Edukado

So there is this problem. The Curriculum for Excellence governs the taught curriculum for secondary students in Scotland. And while it allows greater freedom for individual schools to interpret how to educate, the facts remain: A teacher can only cover so much content in a given timescale. This risks not covering all of the subject matter forcing teachers to pick the most likely material to help their students succeed. And there is limited time to go back over material if understanding within the class is below acceptable standards All of these realities make for a poor environment for students with learning difficulties, health issues, those that are remotely educated or those that have problems at school or home.

A Humble Solution

A learning platform. But aren’t there a million and one of those operating right now, I hear you say. Yes, there are. What would make another one any different. Well, we’ve got a couple of ideas. (We as in me and my mate, 'cause that's how all the coolest things are made). First we’d like to tie the use of the app to taking tests. Now we don’t believe that taking tests is a great indicator of intelligence, but in the few times I’ve attempted to dissuade the education system in Scotland from this approach I’ve failed. So I figured I’d lean in to it and support a students ability to understand and comprehend the subjects they are being tested in.

From this beginning of an idea we came up with Edukado our educational platform to support students taking national qualifications. Not that it matters which qualification we started from, but we had our eyes on supporting National 5s and then branching out. Our egos had us supporting the world's educational systems before this time next year. In reality this would be a difficult task to accomplish just locally for one national qualification. And that is due to the very inconvenient truth that all educational products have to ask themselves how exactly you will find business and generate a cash flow?

I know it sounds flippant, but I am 100% confidant that if you had the key to focus, love for education, ambition and can make people better citizens. You could bestow these gifts on any student young or old. Everyone who took part came out better people. And you offered your product for free...you could rock up to the Department for Education and give the best pitch of your life. When it ends there would be a standing ovation.  The Education Secretary would have tears in her eyes. As they were patting you on the back they would look you dead in the eye and apologise because this product didn't fit their procurement system. They'd pack up and go back to their desks and forget that you even existed.

Living in a world where that is the most likely reality we think the only truly viable route is to appeal to parents. The very same parents who buy study guides for their kids to pass their National 5s. Our aim would be to help a student prepare for their exam better, understand more of the subject, and support non-linear learning. We want to do this by pulling together multimedia and interactive tutorials that build basic knowledge and then strengthen and maintain that momentum. This is the norm for educational platforms. Think Duolingo or Khan Academy. The student gets to progress at their own pace.

How we stand out is we couch everything through 6 key research driven learning strategies:

Concrete Examples

We would spend out time and effort building up specific examples to help students understand abstract ideas.

Dual Coding

We would combine various media to offer multiple routes for students to understand concepts.

Elaboration

We get the students to explain and describe their ideas back to the app with as many details as they can muster bedding information down in a narrative specific to the student.

Interleaving

Switching between ideas while studying. Each student is taking their own range of subject qualifications and the questions are built to not only respond to the individual student and their level, but also the selection of subjects they are chasing. Maths might be re-imagined as Science questions, or more imaginatively English questions.

Retrieval Practice

Offering opportunities for students to be able to retrieve the information they have amassed and demonstrate their own mastery.

Spaced Practice

And finally spacing the studying out over time. Not focusing on one subject for hours at a time, but keeping the updates short and in line with the curriculum. We are looking to support by reinforcing what individual students struggle with and allowing them to move ahead or slow down all while managing the goal of levels of mastery within the combination of subjects that make up their individual qualifications.

Personality

We envisioned Edukado as fun and colourful. While we take learning and access to education very seriously we understand that fun in learning is something that is a requisite to attracting and retaining students and supporting their individual journeys.

Our fun is a bit modern, a bit quirky and maybe a bit edgy. I would be disheartened if we didn’t get at least one PTA group to boycott our platform. Our mascot is a mouthy avokado with short man syndrome. Then our in game "currency" is avokado stones, the only way to get these stones is to sacrifice avokados in the most ridiculous ways.

We want people to enjoy spending their 10 to 15 minutes a day with us. Bright colours and a happy world at first glance, but a sinister undertone that will leave most with a chuckle.

One Day

I know that this reads like a mix of random ideas, but we have given this platform a lot of thought. Got as far as a fairly in depth series of functional specifications. This just represents one of the many ideas I’ve worked up only to not get the time or support to start. It will be a surreal day if I ever win the lottery. I don’t see myself spending money on luxury holidays, but instead funding projects that will change how we work as a society. I'm pretty sure I could give the government a run for it's money when it comes to raising the level of education and critical thinking within the nation.