EmpowerEducators

Creating a Digital Platform for teachers to accelerate student-teacher classroom engagement

ThinkZone’s 360-degree tech-driven approach empowers teachers to improve their pedagogical skills through blended training methods—online, offline, and self-paced mobile app, ensuring holistic development of students in underserved communities. Our digital innovation serves as a one-stop solution for teachers to upskill themselves and innovate learning for their students.

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Shortlisted

Overview

HundrED shortlisted this innovation

HundrED has shortlisted this innovation to one of its innovation collections. The information on this page has been checked by HundrED.

Web presence

2014

Established

60K

Children

1

Countries

Target group

Teachers

Updated

June 2024

Through EmpowerEducators program we wish to see improvement in teacher’s pedagogical skills and more effective and prolonged implementation of activity-based learning in the classroom. We also strive for better assimilation of digital learning in the classroom where teachers get well acquainted with tech-based pedagogy and bring innovation to their student’s learning.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

In our initial years of capacitating educators, we experienced numerous unskilled teachers in the community as well as in vernacular low-cost APSes. Moreover, there was a dearth of digital solutions available for teachers to upskill and innovate their teaching methods. This kickstarted our innovation to deliver high-quality learning at the grassroots level of underserved communities.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

In collaboration with local government bodies and community leaders, we reach potential community educators. After an initial assessment of the educators, they undergo a blended training session in online and in-person modes, along with self-paced mobile app courses. The educators get access to gamified learning content via mobile app to elevate engagement. Additionally, periodic community-level workshops are organized to boost their pedagogical skills and promote activity-based learning in the classroom. Post training the educators enroll children via the mobile app and using the interactive learning content in the app they engage with children in learning spaces. To monitor the progress of children and educators we deploy ThinkZone’s Support app that aids managers to monitor and provide targeted assistance to them. The central administration utilizes tracking tools and real-time dashboards for comprehensive oversight of all project activities.

How has it been spreading?

The EmpowerEducators program commenced as a pilot initiative in a single village, enrolling 7 educators during its inaugural year. Presently, we have reached over 8000 educators, who positively impact over 60,000 children across rural and urban settings. Our recent third-party evaluation revealed a 23% average growth in pedagogy, technology, and 21st-century skills among youth. Students taught by these educators exhibited progress, with a 30% boost in language and 25% in arithmetic. This impact is achieved through collaboration with various government and private entities. Looking ahead, we aim to expand the program to Affordable Private Schools (APS) statewide, supporting these institutions in assessing teachers' skill gaps and providing guidance through teacher training programs.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

To learn about the EmpowerEducators program, please reach out to us through our email ID (hi@thinkzone.in) and WhatsApp number (+91-9178198947). You can also download our ThinkZone mobile application from the Google Play Store to register and get access to our gamified training content for free.

Implementation steps

Reach Out to Community Educators

The field coordinators reach out to potential community educators with the assistance of local government bodies and community leaders. Then the educators’ teaching pedagogical skills and readiness to engage with early learners are mapped and assessed.

Continuous upskilling

Based on the identified skill gaps the educators are provided with personalized blended training through in-person, online, and self-paced mobile app-integrated modules and assessments. Additionally, periodic workshops are organized where the educators are instructed about different ways of engaging with early learners and ways of practicing activity-based learning inside the classroom.

Enrol Children via TZ app and Implement Activity-based Learning

The educators leverage ThinkZone mobile app to enroll children and utilize the instructional edutainment content; animated videos, images, stories, etc., and assessment tools to map the skill gaps and learning progress of children. With the help of these contents, educators promote activity-based learning in their learning spaces, ensuring improved foundational skills such as literacy, numeracy, and socio-emotional development among children.

Monitoring and Support

The program coordinators use the Support mobile app to monitor the individual progress of educators and children and provide targeted support to them. At a centralized level admins (including senior managers, and school leaders) utilize real-time dashboards and tracking tools to oversee all project components, including overall progress and feedback from educators and other stakeholders for continuous program improvement.