Darsel

Darsel is designed to help solve a global learning crisis which is most acute in low-income and resource-constrained communities.

Even before Covid-19, six in ten children around the world were not learning and failed to meet minimum proficiency levels. This learning crisis correlates highly with income levels (at the country level). 

The pandemic has exacerbated learning inequalities and learning losses while also reducing student excitement and motivation. More than 90% of the world's students have been affected by school closures, but less than half had access to digital distance learning solutions. After all, approximately 40% of the world remains offline, and it is estimated that only one in three can reliably watch videos online. In other words, only one in three have reliable access to digital learning platforms like Khan Academy and edX.

Darsel is specifically focused on re-engaging K12 learners in low-resource settings where access to modern EdTech solutions is limited. Our initial focus is mathematics, and our platform is designed to increase student motivation and improve learning outcomes. We work mainly in public school systems in low- and middle-income countries.

Darsel is a learning platform which can be accessed and navigated entirely through text-based channels such as SMS, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

In short, Darsel is an intelligent and autonomous chatbot.

Darsel contains proprietary content. In 'practice mode', students can practice skills by answering questions on Darsel. Hints, solution explanations and mini-lessons are provided to help students learn along the way.

An AI-powered personalized learning algorithm automatically learns about each student's skills (by maintaining probabilistic models of student skill mastery) and personalizes content accordingly. Thus, students who are struggling are automatically exposed to easier questions to build foundational skills. This means that Darsel is remedial: it identifies and rectifies learning gaps.

Darsel is also designed to be used as a homework tool in a school setting. Students can use classroom codes to unlock curriculum-aligned content, including teacher-curated quizzes and assessments. In this scenario, teachers receive data, insights and recommendations (e.g about topics requiring additional instruction). Darsel can also be used to prepare for specific standardized exams.

Darsel is currently focused on math skills, and is available in English, Arabic and Hindi. 

Darsel's target population is communities who have constrained access to modern education technology, due to either device-related constraints or internet-related constraints (e.g. weak internet infrastructure, high cost of data, etc.)

Darsel is currently being used in public schools in Jordan, India and Nigeria.

The primary beneficiaries are students, with an initial focus on students between Grade 6 and Grade 9 (ages 12-15). Teachers are also beneficiaries, as Darsel automates homework processes (creation, assignment, grading) and provides data-driven insights. Parents, as well as school administrators, siblings, and other community members, are also important stakeholders.

Resource-constrained communities exist globally (including in the US), but Darsel is focused on communities in low- and middle-income countries where education systems have limited resources.

Darsel serves the learning needs of the target population not only by being accessible, but also by being engaging and effective at improving learning outcomes.

All of Darsel's team members are from & live in the low- and middle-income countries that we are focused on serving. Many of us are ex-teachers, and all of us deeply understand the challenges facing public school learners in our countries.

All of our programs occur in close collaboration with local government partners, and we work especially closely with math teachers who provide continuous and invaluable feedback. We also use interviews and surveys to collect feedback from students and parents and learn more about their needs. Their feedback has played a critical role in shaping our product and strategy.

Darsel has been used by over 100,000 public school students in Jordan, India and Nigeria. 

In addition to funding, we are seeking partners and advisors to help us with:

• Scaling the organization to work effectively with public school systems across multiple countries and regions. 
• Exposure to education technologists and policy-makers who can help scale our impact further  
• Formalizing research and publishing results. We are collecting incredibly rich data about student learning, and seek to conduct additional RCTs to provide rigorous evidence of our impact. 

In brief: Darsel enables K12 math personalized learning through simple, low-bandwidth channels like SMS, WhatsApp and FB Messenger.

Darsel implements features from the frontier of EdTech (AI-driven personalized learning algorithm and skills networks, high-quality content, gamification elements, etc.). However, what is truly innovative about Darsel is the application of these features through low-cost, low-bandwidth text-based channels such as SMS and WhatsApp. Thus, Darsel is bringing the latest advances in EdTech to the bottom of the pyramid.

In doing so, Darsel is unlocking - and demonstrating - the full potential of text messaging channels in education. These channels have not been adequately leveraged in education, despite their growing popularity in other sectors (financial inclusion, healthcare, government services, etc.)

Darsel hopes that it will help catalyze interest in text-based learning solutions (and in particular, the use of AI in text-based platforms). In fact, Darsel intends to make its software open-source in order to facilitate the emergence of other solutions.

