Knowledge Unbound

Due to pandemic restrictions schools were shut down and only online classes were permitted. In Mumbai, the teaching community did not have resources to teach and support their student’s online learning. This resulted in many schools remaining closed. The students who had access to online classes were facing problems in grasping concepts and needed to interact with someone who could solve their doubts.

We make free high-quality resources like chapter notes, worksheets, answers key, interactive simulators, interactive games, quizzes, crosswords etc. The resources are published online at our website www.knowledgeunbound.weebly.com .This enabled teachers to start their classes online. We also tuition to students to solve doubts, teach concepts or discuss any other problem.

If we scale up then more educators can make use of these resources. We can make content for more subjects and grades. The material can be made to fulfill local requirements and in local languages.

Around 5000 schools in Mumbai were severely impacted due to covid-19 restrictions. Most of these schools did not have resources and knowledge on how to operate through online medium. The teachers did not have any material which they could use for teaching. They lacked the capabilities for preparing the same. They did not have enough time to prepare the content. Only the bigger private school had the resources and knowledge to start their online classes. This led to a situation where the majority of the schools did not open or got opened with a considerable delay.

We also spoke to students who had access to online classes and found that the learning and understanding was poor. Many schools just shot a video for students to watch.  They needed a one on one interaction for guidance and support. They needed someone to whom they could put up their queries and share their feelings

We looked at the problem of how to ensure schools can provide online classes and students have someone who could support them.

At Knowledge Unbound after interaction with educators and students and analyzing the problem, we started offering free high-quality academic resources to educators. This enabled educators to start their online classes without further delay. 

Our resources include chapter notes, worksheets, answers key, interactive simulators, interactive games, crosswords, quizzes and many more. We created these resources basis specific request as well as generalized resources which can be used by teachers across schools. 

We have created a website (www.knowledgeunbound.weebly.com) where we have published our resources which can be accessed by anyone, anywhere and at any time. 

We also started offering free tutoring services to students. We offer students as many sessions as they would like to have as per their requirement. Our services include doubt solving session, concept teaching, test preparation and consulting services where students can share their problems aside from academics. Some examples are discussing time management issue, mental health issues, providing advice on cyberbully etc.

We have achieved this through a network of volunteers who are mainly students. We have currently over 40 volunteers spread across 15 countries.

Our current target audience is educators, students and parents who are facing challenges in the online education world. Teachers have access to ready made resources which they can use while teaching their students. It will help schools starting their classes in a much quicker time. It is helping those teachers who do not know how to prepare material as well as save their time. The worksheets, simulators etc help teachers in making class interactive and entertaining. This has made equitable teaching where it is no longer a privilege of rich students to have innovative and interactive learning tools. We target also underprivileged students who cannot afford private tuition. They now have access to volunteers who are ready to support them as per the time convenient to them. This has helped poor kids who want tuition at nights. Students also get emotional support which is currently missing in the current educational set up.

It is no longer privilege of rich students to have access to modern tools of learning like interactive simulators or private tutors. Our resources are available to all schools and thus enabling them to start their classes in a remote setup in equitable manner. The worksheets, learning games etc makes remote classes pleasurable.

We have international student volunteers and are available round the clock. So a poor student can have access to volunteer at night who helps him academically, supports the emotional crisis in a friendly manner and facilitates a personalized solution. They also guide him in planning the future.

Currently, we are in a pilot phase. The courses are being designed for grades six, seven and eight for schools in Mumbai, India. We are currently interacting with the teachers of a particular school who specify their requirements and provide their feedback on the content prepared. The course prepared is going through multiple levels of checks before it is released. Once the course content is ready then it is available for all schools to access and use.

Similarly, the students to whom tutoring services are being offered are underprivileged students from Mumbai. Basis our interaction with them we are preparing Standard operating procedures which can be used by our volunteers while providing their services to other students. We are also learning from these students what their requirements are and how we can enhance our capabilities to be able to provide solutions to such students.

In India, almost all school and teachers are adept at teaching the traditional classroom way. The remote learning and using the digital medium to teach is a privilege of elites only. The teachers do not know how to move to the digital/remote teaching platform therefore during lockdown only the elite private schools were providing learning opportunities. We provide innovative tools of learnings like simulators, digital quiz, learning games, lessons etc for free and to all and thus enabling equitable learning. These innovative and new tools make remote learning fun and entertaining. These tools are different from traditional classroom teaching where a teacher had only a blackboard and books as helping tools. We provide experiential learning which is a combination of audio, visual and hands-on simulators. This also enables students to learn at any time and at their own pace. 

Currently in our pilot phase it is serving one school. In one year we hope to reach out to at least 50 schools and around 1000 students. In next five years we hope that our solution can be used by any school, any student of the country.

We measure our immediate progress with the following parameters

• Number of subjects for which material is ready
• Number of grades for which study material is ready
• Number of chapters for which study material is ready
• Number of schools which are using our material
• Number of students signed up for our tutorial service

We have more than 40 volunteers from 10 countries across the globe. All of our volunteers work part-time.

All of our volunteers are high school and college students who understand various subjects and the problems which students face. Our effort is to make content in a manner that we lacked while studying in middle school. We want to make learning interactive and entertaining which we missed as middle school students. We are using our own experiences to deliver this solution and as fellow students we understand the needs and limitations of the current education system.

Our organization is a student-lead startup. Our current leadership team has 10 students taking care of various aspects. The Leadership team has 4 boys and 6 girls and they represent 4 different countries between them. Our approach is very simple. Our leadership team is bunch of passionate students who want to bring a positive change in the current system and it does not matter to us what their color, gender, creed or nationality is. 

We are applying to Solve so that our idea gets a wider audience and acceptance. We may get experts and volunteers who could help us on our venture by providing their support. The support could be in terms of being able to reach out to schools for tie-ups, provide their guidance in making quality material or be a volunteer.

Our venture has two critical aspects 1) the ability to produce content and 2) ability to tie up with various schools that can use our services. For both these aspects, we need experts who could provide human capital, public relations ability and are able to monitor/evaluate our product. As we are students we also need support from experts to guide us in legal and regulatory matters. We also need people who could introduce us to various educators for us to make our pitch.

We would like to partner with NGOs, schools and government bodies. We would also like academicians who could monitor and evaluate our products. 

As explained our solution is for all and is for equitable education. We would use this prize money to develop better content and infrastructure.

We are working towards providing education in a remote set up to all. We do not want that only a few elite schools operate in a lockdown situations. We believe that education for all is a mandatory step in providing a sustainable and equitable community.

In many countries, a girl child does not have access to education. With our remote learning model, the education can be provided to the girl child at her doorstep and at any time as per her convince. We believe if we are given adequate support then all-girl child will have access to quality learning tools and education.