Adaptation of EdTech in the New “Normal“& Beyond: Simplicity, Integrated Platforms and Emergency Learning Plans

Published by “Sunday Times”, on 20/12/2020:

With Covid-19 continuing to impact our everyday life, the schooling system across the country is gearing up for an e-learning based education model once again. Regardless, schools are now much more prepared than they were when the first wave hit us in March 2020. It is safe to say that ‘Education Technology’ (EdTech) is here to stay, even after an affordable cure/ vaccine for the virus becomes available globally.

Educators/ teachers in Sri Lanka have done an excellent job in adapting to the new normal of technology-based teaching, despite most having limited prior experience on the subject matter. In such a context, three key factors will help drive the adaptation of EdTech platforms in developing nations such as Sri Lanka:

1. Simplicity is crucial: Educators don’t want complex EdTech/ e-learning platforms, and the effects of complexity is compounded in Sri Lanka

2. One Integrated platform: Avoid the confusion/ inefficiencies of accessing multiple platforms

3. Emergency Learning Plan (ELP) for schools: Beyond the pandemic era

01. Simplicity is crucial

Wherever you are in the world, simplicity for an EdTech platform plays a critical role. The perfect Learning Management System (LMS)interface is intuitive and user-friendly whoever the user and should require minimal effort to learn. This is illustrated by a recent survey conducted by Capterra on 66 participants involving schools and universities, in which the majority (53%) of participants who switched to an LMS stated that being “hard to use’was the primary cause for a switch (1).

The findings were similar even before Covid as well. In a 2016 study, the Brandon Hall Group, a Human Capital Management (HCM) research and advisory services firm, found that 44% of institutionsusing an LMS are thinking about replacing them primarily due to the search for “a better user experience“,closely followed by the requirement for a “better administrative experience”(2).

Further, in a 2014 survey in Norway, which gauged’”teachers’digital competence and experiences of ICT revealed that c. 52% of teachers fell into the categories of either unable to perform/ needed help to “use collaborative editing tools online together pupils”(3).

The effects of complexity are compounded in Sri Lanka

While LMS platforms are multi-faceted, most educators in Sri Lanka have mainly utilized these platforms for a set of core features. As per our discussions with educators/ administrators from leading private schools, the set of core features utilized include; conducting interactive video classrooms, assigning homework to students, grading homework/ quizzes and to provide feedback to the students.

While some educators may have used adjacent features, the successful evolution of LMS platforms in Sri Lanka wasprimarily driven by the above, along with the simplicity, –ease of use and the ability to keep control of the virtual classroom. The mantra is for technology to act as an enabler for an educator, allowing the educator to focus on his/ her core strength, which is teaching. However, during the pandemic, for a lot of educators, the complexity surrounding EdTech platforms have been more of a hindrance in solving the current education challenge.

Currently, there isa multitude of platforms in the market, offering varying features boasting high-levels of complexity and sophistication. Powerful off-the-shelf technology products such as Google Classroom (GCL) and MS Teams, are highly commendable, coming to the rescue of the educators around the world during the pandemic.

Plain vanilla versions of these products are offered free of cost for schools, which has enabled educators to minimize the disruption to school education. These products have their own unique hierarchy and structure, perhaps in its existing avatar well suited for senior classes (i.e. grade 12) in the western/ developed world, where higher levels of technology savviness, and higher accessibility to a relatively sophisticated smart device among educators are the norm.

Educators in developing nations require more simplicity, more user-friendly EdTech platforms that can be accessed even with a low-cost smart device.

02. One Integrated platform

Naturally, all large scale institutional platforms that have been repurposed for Learning Management Systems (i.e. MS TEAMs, Google Classroom) offer their own high functionality API’s for a purpose. That is toallow more niche products to tailor their powerful platforms to more specific use cases and to achieve a better product-market fit.

The ability to execute criticalfunctions of an LMS via one integrated platform (vs multiple platforms), adds to the simplicity and easiness- to- use for an educator, which is likely to be a primary variable to drive adaptation. The challenges of having to access multiple platforms arenumerous and can create confusion resulting in inefficiencies. Some of the key issues faced are;

Using multiple platforms would require the educator to go through multiple facets of training and understand the varying nuances, creating a hurdle for a less IT savvyperson to keep abreast of

The possible requirement to manually repeat the same task, in  multiple platforms creates significant inefficiencies (i.e. tasks such as updating of the student lists/ roster, sending notifications, calendar updates, submitting and grading homework assignments etc.)

The requirement to coordinate with different support personnel from the respective platforms vs having a Single Point of Contact (SPoC) in an integrated model

To a lesser extent, having to remember multiple credentials to log-in, is an additional burden (especially when shared smart devices are used)

EdTech platforms need to be aligned to the requirements of educators by integrating essentialfeatures in one unified platform in a simple and easy- to- use manner.

