Submitted
Equitable Classrooms

GXC

Team Leader
Steven Schoenwald
Solution Overview
Solution Name:
GXC
One-line solution summary:
A frictionless video learning platform / LMS addressing problems most prevalent among the poor, dispersed, and non-native English speakers.
Pitch your solution.

GXC seeks to eliminate the widening education gap by addressing the needs of historically marginalized students, including those exacerbated by remote learning.  We're working to address the following at little to no cost:

  • Securely record & host livestreams for later viewing
  • Contextually translate lectures (into over 100 languages) instantly
  • Maintain the integrity of remote assignments
  • Overcome poor internet connections
  • Offer superior mobile support vs legacy platforms/LMS

Combined with GXC's patent-pending egress-reducing technology, the platform should be able to greatly enhance the learning potential of users regardless of race, gender, creed, or circumstance.  With hot-cloud storage and a CDN for distribution, scaling globally should be extraordinarily cost effective, and potentially free to use via a freemium model.

 

GXC Education

Web: www.mygxc.com

 

90-Second Pitch: https://youtu.be/_VDmd4JlQgQ

8-Minute Pitch Deck Video: https://youtu.be/nFkqdhAu7eI

11-Minute General Features Demo: https://youtu.be/BSYEQAKowR8

12-Minute Administrative Features Demo: https://youtu.be/GSe81nWyC4g

 

Pitch Deck (PDF): http://tiny.cc/GXCPITCHDECK

Platform Features Table: http://tiny.cc/GXCFEATURES

Platform Overview: http://tiny.cc/GXCOVERVIEW

Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?

GXC is predominantly trying to address three issues:

  1. Expand access to high quality education to people of all socio-economic backgrounds by offering a cutting-edge learning management system at little-to-no cost.
  2. Significantly reduce the technology / 'homework' gap predominantly affecting historically marginalized students - the poor, dispersed, and non-native English speakers - even where limited internet access exists.
  3. Improve student engagement and content retention through use of secure, media-rich content ranging from adjustable picture-in-picture livestream recordings to contextualized neural translations of spoken content.

UNESCO Data estimates that as of 2014, just under 1.5 billion students were enrolled in primary (719m), secondary (568m), and higher education (207m) around the world.  2019 NCES data approximates United States enrollment at 70.7 million for elementary school (35.5m), secondary school (15.3m), and higher education (19.9m).  US State departments of education collectively estimate millions of enrolled primary and secondary education students know little-to-no English.  The FCC estimates over 21 million Americans lack access to broadband internet, with ~75% coming from rural regions.

The World Economic Forum states the disparity is even more staggering globally, with only 47% having internet access in developing nations and just 19% in the least developed countries.

What is your solution?

GXC is the developer of a learning management system (LMS) designed to eliminate the widening education gap through 'frictionless video learning'.  We address several pervasive problems with eLearning disproportionately afflicting the poor, dispersed, and non-native speakers.

The LMS serves as the framework for our solution from which numerous afflictions can be addressed.  At a base level, it is a digital congregation point for instructors to teach (via livestream, pre-recorded videos, or alternative digital means), share announcements, administer and grade assignments, and foster discussion through forums.  

What makes the platform noteworthy is how processes supporting these activities are deployed to achieve unparalleled results.  Egress-reducing P2P technologies allow for improved performance in internet-poor areas, increased download & streaming speeds, reduced likelihood of server failure, and lower operational costs.  Neural machine translations instantly translate lecture transcriptions while retaining context, providing non-native speakers improved context with ~92% accuracy; simultaneous use of closed captions and subtitles in different languages further supports this objective.  A mobile-first design is critical for an increasingly on-the-go populations, and is especially crucial outside of North America where smartphone ownership far outpaces desktops, which all major legacy LMSs were primarily designed for.

Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?

GXC's solution addresses those most adversely affected by the technology / 'homework' gap, those being the poor, dispersed, and non-native English speakers.  These groups come in many different forms from diverse cultures in America and abroad.  For example:

  • Poor: those without sufficient access to learning resources; underserved school districts; families in poverty-stricken nations; those without access to stable internet; individuals saddled with debt looking for a path to solvency
  • Dispersed: generally areas with low population densities, be it rural America or the remote volcanoes of Guatemala; children constantly moving due to their parents' work
  • Non-Native Speakers: anyone forced to communicate in a language in which they are unfamiliar; immigrants, migrants, refugees, and expats, including children; study abroad participants; international convention attendees; those who must communicate in a specific manner due to special needs, such as the blind, mute, and disabled

Each of these groups must overcome similar challenges regardless of socio-economic status, and given sufficient resources, generally learn in similar ways.  As such, by developing scalable technical solutions that overcome the most extreme of their circumstances, a sizable segment of learners in less dire circumstances can likewise reap benefits.

Solutions effectively addressing issues experienced by historically marginalized groups which also provide improvements to those in more privileged circumstances offer the added benefit of adoption irrespective of socio-economic status, meaning that the privileged and underprivileged alike will learn from similarly (highly) effective systems, thereby closing the aforementioned technology / 'homework' gap.

