As parents, we felt our children are limited with what is provided by their teachers in the school. We were also aware of the chalk and talk methodology that was mostly used in the classrooms. To make things worse our children were often faced with underqualified and inexperienced teachers. One option that usually came to mind in resolving this issue was hiring private tutors from their schools or around in the neighborhood where we lived. However, private tutors used the same boring methodology they used in the classroom. We felt it was like torturing the children again back at home. The tutors were also very expensive, often not qualified or inexperienced, some were not disciplined and were absent often.

So the question we asked ourselves was, in a world abundant with resources, thanks to the internet, how can we help them to benefit from it? One could find world class teachers with mature experience and high-level qualifications on the internet. So, we set out to accomplish this tremendous task of collecting contents and making them available to students based on the grade levels and subject matters. As we were doing this and consulting among ourselves, we felt we needed to do more if we wanted to make what we produce available to a large number of students. There were also some other shortcomings to this approach, like aligning the content with the curriculum that was taught in the schools; the videos were not interactive; the students needed internet connectivity to access the materials; and there was the issue of copyright to freely disseminate the product.

So we started making our own product to which we would enjoy full copyright here in Ethiopia. But we were faced with some major challenges. The production was time taking, the graphics and animations not to our satisfaction and the cost very expensive. So, we had to look for other options somewhere else. We turned to Biniam’s old partners from India in the videography business for production. We consulted on the project and were able to form a partnership to pursue the project.

This time around, we wanted to upgrade the production to overcome the challenges by meeting the following criteria:

• Personalized support material on tablets and mobile phones
• Curriculum aligned material following the textbooks
• Assessment both formative and summative
• Rich in visual contents
• Available 24/7 both online and offline
• Parental follow up made available
• Digitally safe environment

Thus, the production began with the criteria above in mind. We were able to get within a very short time a quality production at low cost. We were also able to accomplish the transfer of knowledge and technology in the field. We have produced more than 2000 videos, which were aligned with the Ethiopian curriculum, for grade 7 to 9 students. The subjects covered for the grade levels included English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. We also made available the digital library and digital labs for students through collaboration with other educational institutions.

Learn365 team can now boast a resilient content writing and production team. We can produce high quality video contents which can be viewed and interacted with on tablets, mobile phones and desktops. We want to extend our production to lower grades and the preparatory grades, i.e. grade 11 and 12. Now that we have the experience, we plan to produce student support materials in literacy and numeracy with Ethiopian teachers with the relevant language and subject matter for the different regions. Our product can play a more crucial role with children who are displaced by either natural or man made catastrophes.

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