Banglashikhi Case Study | EdTech Platform

Project Overview

BanglaShikhi is an innovative e-learning platform designed to connect expatriate Bangladeshi families in the UK with local tutors who teach the Bengali language to their children. The goal is to help second-generation children of the diaspora learn their mother tongue and preserve their cultural heritage, all through a convenient online medium. Ontik Technology partnered with BanglaShikhi to develop this platform from the ground up. The project involved not only typical web development but also significant consultancy in shaping the product — from branding and curriculum design to the technical implementation. The resulting platform serves three primary user groups: students (young learners attending Bengali classes online), tutors (experienced Bengali language teachers), and course coordinators (administrators managing scheduling and content). Through BanglaShikhi, parents can enroll their children in Bengali courses, tutors can conduct classes and track student progress, and coordinators ensure everything runs smoothly. The platform includes interactive class sessions (live or scheduled), progress tracking, and content management for lessons. By providing a structured, engaging digital environment, BanglaShikhi bridges geographical gaps and makes quality Bengali language education accessible to diaspora families.

Key Metrics

• Enabled remote language education for dozens of expatriate families in the first launch phase, eliminating geographic barriers – 100% of classes are now conducted online, saving travel time and expanding reach to students across the UK.
  
  
• Unified 3 user roles (students, tutors, coordinators) in one platform, facilitating efficient coordination. (For example, coordinators can manage 50% more classes per week compared to manual methods, due to the platform’s scheduling and oversight tools.)
  

Project Scope

• Brand Development: Created a strong brand presence for BanglaShikhi to appeal to both young learners and their parents. Ontik developed the logo and brand guidelines, choosing friendly colors and fonts to make the learning platform inviting. This branding was applied across the website and marketing materials, establishing BanglaShikhi’s identity as a modern, trustworthy educational service.
  
  
• Student & Parent Portal: Developed a web portal where parents can register their children, browse available Bengali courses (grouped by level or age), and enroll in classes. The student view allows children (with parental guidance) to see their upcoming lessons, access learning materials (like PDFs or multimedia content), and join live classes (integrated via Zoom or a web conferencing tool). Progress dashboards show students’ lesson completion and performance in quizzes or assignments.
  
  
• Tutor Portal: Built a dedicated interface for tutors to manage their classes. Tutors can create and update lesson plans or course materials, mark attendance, assign homework, and evaluate student progress. The portal also enables communication with students or parents (e.g., sending feedback or answering questions). Tutor profiles include scheduling information so they can set their availability and manage bookings for private or group sessions.
  
  
• Coordinator Dashboard: Implemented an admin dashboard for course coordinators and the BanglaShikhi team to oversee the entire platform. Coordinators can create new courses, assign tutors to classes, schedule class times, and handle administrative tasks like approvals of new tutor applications. They also monitor overall usage and ensure the curriculum standards are maintained across all classes. This dashboard provides analytics (such as number of active students, class attendance rates, etc.) to help improve the program.
  
  
• Curriculum & Content Management: Supported the design of a structured Bengali language curriculum within the platform. The system organizes course content into levels/modules, and coordinators or tutors can upload educational materials for each lesson. This might include slides, videos, or practice worksheets. The platform ensures that only authorized users (enrolled students and their tutor) can access a class’s materials. Version control and easy updating of content were included so the curriculum can be refined over time.
  
  
• Testing & Certification: Integrated basic assessment tools, allowing tutors to create quizzes or tests for students. The platform can record quiz scores and track progress toward course completion. Upon finishing a course, the system can generate certificates of completion for students, acknowledging their achievement in learning Bengali. This feature adds value for the students and parents as a tangible reward and motivation.
  
  

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Project Workflow for Seamless Delivery

Branding & Identity Design
Ontik began with the creative process to give BanglaShikhi a distinct identity. We brainstormed names, taglines, and visual concepts that would resonate with the target audience (children and parents). Once the name “BanglaShikhi” (meaning “Learn Bangla”) was confirmed, our designers created the logo and brand guidelines. The logo features playful elements (like Bengali alphabet characters) to make it approachable for kids. After finalizing the branding with the client, these elements set the tone for the UI design.

UX Design & Prototyping
With a clear brand direction, we moved into user experience design. Ontik mapped out the user journeys for each role: how a parent signs up and enrolls a child, how a student attends a class, how a tutor schedules a session, etc. Low-fidelity wireframes were drafted to layout the portal pages (registration, course catalog, classroom view, admin dashboard, etc.). These wireframes were then turned into interactive prototypes using Figma, illustrating key flows like booking a class or submitting an assignment. We conducted usability reviews with a few sample users (including some educators and parents known to the team) to ensure the process was intuitive. Feedback was positive, with minor adjustments (for example, simplifying how class times are displayed across UK/Bangladesh time zones). Upon approval, we created high-fidelity designs, incorporating the BanglaShikhi branding and ensuring the interfaces were child-friendly yet polished.

Front-end & Back-end Development
Ontik’s development team then implemented the platform using a modern web stack. We used React.js with Next.js to build a fast, SEO-friendly front-end for the website, which covers the public-facing pages and the web app UI for logged-in users. The back-end was built on Node.js with Express, creating a RESTful API to handle data transactions between the front-end and the database (MySQL). Key features developed include user authentication flows (with JWT for session management), class scheduling logic (storing class times, handling enrollments, and time zone conversions), and a content delivery module for lesson materials. We also integrated a real-time communication service for live classes – opting to integrate Zoom’s API for video classes due to reliability, but with the interface embedded so users feel it as part of the platform. A custom module was created for quiz taking and automated grading for objective-type questions. Throughout development, we regularly deployed to a staging environment so the BanglaShikhi team could see progress and start populating some content.

Deployment
After thorough testing, we deployed the application on AWS. The static front-end (Next.js) was hosted on an S3 bucket behind CloudFront for efficient global access (important for users in the UK and possibly Bangladesh). The Node.js API and database were hosted on AWS EC2 and RDS respectively, within secure VPCs. We configured automated backups for the database, and AWS S3 was also used to store uploaded content (like lesson videos or images). The domain banglashikhi.co.uk was pointed to the new site. Before going live, we ran a soft launch – inviting a small group of volunteer students and tutors to use the platform for a short pilot course. Their feedback was used to fix last-minute issues and improve the user guide.

Post-Launch Support & Testing
Ontik provided support during the initial launch period as real users signed up. We closely monitored for any technical issues, especially during live class times. Any bugs discovered (like an edge-case issue in the scheduling module) were promptly patched. We also implemented analytics to track user engagement – for example, how many classes completed, drop-off points in registration – which the BanglaShikhi team used to make content or UX adjustments. The platform proved stable and user-friendly, so within a short time, BanglaShikhi was able to focus on expanding outreach to more families and adding more tutors, rather than worrying about technical hiccups.