Shule Direct is a social enterprise that provides digital study tools for Tanzanian secondary students. We are working with qualified teachers in the country to create digitized notes, tutorials, quizzes, podcasts and videos and developing technological solutions to deliver these to students across the country and across the continent.
We have created a cloud-based repository with content organized and mapped to the local curriculum. The repository can hold varied content from text based notes and quizzes, to engaging podcasts and fully animated videos, in order to cater for every learning need. It has an Application Programmer’s Interface (API) that provides a unified interface to pull appropriate content to different devices and platforms.
Therefore, for our content map, the teachers have developed learning notes, revision quizzes, bilingual science concepts and mock exams. This is the initial level of content that must be developed before it can be digitally developed into other formats such as audio or audiovisual. We have developed 3D graphics images for all Science (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) diagrams and phenomena. Our Chief Technical Officer working full time for Google and part-time volunteering for Shule Direct has built the educational content repository, testing and restructuring the API as content is being built. Locally, our developers develop and design web portals such as the Open Educational Resource and the Learning Management System and mobile applications and services that pull content from the repository via the API. Of high consideration is the user experience and accessibility of technologies adapted. Each iteration is rigorously tested.
We are building apps for SMS, smartphones, web and even Facebook, so students can access content from our repository on whatever devices they have. These applications will feed student data back, so that the whole system adapts to each student’s needs.
We are opening up the API so that other developers can connect to pull content for their own applications, tailor-made for their local context. By opening up our platform to innovators across the continent, we can ensure that appropriate solutions are created for the diverse needs of students across Africa.
Qualified, accessible educational content is every child’s right and not a privilege, we believe. Join the movement and be a catalyst that ensures students’ success by providing anytime, anywhere learning opportunities.
