Re-engaging Learners via WhatsApp

In Colombia, during the pandemic 243,801 students from both public and private schools have dropped out of the educational system; before Covid-19 just over 10 million students were attending schools, now just over 9.7 million children and young people in the classroom. 

In a country like Colombia were the technological and the educational infrastructure was far from being prepare for a pandemic, the remote classes that were planned as the alternative for the students, was a variable that directly affected students' capability to continue enrolled to class because of the lack of connectivity and access to technological devices for remote education. 

The Administrative Department of National Statistics (DANE) in Colombia has indicated that only about 26% of rural areas have connectivity compared to 89% in urban areas. This statistic is directly correlated to the percentage of young people who dropout classrooms, which nowadays is 30.1%. These percentages help us to understand that in order to empower our youth and give them tools for re-engaging education, without losing quality and efficiency on their learning, it is necessary to offer solutions that do not depend purely on access to a computer.

Another variable that we have seen affected the engagement and the desire to resume the study, is the lack of curriculums that really respond to today's needs and prepare students to be the leaders, game changers, marketers, and programmers of tomorrow. Is needed that change of content, so that young people can really find in the study a tool to get ahead regardless of the conditions of vulnerability they may be facing and see in education a real hope for their future.

The Biz Nation has design a program called Re-Engaging Learners via WhatsApp, to help students and schools to improve the way they relate, providing a modern curriculum, 21st century skills, entrepreneurship and technology, using the instant messaging tool WhatsApp, to make it more didactic and accessible to anyone with a phone, thus reaching hard to reach places.

The main objective was to create a program with a pioneering and accessible model that strengthens learning and teaching through a creative method that provides practical and applicable knowledge developing special skills, through a curriculum that integrates the use of digital tools, technology and entrepreneurship.

Re-engaging learners via WhatsApp program has four major components.

1. Innovative Education Sessions: via WhatsApp: students are enrolled in our program, where they would receive their micro learning classes and support material, just like micro capsules, micro podcasts, infographics and interactive primers with high-value content.

2. Our own methodology: in the course is applied our teaching methodology called ECAE (understand, comprehend, learn, entrepreneurship), it combines elements of neuroscience with different channels of technology to raise the levels of meaningful learning, promoting effectiveness on teaching and learning.

3. Experiential Activities: The program includes 1 kick off session to open the program, during this Live event is detailed the scope, explain what students will receive, and the methodology that would be used. Also, at the end of the program the students would be able to participate 

4. Monitoring: Live sessions, using Facebook live or zoom, if the conditions allow it, to provide personalized mentoring sessions, for solving doubts and concerns about the material and quizzes on the topics previously sent, experiential activities to validate knowledge are carried out. We also count with a team, who helps us using tracking templates where we can keep up with a list of students active or not in the program, through the interaction with the sent content. 

The Biz Nation headquarters is located in Cartagena which is the capital of the Bolivar department. Bolivar has been one of the most affected departments during the covid-19 contingency. Specifically, Cartagena is one of our capital cities in Colombia, known worldwide for its tourist, historical and world-class events importance, but it is also one of the cities with the highest rate of inequality and poverty in the country and one of the most affected during the pandemic, with monetary poverty increasing from 34.9% in 2018 to 47.8% in 2021; taking into account the aforementioned data, we decide to focalise our program in five of most vulnerable communities in the city: Pontezuela, Pozon, Las Villas, Olaya y Bicentenario. We are looking forward to impacting 500 children between 9 to 12 years’ old who have dropout school in each one of these communities for a total of 2.500 students. 

We are the right team to develop the re-engaging learners via WhatsApp program because we have the experience and proximity with this community to do it. 

1. About our experience, we are experts in meaningful education, for more than 10 years we have created courses, experiences and events of high impact in the education sector changing the educational model, training teachers, professionals and children. Another differentiator is that our team offers a personalized interaction with each student; always behind each capsule delivery there is a human team waiting for students to receive the content, they can download it and ask anything if they have some questions, this means that we provide custom-made education/training for students depending on their interests, context and conditions. We do not leave anything to chance, we know what the needs of the community are and we know their interests in order to make the program attractive and enriching for them.

2. Passion for quality and effective education, we are obsessed with changing the world through education, that is why of the programs we produce, we ensure that the beneficiaries can access them for free and that they are programs that really impact and are tools to change the educational and economic reality of communities. 

3. The five communities selected for the program are very dear and close to our company. We have provided them in the past different programs about entrepreneurship, empowerment and english classes to empower the community members and the community itself. 

