Bookbot for Pre-schoolers

Bangladesh has rapidly expanded access to pre-primary education, with participation trebling from 895,000 to 2.86 million in five years.

One year of pre-primary for five-year-olds has been universally available since 2010. This has been made possible by a collaboration between the Bangladeshi government and several NGOs. Limited resources and a fragmented approach has led to extremely variable quality and a lack of coherency in teaching.

Our solution is an app - Bookbot - that makes effective, consistent pre-school literacy teaching easily accessible. The essential first step to reading is to develop phonemic awareness by linking individual letters (graphemes) to sounds (phonemes). Bookbot introduces letters and sounds and utilises specialised on-device speech recognition to listen to the child verbalise the sounds, giving the instant feedback required to build skills and confidence.

This solution will help the millions of Bangladeshi children that need to master this first step to achieve literacy.

“We have the service, now the challenge is to make it something that really benefits the children.” Dr Manzoor Ahmed, Chair of the Bangladesh ECD Network (BEN).

What would benefit Bangladeshi children the most is for them to master the foundation skills required for reading, but this is currently not happening in an effective, coherent way.

The pre-school expansion has consisted of two policies: Pre-Primary Education (PPE) and The School Learning Improvement Plan (SLIP). Initial grants of just $63 were given to each government primary school to prepare its pre-primary education to include materials like books. 

The Bangladesh ECD Network (BEN) is the forum for collaboration between government and several other organisations, such as BRAC and Save the Children. One criticism is that the NGOs are not delivering a coherent strategic approach to quality implementation. 

With limited resources and fragmented delivery, the quality of pre-school education in Bangladesh is extremely variable. A survey by Education Watch in 2013 found that only 56% of pre-primary teachers in Bangladesh had any kind of teacher training, with 35% having been trained specifically on pre-primary education. While some schools have materials like charts, toys and drawing items, 39% of pre-primary schools had none.

We have spent the past few years developing an app that will provide school children with best possible start to their education. Throughout this time we have drawn on the most recent scientific research to determine the optimal approach to teaching foundation literacy skills. We have consulted a panel of experts to develop content and have piloted cutting edge technology amongst preschool and primary aged children. 

Bookbot addresses school children's needs by providing an accessible, consistent, high quality, one-on-one interactive learning program. All that is required to access the program is a device - we have integrated the technology so that an internet connection is not needed. 

Bookbot will enable every Bangladeshi preschooler to master foundation literacy skills wherever they live and whatever their circumstance. 

In Bangladesh, students choose to receive their education in English or Bengali. Both languages use an alphabetic writing system in which the letters, singly and in combination, represent single speech sounds. The foundation skills required to become an effective reader of a language that uses the alphabetic principle are: taking apart words into sounds, recognising their identity, and put them together again. (Liberman, Shankweiler, & Liberman, 1989; Troia, 2004). 

These skills can be taught by providing explicit instruction in speech-sound awareness. Bookbot is the first of its kind to bring high quality, meaningful tuition to children using advanced speech recognition that can hear individual sounds. It is like having a teacher sitting beside a child, teaching them the sounds, listening to them practice and providing immediate feedback. 

This effective tool for teaching the foundations for literacy is not currently easily accessible. Children not only need to be taught speech-sound awareness, they must practice their understanding in order to become fluent. This requires someone to listen to them as they break down letters and sounds, and to provide immediate feedback. The resources required for this are significant: one-on-one or small group lessons with a trained teacher. 

Bookbot is an app that introduces the letters and sounds of the English language in an engaging and fun way. It uses techniques learnt from best practice research to embed these lessons: multisensory teaching supported by opportunity to practice and receive immediate feedback.

Using a device such as a mobile phone or tablet, the user is taught the lesson and is given the opportunity to practice the skill they have been taught by sounding out the letters. Bookbot ‘listens’ to the child as they practice, and provides help if they struggle.

There are two critical elements that make Bookbot innovative:

- advanced speech recognition that can hear individual sounds

- integrated software that negates the requirement for an internet connection/WiFi

Bookbot has an International Patent Application status covering its IP.

Advanced speech recognition - Bookbot’s speech recognition is the first of its kind. It listens to the child as they attempt to recreate the correct sounds to match letters and identifies single speech sounds, which is critical in the very early stages of learning literacy skills. Imagine the word ‘cat’. It is made up of three distinct sounds: ‘k’, ‘a’ and ‘t’ each of which must be mastered in order to read. Bookbot’s speech recognition is the only one that can identify these individual sounds. 

