Harvard GSE Student’s Learning App Serves More Than 25 Million In Southeast Asia

Harvard Graduate School of Education master’s student, Iman Usman, originally from Indonesia, realized an opportunity to transform digital learning for a country struggling to educate its large population.  He started a learning app called Ruangguru which has now become the largest education technology startup in the Southeast Asia region.

Designed for K-12 students, Ruangguru provides a digital subscription-based learning platform that delivers highly personalized educational content depending on the needs of the student.  The platform focuses on engaging animations, gamification, and interactivity to inspire students to choose their own learning paths.  During the pandemic, the platform hosted multiple live-stream channels for its online school that reached over 10 million students.

Another mission of Ruangguru is to make the learning platform more accessible to more students through partnerships with companies.  In Southeast Asia, where internet connectivity is still a privilege, Usman designed the platform to work even in areas where bandwidth connectivity is limited.  Additionally, partnerships with telecom companies that offer free data while using the learning platform and providing USB devices with pre-loaded content help to broaden the reach of the platform.

Usman is a lifelong learner himself, having enrolled in Harvard’s GSE program part-time while also taking coursework at the Harvard Kennedy and Harvard Business Schools.  Additionally, he earned the Cheng Fellowship from the Harvard Kennedy School, which supports students starting projects that progress social impact and tackle societal challenges.

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