LearnOBots

LearnOBots is connecting education to the future of work. While the world is rapidly changing due to technology infusion in each domain, education hasn't changed in a 100 years. 47% of the jobs that exist today will cease to exist, and there will be 1 million STEM based jobs that will go unfulfilled.This infusion of technology and domain fusion is creating an industry demand based on skills which is fulfilled by STEAM skills. Schools today are unable to cope up with this demand due to lack of trained STEAM trainers, non-availability of comprehensive STEAM curriculum, no centralised evaluations and progress tracking and high cost of hardware based STEAM solutions that are not scalable. LearnOSTEAM enables existing schools to become STEAM schools by providing comprehensive STEAM curriculum, automated learning for students, teacher enablement and training, and simulators based learning removing the need for hardware while being scalable.

Every school whether government or private faces the same problem. How can they ensure that the current education is preparing students for the future of work. For jobs that don't even exist we can safely predict, they will be based on 21st century skills like problem solving, creativity, communication and collaboration. We now know that knowledge economy is equated with the talent economy, therefore technical skills in domains like coding, robotics, IoT, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, FinTech, BioTech, SpaceTech, Digital Media etc are extremely important. Problem solvers of the future will be designers with knowledge of multiple domains. 

However not a single affordable solution exists that can enable these schools to become STEAM based schools due to lack of trained teachers, high costs of existing solutions and no comprehensive solution. Our solution LearnOSTEAM is a scalable platform that enables every school to become a STEAM school whether in Pakistan or globally. The platform content has been designed in a way that it can also be easily translated into other languages and also enables teachers to learn on the platform as well, while enabling students to learn on their own. 

LearnOSTEAM is an eLearning platform for STEAM education. It is a combination of simulators and hands on activities that is based on comprehensive domains that include

•  Coding, 
• Robotics, 
• Electronics, 
• IoT,
• AI & ML, 
• Web Design and Development, 
• 3D modeling, 
• App development, 
• Game Design, 
• Digital Media
• Space Tech
• Bio Tech
• Fin Tech  

Students login to the system and learn through guided instructions in different domains. Each domain has been designed where students learn the basics and eventually move towards intermediate and advanced skills. The solution has been designed to work in schools with each lesson consisting of a 40 min activity. There are around 300 lessons for grades 1 to 8. It also provides teacher dashboards where teachers can also learn while facilitation these lessons in school. Teachers are also provided lesson plans as well as solutions for each lesson, so that they are able to work independently without any external help. The system provides automated reporting to teachers and school administrators as well as gamification to encourage student engagement. 

We have been working with schools, government sector as well as donor organisations to promote experiential STEAM education in Pakistan since 2014. Our goal is to provide an equal opportunity for every child, whether from privileged or from a non-privileged background. However when we started, we had a very expensive model where our team of trainers would go to schools and conduct our STEAM camps. This model is expensive and usually only high end private schools would be able to afford our offerings. Based on our experiences of the past 7 years, we've developed LearnOSTEAM which is a cost effective eLearning platform that provides a similar experience but with a drastic cost reduction. In our previous model we would charge anywhere from $35 to $55 per student per month, but with LearnOSTEAM our cost is now $0.25 to $2 per student per month. We've reduced our cost to almost 90%. With is kind of reduction, now we can easily deploy LearnOSTEAM in government as well as private schools and we also intend on utilising donor organisations to sponsor our platform for schools that cannot afford LearnOSTEAM even at this low price. And as discussed earlier LearnOSTEAM provides skills that will enable our students to not only be prepared for future of work but also enable them to start earning at a young age through freelancing gigs. With lessons like Python, HTML, CSS and JavaScript available, students can easily move on to more advanced topics and start earning. 

LearnOSTEAM provides a comprehensive curriculum that includes gamified lessons in multiple domains. Since it is a digital platform, there is no need to buy expensive hardware or software making it really cheap and easy to deploy. We also provide a version that works without the internet or in areas with low connectivity. All the lessons are hands on and enable students to explore multiple domains without the need for experienced trainers or expensive hardware kits or toys. 

We rolled out the basic version of our product pre-covid and got immense response from schools. However as COVID came in, all our contracts were cancelled. Having re-launched it this year in March, we have now around 150 to 200 users and are currently targeting a number of private schools for deployment in September. 

Our solution contains a comprehensive curriculum which does not exist currently. It is also based on simulators that removes the need for expensive hardware making it very scalable. Moreover we are also building an AI based personalised learning module, enabling recommendations for students that are weak in certain domains. 

LearnOSTEAM enables existing schools to become STEAM schools by providing a platform that automates everything from learning to reporting to teacher trainings enabling schools to adapt to the needs to today's as well as future of work. 

Currently we are serving around 200 students. Our goal is to achieve a million users in the next 3 years by enabling schools in Pakistan and outside. 

By providing a comprehensive curriculum and at a very affordable cost, we are ensuring quality education and equitable access for everyone.

Full Time:

• Engineering: 2
• Content and Trainings: 5
• Biz development: 3

We have been working in this domain for around 7 years now. I've been a teacher for almost 9 years and our experience of working with schools and kids has enabled us to become really good at designing curriculums as well as products in the EdTech domain. 

We encourage people from diverse backgrounds to join our team. Our female team ration is usually above 40%. 

I believe the Solve community provides a great value in providing us feedback about our work as well as help us connect with the right partners to bring our solution to the world. 

We would love to partner or connect with Mitch Resnick from MIT and his lab to improve our product. 

I believe our product addresses all the requirements of ASA like equitable access (it is low cost), it is hands on (using simulators and encourages experimentation) and also provides a platform for teachers to learn and develop their skills. 

We are providing STEAM skills through LearnOSTEAM and believe we are a right fit for this prize. 

Our solution works for both girls and boys. Previously we were selected by SPRING accelerator whose goal was to provide socio-economic empowerment for girls. We provided our system in its early form to girl schools and trained them on STEAM education. We are currently undergoing evaluation of the program with initial positive feedback.