Technology Products
Our leadership team members, being former IT professionals, have been very conscious about using technology to solve issues faced by
public institutions. For example, when it comes to primary school students' learning, we believe that a teacher plays a pivotal role
in the learning process and technology will be used more to assist the process whereas higher class students will benefit greatly by
using technology for self-study or to supplement school teaching. Also, when technology is used for the purposes of monitoring programs,
only actionable and minimal data will be collected and the process will be set up to ensure that the stakeholders are motivated to submit
accurate data into the system.
So our technology intervention can be broadly classified as:
- Technology to aid Learning & Assessments
- Managing implementation of various government programs.
Learning and Assessments
Sikshanapedia App
This app was developed during the Covid pandemic to help students continue to learn on a shared mobile device with limited online connectivity. Post the pandemic the app has been upgraded to help teachers use it as a teaching aid, help students to supplement their learning and can help just about anyone to self-learn various skills beyond just academic. Some features about this app that sets it apart from similar apps are:
- Curated high-quality content organized in an easy to navigate format
- For teachers the app supports for differentiated teaching, quizzes, variety of resources on a topic, digital lesson plans and to run classes in flipped mode
- For students content organized as per their school curriculum
- For youth to acquire digital skills, get career guidance, etc.
- Content available in English and Vernacular languages
- Designed for use in offline mode after downloading content once on to the device
- Custom Image-Audio format in lieu of a normal video reduces the resource size by 90% compared to an equivalent mp4 format
- Has built in quizzes, dashboard for progress tracking and certification module
The app is currently available for android devices on the play store and also as a webapp with limited feature set at www.sikshanapedia.org. The accompanying demo video covers the various use cases of the App.
Used in: Learning & Assessments (KA Govt. Schools & Gram Panchayat Libraries), Teaching (Malleswaram model schools)
Technology used: Apache, Django, MySQL, PHP, Android (Kotlin, SQLite)
Components: Android App and Public Dashboard with login
STEP (Sikshana Technology in Education Programs)
A Windows/Linux based software program which enables students to engage in Project Based Learning (PBL) in a structured manner. Curriculum aligned projects with a social angle are listed as projects for students to choose from. The students will use the software to do further research about the topic, learn various methodologies involved in executing a project, coordinate tasks among the project group members, monitor project progress and finally upload project reports for review & grading by teachers. The entire framework runs on a standalone computer but mimics an online experience as the system will have its own webserver.
Used in: Learning (Karnataka Public Schools, Malleswaram Model Schools, Select Govt. Primary and High Schools)
Technology used: Apache server, Cake PHP
Components: Desktop App and Private Dashboard with login
Sikshana OMR Solutions
For large scale learning assessments across vast geographical areas especially where availability of digital devices is miniscule, paper-based OMRs offer the best option. Most commercial OMR solutions are very expensive and are also not very child friendly. Sikshana has used SDAPS open-source OMR library and by creating an end-to-end process with supporting python scripts have a developed a solution that can be customized and scaled very easily.
This technology was used for the 2019 and 2020 CSAS where nearly 55 lakhs students from class 4 thru 10, were assessed for academic performance. The key benefits of this solution are:
- OMR can be printed on ordinary A4 sized paper
- Each OMR can be customized for individual student eliminating error in having students mark their IDs
- The student needs to just write a check mark rather than fill an entire oval to indicate the answer
- Pen can be used by students and answer change is possible by just re-ticking the correct answer
- OMRs can be scanned at location and uploaded to server for centralized processing
- Dashboards help in implementation of the program, keeping track of scanned sheets, display aggregate scores at district, block, cluster, school, class level. etc
Used in: Assessments (CSAS – Karnataka State Achievement Survey), Prerana usage monitoring
Technology used: Ubuntu, Web server, Python, SDAPS (Open source OMR library)
Components: Server side scripts and Private Dashboard
Program Management
MyShaala App
An android app which was initially developed for the Karnataka Education department as part of the Prerana program statewide rollout was subsequently launched as the Prerana App. This app helped the department to monitor the implementation of the Prerana program across all the primary schools in the state of Karnataka. The app allows for a set of questions to be setup on the server which then get pushed to the mobile devices of the end users who are responsible for providing the required data. The app will also allow users to initiate a data transfer which provides the end users ability to highlight their achievement or flag a concern to the senior management team.
Used in: This app has now been upgraded and called as NiB-KA (Nipun Bharath – Karnataka) and is used for managing various education department programs in Karnataka including Kalika Chetarike program which is focused on helping students to overcome the 2 year interruption due to the pandemic. In Andhra Pradesh the app is called MyShaala and is used to support the monitoring of the schools where Prerana program is being run in collaboration with other NGOs and the Government.
Technology used: MySQL, PHP, Android
Components: Android App and Public Dashboard with login
MyGP App:
The core MyShaala app described above was modified and deployed to help RDPR (Rural Development & Panchayat Raj) Department to manage their Panchayat Library Program “Oduva Belaku” during the pandemic. The app is now also used to track the implementation of the Grama Digi Vikasana program across the state which is a program we developed to transform GP libraries into digital transformation centers.
Used in: GPs of Karnataka
Technology used: MySQL, PHP, Android
Components: Android App and Public Dashboard
Sikshana Parent App
A simple app designed for teachers to engage with parents and get them to participate in their child’s learning activities in school and at home. The app allows for the teachers to send short messages to parents which seeks parents to observe and report on their child's behaviour, take part in an activity with their child, routine informational messages etc. The teacher also gets a simple dashboard to keep track of all the replies and some basic data analytics are presented.
Used in: UNICEF block of schools in (AP & TS) and in Malleswaram schools in KA.
Technology used: MySQL, PHP, Android
Components: Android App and Private Dashboard
Prerana Mitra App / Sikshana Hitaishi App
As part of School or Community interventions, the use of volunteers or interns to help in program management has been found to be quite helpful. These apps help them to provide data on various predefined metrics which are sent to their phones as a checklist and help them to be more organized and structured in their volunteering efforts.
Used in: UNICEF block of schools in (AP & TS), 200 High schools in KA and 400 GPs in KA
Technology used: MySQL, PHP, Android
Components: Android App and Private Dashboard