Briefly: Students learn by spending time on our autonomous learning platform, and we reach them through teachers and public school partnerships

Darsel's team develops the platform software, produces curriculum-aligned content, and enters into partnerships with school systems. Under these partnerships, teachers introduce Darsel to their students and receive weekly reports. Students spend time on Darsel (~15 minutes per day) from a household phone, on a channel like SMS and WhatsApp.

On Darsel, students answer questions and read hints / explanations / etc. which are personalized and curated by our algorithm to maximize learning. This directly leads to improved learning outcomes. Usage of Darsel also improves motivation and excitement due to motivational and gamification features.

Learning and motivational gains on Darsel translate to improved performance in the classroom and on school examinations, with positive outcome effects on academic performance and educational attainment, and ultimately on human capital, quality of life & the community's level of development. 

Darsel is working to improve learning outcomes in low-resource settings, with a focus on increasing proficiency in mathematics and math-adjacent skills (including quantitative reasoning, problem solving, etc.)

We measure impact in several ways.

First, we track impact on school test scores. An early RCT (2022) showed that an early version of Darsel improved math test scores by 0.2 SDs. 

Second, platform metrics allow us to directly observe and measure student learning and proficiency. For example, progression to more difficult material provides insight about student learning.

Lastly, we collect self-reported learning in the form of surveys to students, parents, and teachers.

Darsel is a chatbot. 

Our front-end relies on simple messaging technologies like SMS, WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger which require no/minimal bandwidth.

Our back-end systems, on the other hand, use AI to power our personalized learning algorithms which enable efficient student learning on our platform. We also leverage cloud computing solutions to effectively deliver our service to students around the world.

9 full-time

R&D began 4 years ago (March 2020)

Organization was launched less than 3 years ago (June 2021)

Darsel is committed to building a diverse and inclusive team, and proactively seeks to recruit employees from beneficiary communities. Darsel's team members are all from low- and middle-income countries that we either serve or hope to serve soon. 

Darsel is aware that societal and practical constraints (e.g. lack of safe public transportation infrastructure) can prohibit labor force participation. Darsel's work policies (allowing flexible schedules and remote work for all) were intentionally designed to maximize inclusivity.

Intervention and Channel

Our intervention is a chatbot that can be accessed through platforms like SMS, WhatsApp and FB Messenger. Our chatbot allows students to learn and practice math by solving curriculum-aligned questions (and receiving hints, explanations, etc.). Students use Darsel from home, on a household device, as a formal supplement to K12 education.

Our model is B2G2C. Specifically, we reach K12 students by partnering with public school systems (e.g. state or national-level ministry of education), which allows us to reach teachers who in-turn introduce students to Darsel and oversee their journey on our platform.

Resources and Activities

Our content team is producing high-quality, curriculum-aligned content (questions, hints and explanations mapped to a network of skills and learning objectives). This content enables learning on our platform.

Our technology team develops and operates our personalized learning algorithms as well as the infrastructure that powers the chatbots across multiple platforms (SMS, WhatsApp, FB Messenger). The chatbots deliver our learning content through simple text messages, and our algorithms provide a personalized and interactive learning experience.

Our partnerships team works with school systems and teachers to facilitate activities including pilot design, teacher training, student onboarding, technical support, etc.

Stakeholders, Segments and Value Proposition

Students are our key beneficiaries. They spend time on our personalized learning platform (chatbot) from home, which increases their motivation levels and improves their math learning outcomes. We observe learning impact through the platform itself & by analyzing changes in math grades. 

Teachers are secondary beneficiaries, as we share data and analysis (e.g. on learning gaps) with them. This data allows them to increase student motivation and to adapt and optimize classroom lessons (e.g. to prioritize learning gaps identified by Darsel). This occurs with minimal effort for teachers, as the platform itself is completely autonomous. 

Public school systems - e.g. ministries of education - are our customers. They are also the decision-makers who allow Darsel to be implemented at scale (top-down).

Cost and Revenue

Our costs consist mainly of labor costs (especially for development of new content) and technology costs (paid to our technical partners, like AWS).

Our work has been funded primarily through philanthropy from individual, corporate and institutional donors. We are actively exploring several earned income strategies, including government funding and paid products. 

Darsel is currently supported by donations and grants. We have successfully attracted philanthropic support from many of the world's leading accelerators, foundations, and corporations.

Darsel is actively pursuing several strategies to reduce reliance on philanthropy and achieve financial sustainability. These include paid government partnerships as well as paid products and paid features for private schools and high-income settings.