Integrated software - the early versions of Bookbot required internet connectivity to perform. This was restrictive in that many schools and individuals cannot rely on, or do not have access to, internet. Bookbot no longer requires internet to work, making it the only portable reading program of its kind.

The problem of consistency

The issue of quality and consistency lagging behind coverage is a common problem in many developing countries. However, according to Dr Manzoor Ahmed, Chair of the Bangladesh ECD Network (BEN), Bangladesh is “on the whole...fairly homogenous; it’s compact geographically and the ethnic and linguistic mix is relatively small.” This has helped the speed of Bangladesh’s scale-up and will also help to successfully enable the distribution and administration of Bookbot. 

NGOs such as Save the Children run approximately a quarter of preschools in Bangladesh, with 95% of their teachers trained in pre-primary education, far higher than the national average. This leaves around 75% of preschools with untrained or poorly trained teachers. Bookbot will remove the need for training in teaching foundation literacy skills by providing a stand-alone, one-on-one program accessible to every single preschooler.

The Problem of Quality

Phonological awareness is critical for learning to read any alphabetic writing system. Phoneme awareness predicts later outcomes in reading and spelling (Good, Simmons, and Kame'enui, 2001; Torgesen, 1998, 2004). Instruction in speech-sound awareness reduces and alleviates reading and spelling difficulties (Adams, Foorman, Lundberg, & Beeler, 1998; Gillon, 2004; NICHD, 2000; Rath, 2001). Teaching speech sounds explicitly and directly also accelerates learning of the alphabetic code. Classroom instruction for preschool readers should include phoneme awareness activities.

We know Bookbot’s phonological approach works because it has been informed by evidence-based research. Bookbot uses a phonics approach that saw dramatic gains in UK reading  standards from 58% in 2012 to 81% in 2016.

Current number of people we serve: we are currently testing Bookbot with a small group of children and teachers in the UK, Australia and America. This is just over 200 children.

Our goal for the first year preschool and primary aged children in English speaking countries and China is 200,000 children.

Our goal in five years of preschool and primary aged children world wide is 7 million children.

Year One Goal: to have a fully developed product for the English language.

Five Year Goals: 

• pre-primary expansion programs similar to the one in Bangladesh are being provided by international organisations in other developing countries, including the Philippines and Pakistan. Other countries are at the earlier stages, such as Ethiopia and China. Our five year goal is to be able to assist in the consistent delivery of foundation literacy education within these countries, including the development of Bookbot into different languages. 

• Bookbot can help children’s literacy beyond initial foundations skills. Our goal is to expand Bookbot into primary schools where literacy skills will be taught using the same one-on-one listening approach whilst children become fluent readers. A library of books will guide the children through the code of reading, allowing them to practice their skills as they go. 

Year One Goal - Barriers to having a fully developed product for the English language.

As we’ve developed Bookbot we’ve found that teachers, parents and children have requested specific features that have come up regularly in our testing. We have created a roadmap of these features which include Android development, reporting for teachers, lessons and comprehension quizzes, branded books and gamification.

We are in the process of speaking with investors and applying for grants to make this happen.

Five Year Goal - Barriers to expansion 

Cultural - We need access to forums such as the Bangladesh ECD Network (BEN) in order to facilitate the rollout of Bookbot within other developing countries. 

Financial - we need financial investment to create country and language-centric versions of Bookbot.

Year One Financial - we need investment in order to complete the development of Bookbot

Plan: 

• we will continue to pursue potential investors 

• We will continue to apply for relevant funding opportunities

Five Year Cultural - access

Plan:

• pursue contacts in international markets, particularly China

• explore partnerships and networking opportunities globally 

Five Year Financial - app language extensions

Plan:

• Apply for relevant funding opportunities

• explore partnerships and networking opportunities globally

The potential for impact through Bookbot lies in the consistency of the teaching program. In order to achieve this, every preschool should utilise the app.

Therefore, the market opportunity for Bookbot in Bangladesh is every preschool in the country. 

Similarly, with expansion into primary schools offering extended literacy education beyond the foundation stages, we envisage every primary school in Bangladesh using Bookbot.

We have 3 full-time staff, 3 part-time staff and another 5 contractors.

The Bookbot team is passionate about enabling people to reach their potential. Both Adrian and Debs have children with learning difficulties which led them to the world of literacy. 

