Similarly, the digital whiteboard allows educators to enhance lessons. They can present math concepts to students using a digital pen and explain the step-by-step process. The tool can highlight certain sections of the information to help students focus on important ideas. The sticky notes on the digital whiteboard help teachers model how to brainstorm and map ideas for essays or other academic tasks. This allows students to improve their critical thinking skills.

The digital whiteboard also facilitates collaboration. Students can simultaneously convey their thought processes using various drawing tools. The whiteboards are saved automatically so teachers can access and share them with students anytime. It can also integrate with other apps, such as Kahoot, to provide students with game-based learning experiences.

TPACK and ISTE: The Keys to Success

Everest’s courses and tutoring services are designed according to the changes in technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge framework (TPACK) and International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) standards.

This relationship between content, technology, and pedagogy knowledge is critical for establishing an effective learning environment. Content knowledge (CK) is educators’ subject matter expertise, pedagogical knowledge (PK) is the instructional strategies to enhance student learning, and technological knowledge (TK) is the understanding of digital tools. The ultimate goal is to view the lesson at the point where all the forms intersect.

ISTE standards for educators and students have been an integral part of how Everest designs its courses and tutoring services. ISTE’s goal is to inspire innovation and use technology to solve problems in the education domain.

Everest offers clear guidelines for skills, knowledge, and approaches that educators and students must apply to effectively integrate technology into learning experiences.

Leveraging these standards enable Everest Scholars to provide structured learning support for students as they move forward. In one instance, it partnered with a local school to support their students’ literacy needs. The pandemic had a detrimental impact on their learning, and many were struggling to read at grade levels. The Everest Scholars team analyzed each student's reading data and grouped them based on their specific learning needs, resembling the multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) model. Its educators then provided differentiated instruction to bridge the learning gap.

“Everest Scholars’ team is determined to partner with schools to solve their challenges and ensure students are able to reach their full potential,” says Grewal.

Helping Students Learn Authentically

Grewal is coordinating with The Reading League, a national education nonprofit led by educators and reading experts, to open a chapter in California. As one of its executive board of directors, she is working with a team of exceptional individuals who have been relentlessly trying to bring significant changes to support students. Engaging in discussions with individuals from this team has been extremely important to Everest Scholars, as it keeps track of the relevant solutions for the reading issue that schools face.

The Need For Learning And Teaching To Be Different Is At An All-Time High To Keep Up With The Global Transformations That Are Reshaping Careers And Employment Demands

Its ultimate aim is to have a global reach where strategically designed and personalized learning is not limited to students based on any specific location. No matter where students live, the company wants to be a resource that helps them reach their highest potential.

Everest is determined to build a future of learning that values flexibility and choices, where students thrive by having access to a myriad of educational resources. Undoubtedly, technology will play a critical role in enabling this, and Everest Scholars aims to design authentic learning experiences that will transform students’ lives.