The MIT experience as a whole seems to us an incredible opportunity that fits perfectly to our growth needs. It would be a great contribution through you, to be able to access knowledge and relate with experts in the areas of education, leadership, programing, among others; this would nurture each member of our team and give us better tools to put into practice within the company. 

The program is also relevant for us because of the networking it offers with people specialized in the sector, the connection with potential partners and belonging to an Alumni community in the world. We know the importance of being part of a community and we believe in the power of interpersonal and inter-company relationships. 

It would be a great step forward for us to be part of MIT and continue to grow our presence and our impact in our region and the world.

Our program of re-engaging learners via WhatsApp is truly innovative because of the methodology and content, the technological tool used and the student monitoring system:

1. Methodology and Content: We trained our student in skills that allow them to perform better because they are taught with the best innovative methodology proven through our years of experience; the ECAE methodology (understand, comprehend, learn, entrepreneurship), it combines elements of neuroscience with different channels of technology to raise the levels of meaningful learning, promoting effectiveness on teaching and learning.

The ECAE methodology is composed of the following elements that interact together to create meaningful learning: 

✔ NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming): neuro linguistic programming allows the creation of deep learning experiences that go directly to the unconscious mind of people. This is achieved through verbal and non-verbal language that is used in the construction of content, curriculum and techniques to encourage interaction with learning. 

✔ Triadic Brain: All human beings have a brain that is divided into three parts, each of these parts has special characteristics and a dominant learning style. Analyzing the type of brain of each person, allows us to know their type of learning. If they are visual (left brain), auditory (right brain) or kinesthetic (central brain). Creating triadic strategies is the best way to ensure that all types of learners are really connected, interacting and learning with the contents and methodologies used. We use this method not only in these programs but in all of them, and we have proven that currently, e-learning contents are mostly visual, so that they only effectively connect 5% of the users. With this methodology based on the triadic brain, we reach the other 95% of the learners who are normally disconnected from the educational process. 

✔ Experiential learning: Learning by doing increases the quality of learning by 80% and students can better retain the information and apply what they have learned. That is why, in the hybrid and virtual methodologies we create, experiential learning prevails. We apply experiential learning in a creative and strategic way, so that in addition to reinforcing what is learned through action, we create positive emotions in the learners that serve as "glue" for the learning that is being generated and to build community. 

✔ Storytelling: This is a key strategy to increase recall rates, process information and make learning more effective. Methodologically speaking, it is very effective, since it allows to convert dense information into a more digestible one that is really understood. Storytelling is applied transversally to all the content we produce regardless of the format (video, or podcast).

✔ Motivation: This element is essential to accomplish goals and is the impetus for innovation, efficiency, productivity, and skill development. A motivated learner is what we need, because motivation is a state of mind that helps to change the chip of traditional learning into meaningful learning. For this reason, the contents and curriculum we offer always have systems that allow us to keep our users motivated, such as point systems, gamification techniques, ranking, monthly or weekly recognitions, among others. Likewise, we include references that connect with the audience and allow us to keep them motivated to learn with continuity in the process. 

✔ Entrepreneurship: entrepreneurship not only a goal, it is an educational tool itself; which is gradually raised from competencies such as critical thinking, assertive communication, creativity and collaboration, this allows students to consolidate attitudes and basic knowledge leading them to develop innovative ideas into sustainable development and education. 

2. Technology and context: when creating an effective curriculum, not only the educational methodology becomes relevant, but also the channel through which it will be delivered. The experience of developing successful projects related to e-learning has shown us that what is important is not how advanced the proposed technology is, but how much appropriation it has in the context in which it will be used. Therefore, we have striven to have the best and user-friendly micro-learning program, providing a simple and optimal experience to users. Allowing us to reach every corner of the country, including vulnerable communities.

3. The content is sent through micro capsules, which are delivered in an automated way, however, the human part is a differential factor of this program. There is a human team monitoring to validate receipt, successful opening and user questions. We also have a dashboard for real-time data analysis that allows close and fast monitoring of users’ performance in each program.

 Each of these elements and their combination allow us to provide a positive impact on the students who dropped out of school, encouraging and empowering them, which positively impacts their lives and the environment of their community.

For the next year we are looking to impact 50.000 persons in Colombia, and expand our target into 7 countries con LATAM where we have already have past experiences with other programs such as: México, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Brasil, Chile, Argentina and Panama. 

Now impact is now beeing measure qualitatively and quantitatively. The first one through one-to-one surveys of reception, intake and qualification of the experience and quantitatively through our tracking system of the number of users in the courses.