ADRIAN DEWITTS – CO-FOUNDER 

Adrian is an expert in product development, innovation and data. His career covers software developer, designer, architect, manager, product owner, marketer and strategist. 

DEBS MOIR - CO-FOUNDER

Debs has worked in public relations practice in charity, non-profit, Governmental and education sectors. Debs has lectured in Public Relations and has consulted in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility. Debs is now a practising MSL Educational Specialist and an Accredited Member of the Australian Dyslexia Association. 

BELINDA MOORE – CO-FOUNDER

Belinda is an author who has spent ten years teaching in various capacities from language classes for kindergarten students all the way to university tutoring. Belinda has developed two different curricula for language schools and has a PhD in Children’s Literature.

DAVID DE CAMPO – EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

David’s focus is on the Company’s business development, corporate governance and International Governmental procedures and practices. David has participated on the Board of more than 20 private and public companies primarily focused in the financial, educational and services industries.

FRANK COOPER - ADVISORY BOARD

Frank Cooper is Vice-President of Melbourne Angels Inc, an organisation dedicated to the commercialisation of businesses with emerging technologies. 

DUC TRAN – DEVELOPER

Duc has broad experience in App development for both iOS and Android with over 50 Apps published in the Google Play and Apple iTunes stores.

We have made two technology firm partnerships:

One with Microsoft who have given us free access to their Azure platform. They have provided us support and expertise in developing our machine learning technology. Microsoft is also providing support with a pilot program in schools.

The other is a partnership with an artificial intelligence company: RedMarble based in Melbourne Australia. They have helped us develop the innovative speech technology.

Key Resources – Our People

• Educators who understand what children need to reach learning outcomes
• Our technology developers – translating the needs of children and teachers into tools that make an impact
• Business and communications people who make the business work and succeed

Key Activities
• Continuous testing and measurement of the efficacy of the program and technology in educational environments
• Development of new AI technologies that make an impact in education
• Making partnerships with organisations that can distribute the technology

Intervention
• Software that can screen and evaluate and therefor provide lessons and interaction at their current ability

Channels
• Reaching students through our partners – be it Microsoft, literacy or children wellbeing organisation
• Having teachers to share the software with parents, and parents to share the software with teachers
• Giving away content and parts of the technology

Beneficiaries
• Pre-school children in English speaking countries
• Children with reading disabilities
• Children where English is a second language

Customers
• Channel partners using our software to supplement their offerings
• Direct to educators and parents
• Direct to schools and districts

Value Proposition
• Building reading confidence and self sufficiency in your student or child
• Improving literacy for workforces of the future

Cost Structure
• Staff
• Cloud services

Revenue

• Licensing technology to other publishers and education companies
• App will be free, but special content and features will be unlocked in a subscription or license for schools, districts and partners

Surplus
• Profits will go into R&D of new education technology

Our first step to financial sustainability will initially be in the form of raising investment capital and grants. We have been successful in raising grant funding thus far. We have applied for multiple grants and are currently waiting to find out if we have been successful. 

After we have fully developed the technology we will achieve financial sustainability through:

• Licensing technology to other publishers and education companies.
• Having a service subsidised model where revenue from English speaking countries would be used to further develop and localise the app and distribute freely for developing countries.
• The app will be free to download and use. Parents in English speaking countries can choose to subscribe to extra content. Teachers in English speaking countries can choose to subscribe to the reporting and class management features.
• Schools and Districts can subscribe to class and school level reporting features.
• Partner with aid organisations or larger ESL companies for subsidisation or resale.

The two critical issues that will have the biggest impact on Bookbot reaching its potential to impact children’s lives are budget and networks. 

We need financial investment to develop features that have been requested from teachers and children. The Tiger Challenge funding will enable us to finance the development of these features and enable us to localise the app specifically for the Bangladesh market.

The Tiger Challenge network in Bangladesh could facilitate the partnerships required to get Bookbot into every preschool classroom.

Put simply, securing Tiger Challenge support would enable Bookbot to really make a difference to every single Bangladeshi pre-schooler. Together we can make this happen.

We would like to partner with the Bangladesh ECD Network which would allow us to collaborate with the Bangladesh government and NGOs including:

• Bangladesh Ministry of Primary and Mass Education
• Ministry of Women and Children Affairs
• Save the Children
• Bernard van Leer Foundation
• BRAC
• UNICEF
• UNESCO
• World Bank
• Plan International