2016 ICT4D Conference

During 48 2nd grade lessons observed by Uwezo in three districts in Kenya, not a single child asked their teacher a question. Mainstream approaches to teaching and learning have changed very little in the past 50 years in Kenya. A lot of repetition, memorization, note taking, reading and assessments. There is very little space for Kenyan learners to express, let alone explore the things they might be curious about. Curiosity, questions and problem-solving are the spaces within which we see opportunity for real learning. Digital access for students means that the 4 walls of their classroom is not a limit a learner's access to knowledge. 

BRCK Education is thinking holistically about what this digital access looks like in schools. The Kio Kit (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYXIF8ELdcQ) can turn any classroom into a digital classroom in minutes: it has 40 "ruggedized for Africa" tablets that are wirelessly charged in the box and a BRCK for connectivity and remote educational content syncing and caching. Our focus on user-centric design and hands-on approach to user experience has made the solution popular with students and teachers. We iterate the solution constantly so the time between the bell ringing and learning beginning is always being reduced. And once learning begins, we are seeing improvements in test scores, cognitive thinking, problem solving and social/environmental consciousness. This is largely attributed to the quality of local and international content curated for the students within our "Learn, Play, Grow" platform.