In The Biz Nation we are passionate about productive education and entrepreneurship, hence the creation of Re-engaging learners via WhatsApp program, because although the percentage of connectivity in the country today is 26% in rural areas and 89% in urban areas; it is not less true that the country has taken a course towards the reactivation of classes for students all around the country, and different organizations are working on solutions to reach different communities around the country.

As we are an Edtech company we have a unique opportunity to take advantage of this educational awakening, and help to close the current skill gap and empowering youth, using the most innovative technologies developing a sustainable solution for both urban and rural areas, offering education and mentoring in the needs that today's world demands from the students and future professionals. 

The challenge was accessibility, the answer micro learning program via WhatsApp. This program was created as a tool that everyone who has access to a cell phone with mobile data, can use; taking into account that the consumption of mobile data for WhatsApp is free in Colombia, is the perfect via to do so. With this program we aim to close the gaps in access to education, bringing education to everyone, even vulnerable communities, communities that do not have access to a computer or time to connect to training programs of continuous long duration. Which means that our program brings practical, specific and clear education to children who have only a cell phone, the WhatsApp and the desire to reengage school.

Having solved the mechanism through which learners are going to be taught, the contents were the next step. We have been excellent in our online platform courses, so why not make them available through microcapsules that spread the knowledge. One of our highlighted courses, to help students feel motivated on resuming their studies is Re-engaging learners via WhatsApp, because of the dynamic content on XXI century skills. This program accompanies students step by step to learn everything they need to know to of entrepreneurship, through mentoring and coaching sessions in microcapsules about technology skills, basic of a business, marketing, sales, financial education and soft skills, increasing meaningful learning. In addition to having a tool called the business plan, through which we can follow up in detail on how they are progressing in their venture and at the end of the course they can put into practice the skills learned at our own entrepreneurship fair.

Taking into account the above, we expect to train 2500 students in Cartagena, focus on five of the most vulnerable communities of the city. The program will have a total duration of 6 months, in which the first month will be used to make the call for the project, 3 months in which the program will be developed and 2 final months of elaboration of a working paper with the conclusions of the impact it had on the people who took the course. 

The biz nation is a set of technological solutions for education, our main component is our e-learning platform which works with LMS technology, allowing us to make it adaptable to any requirement or need. Even so, we know that we must use complementary tools for the issue of connectivity, to reach communities with low connectivity, where we use tools such as our micro-learning programs via WhatsApp and follow-up sessions through mass broadcasting platform such as Youtube and Facebook. 

Our organizational culture revolves around empowerment and inclusion, since we are led by three young Latina women, who having heard many times the phrase "you can't do it", have shown that if it has been possible to; therefore the team is designed to end those myths and that is a work that is done from within, starting with our work teams, who are trained in best practices and knowledge. We operate under a collaborative scheme between areas, which allows us to have an equitable operation regardless of reasons such as gender, religion, race. On the contrary, we make sure that each member who works with us feels comfortable, respected and that the environment itself contributes to work and personal growth. 

Our business model at the moment is to sell our WhatsApp program to companies who have as final beneficiaries, their workers, vulnerable communities or as part of their CSR programs, which has allowed us to make our operation sustainable and reach different sectors of the economy and different social sectors.

At this moment we provide online education services, which can be taken through our platform through the direct purchase of courses, through corporate or individual packages. Likewise, we operate for our micro-learning programs in which can be obtained under a B2C model and that end users do not have any cost at their expense.

We have already reach the break-even point, but we are looking forward to expand in new countries which means open to new markets, which makes us to consider operating through monthly subscriptions through our platform. 

In a little more than a year and a half that the program has been operating, we have had more than 25,000 beneficiaries of the program. We can highlight success stories such as:

1. Gana Full: who were trained in financial development.
2. Port of Cartagena: who were trained in health, good care practices and covid.
3. Santo Domingo Foundation: who were trained in business development and entrepreneurship support.

Other relevant experience was with Fundación Pescaíto, The Mayor's Office of Cartagena, Fundación Grupo Social and our biggest challenge for
the first quarter of the year we will perform in alliance with the national government, Cemprende Junior, which is a program with the objective of
teaching the use of technology as a tool to promote entrepreneurship in children, youth and educators to open doors to new opportunities; the
entire development of the program will be through micro learning via WhatsApp and the impact would be for more than 5,000 young people
who are already enrolled for free.

Among the beneficiaries were childre, young people, entrepreneurs, including older adults in different regions of the country such as the Caribbeanregion, the capital and rural areas. 

In other words, we have already proven that this program works and we want to continue making an impact and growing with it.