03. Emergency Learning Plan for schools

One year ago, even the most experienced educators would not have been able to plan for the schooling disruptions in 2020 caused by Covid-19.While the requirement for emergency learning for schools came up in 2019 due to the disruption caused by the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka, the urgency tapered off, as fortunately the disruption to schooling was limited and was well managed by the educators along with the administrators.

Now, the Covid-19 pandemic has magnified the requirement for an Emergency Learning Plan (ELP) for every school, and it is time for educators to perhaps look beyond the pandemic era and think of an on-going Emergency Learning Plan solution as a continuity procedure. During an emergency, the ability for the school/ educators to instantaneously connect with the parents/ students would indeed help mitigate the level of ambiguity surrounding an unforeseen event and also manage the anxiety levels among the respective schooling community.

Further, in the event the school premises are not physically accessible beyond an acceptable period, the ability for the school to get the learning back on track within a few days would be key to minimize disruption to education.

Accordingly, educators need to select the best suited Emergency Learning Plan program for their respective school. The sophistication level of the technology and features of the Emergency Learning Plan should be a function of the school’s requirements and the budget.

In summary, the EdTech platforms need to be customized and simplified to meet the requirements of educators in developing nations such as Sri Lanka: simplicity, control, higher integration among platforms are some of the key factors driving adaptation among users. Further, it is timely for educators to look beyond the pandemic era and think of a permanent Emergency Learning Program solution as a continuity procedure based on the schools’ requirements.

(Chaminda V.Silva is the Managing Director and GamikaSeneviratne is the Head of Product at Yara Technologies (Pvt) Ltd [“Yara”], which owns and operates the “Talkative Parents”EdTech Platform.

Talkative Parents connects educators, teachers, parents and students via one integrated solution consisting of a Communication Platform, e- Learning/ LMS , School Fees Payments and Document management. The platform has over 7,000 active users including leading private schools such as Bishop’s College and S. Thomas’Preparatory school.)

Source :https://www.sundaytimes.lk/201220/education/adaptation-of-edtech-in-the-new-normal-beyond-simplicity-integrated-platforms-and-emergency-learning-plans-425839.html

Yara Technologies develops platform for schools to communicate with parent

Published by “Economynext”, on 02/04/2020: 

Yara Technologies, a Colombo-based start-up it had launched an online platform that connects schools and pre-schools with parents.

Connecting Parents & Schools

Published by Uwin Lugoda, “The Morning”, on 29/03/2020:

One of the greatest challenges faced by the current education system is the communication gap between parents and the schools of their children. This problem has persisted for a long time, regardless of whether the schools are open and regardless of whether a pandemic does not exist.

However, in these challenging times, the need for schools and students’ parents to communicate clearly and succinctly is especially vital, as many schools look to keep parents informed of their children’s academic future and shift from school learning to remote learning.

In general, communication between parents and schools is an essential component that fuels the learning process of students. In an interview with The Sunday Morning Business, Yara Technologies (Pvt.) Ltd. Director Chaminda V. Silva stated that from an industry perspective, communication between the schools and parents is very scattered, with no formal channels via which they can communicate. According to him, this has led schools to use multiple channels such as social media, text, or traditional paper-based communication methods, which could lead to conveying flawed messages between the two parties.

“The problem is that communication between the schools and parents has remained the same since I was a schoolboy. Looking at this from a school’s perspective, they are focused on educating the future generations. So when they have to focus on communicating as well, it creates inefficiencies,” he explained.

In order to address this need for disruption, Yara Technologies, a technology solutions provider, officially launched the app “Talkative Parents” last Thursday (26). This app acts as a digital platform which connects educational institutes such as schools and preschools with parents.

Talkative Parents looks to disrupt the Sri Lankan education sector and transform school communication, including school notice books and calendars into an easy-to-use app that is set to improve school-to-parent engagement.

“What we have done is digitise the long-standing communication system between schools and parents, turning it into an app that can be the formal platform for all the communication needs between schools and parents,” Silva noted.

He stated that the app was first developed internationally between 2016 and 2017 and was brought down to Sri Lanka in 2018, after which Yara Technologies spent a year adding a number of enhancements to localise the app.

He went on to state that by creating this form of channel, there is a lot less ambiguity surrounding communication and also addresses any confusion that may arise when receiving messages from multiple sources.

“Parents are now a bit more hands-on and would like to know what goes on in schools. So this particular platform facilitates the engagement between parents and schools in a controlled way,” he added.

The app showcases several notable features including unlimited digital notices, calendar events, and attachments such as student reports, homework assignments, timetables, newsletters, sports scorecards, and updates.

“We have a digital calendar that will notify parents of upcoming events such as sports meets, prize givings, and concerts. It also facilitates sending attachments such as student reports, homework, assignments, timetables, newsletters, and updates,” Silva elaborated.

The other notable feature of the app is its ability to message multiple groups and subgroups of parents. This multilayer communication channel means that the app can either be used, by the principal to message all the parents of that respective school, by a primary head to message the parents of that section, by a class teacher to message the parents of a respective class, or by the school to message an individual parent.