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Some specific ways GXC attempts to address the digital divide / homework gap are as follows:

  • Course content is accessible over mobile devices: Students can use both WiFi and data networks to access their content. By fully integrating cloud video and file repositories into mobile apps, students can stream or download whatever content they need, even on the go. (Chromebooks and desktops are also supported but don’t typically accept mobile data.)
  • Class recordings & files are streamable and downloadable: Students without quality internet access can download course content over WiFi. (The ability to download content can be turned on or off by schools.) So, if at a school, library, or friend’s house, needed content can be downloaded and brought home for homework or study.
  • Automatic ‘as-soon-as-available’ downloads: Students can configure their devices to automatically download course videos and content at certain times of day, or as soon as it is made available, regardless of if they are actually using their phones or not. As such, whenever a stable WiFi or mobile data internet connection becomes available, new content can download automatically, even when a student is away.
  • [In-Development] Automated, ‘silent’ credentialed peer-to-peer network creation & utilization: A significant advancement we’ve conceptualized for this space is pending development, with patents pending as well.  As outlined, this has the potential to:
    • Significantly reduce student download and stream times
    • Prevent downloads from stopping and restarting when an internet connection is lost
    • Enable instructors and students to automatically share course-specific data among themselves from localized networks, even without internet access
    • Configure devices to automatically delete old / unneeded course content to maintain free space on the device. (This can be overridden and content can still be streamed / accessed again.)
    • Exponentially reduce data transfer (egress), lowering operational costs and significantly reducing the likelihood of server overload / failure

Other features of note include the following:

  • Instant contextualized translations: Non-native English speakers often struggle to learn taught concepts due to having an incomplete grasp of the English terminology used.  GXC has multiple patents pending on its neural translation technology, which assesses a full class transcript, prepares a highly accurate contextualized translation, and makes it available as both on-screen closed captions and searchable sentence-delineated subtitles with time stamps for quick navigation.  Students can then choose to view the translated and English subtitles simultaneously to guide their studies.
  • Robust Assessment Creation, Administration, and Grading Tools: Numerous question types, combined with a large variety of features such as question banks, randomization, and anti-cheating mechanisms, offers instructors the flexibility to assess students in a manner they are most comfortable.  Custom grading interfaces have been developed for both instructors and teaching assistants to further prevent cheating and offer individualized student feedback.
  • Mobility: GXC was intentionally developed as a mobile-first LMS, as smartphones now constitute a majority of digital traffic.  With unparalleled mobile/tablet capabilities and synchrony between all major operating systems, GXC strives to offer the world’s most capable and intuitive LMS.
  • Video-Centric Capabilities: Over the past two decades, numerous studies have illustrated the value of video-based learning.  Whether uploading content ahead of time or livestreaming (where content is saved to the cloud for future viewing), instructors can architect a course structure of their choosing.  Multiple video inputs can be synchronized from the host (such as video of the instructor and screen capture of a slide deck) which each student can independently adjust to focus on the area most worthy of attention.
  • Accommodate Absences:  To many, use of video-capture software seems exclusive to remote learning, though consistently recording in-person courses offers significant benefits.  Absences due to illness, personal affairs, and snow days can be mitigated with video.  Just as valuable, students can reference and search through course recordings when preparing for exams, improving studying efficiency and retention.  
  • Unparalleled Collaborative Opportunities: Instructors and teaching assistants can share time-stamped notes with the class, while students can independently share digitized notes as well.   Announcements, forums, and in-video chat offer traditional ways to communicate, though some instructors may wish to provide their students channels to manage as well.  Open to the class yet privatized from the outside world, students can use channels to document their challenges and successes through projects, shadowing, and other off-campus activities using video and other media.
  • Unique, usage-based pricing: Following our pilots, GXC's pricing is designed to be usage-based as opposed to the subscription-based model used by legacy LMS providers.  Schools that prefer to use traditional LMS services, requiring limited data storage and transfer, would pay far less than what legacy providers presently charge.  Those requiring data-intensive services, such as distributing picture-in-picture videos in 4k resolution, would pay a proportional amount to support said service.  GXC also has plans in place to offer a free, minimally invasive ad-supported version which can be wholly supported on two 5 to 15 second pre-roll video ads per HD video-hour thanks to GXC's proposed egress reducing technology.  By comparison, YouTube averages 9 ads per video-hour, most of which being invasive (as the video plays).


Which dimension of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?
  • Increase the engagement of learners in remote, hybrid, and physical environments, including strategies and tools for parental support, peer interaction, and guided independent work.
Explain how the problem you are addressing, the solution you have designed, and the population you are serving align with the Challenge.

Per the challenge directive, GXC is a technology-based solution (a learning management system) that endeavors to enable students to have access to quality, secure, and equitable learning environments.

GXC specifically addresses how to provide quality, media-rich learning in areas with poor internet access, using video, translations, and collaborative tools to better engage students in remote and hybrid environments.  GXC offers specific solutions to address inequalities in wealth, geography, and linguistics to close the education gap.  Early career exploration and self-directed learning can be directly supported through use of video-diaries which students can upload for instructor led guidance and discussions.

In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Middleburg Heights, OH, USA
What is your solution’s stage of development?
  • Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community.
Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution.

GXC's initial two pilots are presently underway.  

Our primary pilot is with an organization named New Enterprise Factory (NEF), which fosters the development of 'entrepreneurial zones' in nations around the world including Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt, and Afghanistan.  Led by the emeritus head of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, NEF envisions utilizing GXC as an 'ultimate collaboration platform' to connect foreign entrepreneurs and governments with North American business leaders.  By having entrepreneurs share their stories, they can learn from one another and expand their businesses overseas. 

New Enterprise Factory says that they intend to gradually introduce more internationals into their pilot over the course of the summer, with a final tally of around 2,000.

Our second pilot is with a small English-language school named Kurumi English, based out of isolated island of Okinawa, Japan.  The school presently serves just under two-dozen students spanning different age groups from children to adults.

Who is the Team Lead for your solution?
Steven Schoenwald
More About Your Solution
About Your Team
Your Business Model & Partnerships
Partnership & Prize Funding Opportunities
Solution Team:
Steven Schoenwald
Steven Schoenwald
Co-founder / Operations Director at GXC