Parents too can use the app to get in touch with the school. However, Silva stated that parent-to-school communication is controlled by the school and only permitted departments can be communicated with.

Taking the current novel coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis as an example, Silva explained that schools registered with the app began to immediately message parents when the situation escalated. He stated that the schools finally informed parents about the closure through the app and teachers are now using the app to assign their students homework.

He further stated that the app is available for both iOS and Android devices and ensures that only parents registered with the school are given access to its features.

“If you are a parent in a particular school which is one of our clients, all you have to do is download the app. Once you enter your mobile number, you will receive an OTP (one-time password), but only if you are registered with the school. This ensures that not just anyone can download and use the app, and so the school gets controlled security and privacy when it comes to its communications,” he noted.

Silva went on to explain that all this time they have been adding value to their clients and the education sector, and further plan on bringing in scalability as the next step. He stated that since schools are their clients, they wanted to align themselves to what the schools need, and therefore have received positive feedback.

“Now it is time for us to look at taking this solution islandwide because we believe we can add a lot of value to schools across the nation.”

The Talkative Parents app currently boasts over 6,000 active users and even more downloads. It also provides its services to two of the country’s largest schools as well as smaller preschools.

Silva stated that especially during this Covid-19 pandemic, it is reassuring for parents to know that they can communicate with the schools to make inquiries and keep their children’s education going, through homework attachments via the app.

“The biggest problem we see now is the miscommunication that leads to fear, and this is especially the case for parents. Knowing what is going on in your child’s education is important. Therefore, what schools can do in situations such as the one we are facing now is to connect with parents and notify them on what the school is doing and what the school wants the parent to do,” Silva said.

• Localised ‘Talkative Parents’ launched last week

Source : http://epaper.themorning.lk/Home/ShareArticle?OrgId=dd02162c

‘Talkative Parents’ digitally bridges the communication gap between schools and parents

Published by “Ada Derana”, on 26/03/2020:

Leading Technology solutions provider Yara Technologies has officially launched ‘Talkative Parents’, a digital platform which connects educational institutes such as schools and pre-schools with parents. The official launch underpins the next wave of digital transformation in Sri Lanka’s education sector. Talkative Parents has successfully transformed the longstanding school communication/notice book and school calendar into an easy-to-use mobile application. This has resulted in improved school-parent engagement.

Many of today’s schools are faced with challenges in effectively communicating with parents due to the lack of a formal school communication channel, and this pain point is further magnified by the usage of fragmented, unreliable channels such as social media, email, traditional paper-based communication as well as one-way SMS.

Breaking down barriers that have limited school-parent engagement in the past, Talkative Parents has been able to address these issues successfully, and in the process, schools have been able to benefit from cost savings in the form of reduced paper consumption, printing, admin and labour costs.

Commenting about the solution, Yara Technologies Director Chaminda Silva said, “Our key objective is to add value to the education segment by helping schools communicate and engage with parents more effectively in a controlled and secure manner. We are inspired to be a part of this digitisation journey and the opportunity to help bridge the communication gap in Sri Lanka’s education segment. In the next stage, while continuing to ensure complete privacy, we aim to move into data analytics and reporting, to help schools analyse their data and come up with customised solutions.”

A key value proposition of the solution is that communication is completely controlled by the school resulting in effective targeted communication. The platform is a multifaceted system that facilitates:

• Unlimited digital notices, calendar events and attachments such as student reports, home-work assignments, timetables, newsletters, sports scorecards and updates  via the app
• Messaging to multiple groups and subgroups of parents (i.e. school/class/individual)
• A two-way private messaging feature which allows the parent to directly connect with the relevant school department (as permitted  by the school)
• An events calendar which displays all school-related events and has reminder options which can be synced with the parent’s mobile calendar
• Messages delivered in real-time with push alerts ensuring timely communication
• Multi-language messaging
• Robust onboarding process restricting access to the app only to registered parents of the school
• SMS gateway

The platform has achieved great success with S. Thomas’ Preparatory School and Bishop’s College Colombo having implemented the platform as their official communication channel. Furthermore, the solution has been rolled out in pre-schools as well. Currently, Talkative Parents has a subscriber base of 6,000 active users.

Commenting on Talkative Parents, S. Thomas’ Preparatory School Headmaster Rev. Dushantha Rodrigo said, “Today we hardly send out paper notices, and thanks to Talkative Parents, we are instantaneously in touch with all parents. The solution has proved to be a blessing. We have been fortunate to have Talkative Parents and the team working with the school. There have been times when there were sudden changes to school life, and we breathed a sigh of relief because the app came to our rescue in contacting parents.”

Sharmila Gunatilleke, Principal at Bishop’s College Colombo, said, “Talkative Parents is a very useful app which allows us to communicate with ease. It is user-friendly and reliable and the tech-support has been very good.”

For more information please visit www.talkativeparents.com or call (+94)77 6868 255.

Source : http://epaper.themorning.lk/Home/ShareArticle?OrgId=dd02162c