Tutor Voices - IVR E-Learning Technology

While the global pandemic has necessitated and proven the importance for e-learning, millions of learners from marginalized communities across Africa have been left out. We created a simple Interactive Voice Response application that enables access to online content by anyone regardless of whether they own a smartphone or have internet access. This technology works through a simple voice call, thereby enabling the poor majority and rural learners to be at par with their counterparts in the cities. With the help of Tutor Voices, the number of school dropouts will decrease due to increased access to quality education.

Africa is an emerging market for eLearning, however the continent continues to lag behind developed economies in the effective implementation of eLearning. The major challenge that contributes to this lag is access to the internet. Without access to the internet many eLearning projects in African countries are throttled before they even begin. U.N. Broadband Commission reported that 8 of the 10 countries with the lowest levels of internet availability in the world are in sub-Saharan Africa. The 8 countries are Ethiopia, Niger, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Somalia, Burundi, Eritrea, and South Sudan. Internet penetration in all 8 countries is less than 2 percent of the population. Providing all the students with internet access is a very expensive proposition for most African governments and this is more so in the case of rural centers and remote areas, where internet connections are bound to be erratic, if available at all.

We have created a simple voice call system called Tutor Voices that uses Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology to increase access to voice lessons to marginalized communities across Africa. Tutor Voices is accessible via a simple phone call, removing the need to own a smartphone or have access to internet connectivity to access e-learning. IVR is an existing technology used in customer service. Tutor Voices applies this technology in a novel way to reach the underserved communities.

We are targeting the poor and those who can't afford internet data, Periurban and rural communities who may not own smartphones or have access to stable internet connections for access to e-learning.

While e-learning has become more needful due to the global pandemic, it has further widened the digital divide as millions of marginalized learners across Africa cannot afford or may not be able to access online lessons. Our solution seeks to lessen this digital divide by increasing access to e-learning to the underserved, thereby also helping to reduce inequality in education.

We are in the discovery phase and still testing our hypotheses.

Since Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, many learners across the globe have had to adjust to the new reality of remote learning. However, millions of marginalized learners across Africa who lack access to internet connectivity and smartphones or computers have been left behind. To help solve this problem, we created a simple interactive voice response application called Tutor Voices, that enables access to audio lessons through simple phone calls. Our solution provides an alternative e-learning platform that enables anyone from any part of the world to access online learning materials without the need for internet connectivity, smartphones or pc. This solution is unique and innovative as it leverages on an existing technology mostly used in customer services to distribute learning content. Tutor Voices enables broader positive impacts as most households have at least, access to basic telephone services i.e SMS and Voice.

We are currently serving 6000 learners in rural Kenya. We hope to server at least 30,000 in the next one year and approximately 1.2 million people in the next 5 years.

Tutor Voices enables us to track overall usage hence the number of learners reached. Our quiz system makes it possible for learners to self test. The test data will help us to determine individual learner's progress and impact. We hope to analyze overall performances in schools where our users attend to determine the impact of our system in improving learning outcomes.

2 full time and 2 part time staff.

1. Levit Nudi - Team leader and Software engineer with experience in data science. Has background in Cyber Forensics from Kenyatta University and Entrepreneurship from University of Notre Dame.

2. Manga Mblamba - Has a background in Early Childhood Development from Kenyatta University with more than 6 years teaching experience. She leads the education aspect, ensures proper curriculum development and strategies for improving learning outcomes.

3. Craig Omore - Background in law. He leads our partnerships and ensures all legal matters are observed.

4. Angela Akoth - She's has over 7 year experience in Business Administration and finance. She is in charge of business development, marketing and accounting.

Our team embraces gender equality and diverse inclusion. We are from diverse schools of thought and academic backgrounds and that is what brings unique perspectives to the business. Levit and Craig are based in rural Kenya where they are implementing the project and collecting data to better understand the target market.

We are motivated by the alignment to our mission of digital inclusion. We hope to increase our visibility through this platform as we haven't done much marketing since we started. We also hope to partner with relevant organizations and individuals who may provide mentorship and guidance to the business. Most importantly, this business is capital intensive. We are currently not making money as we are focusing on building a userbase through a freemium platform, we hope to start charging for premium content or exclusive access. For this reason, would also like to raise funds through this platform to bring this unique Edtech solution to the market.

1. We hope to onboard more experienced and knowledgeable persons into our advisory board team.

2. We have done very little branding and digital marketing since our target users are from marginalized areas. We hope to explore new user bases and strategies that will increase our impact.

3. We hope to scale our platform within the shortest time possible by leveraging on partnerships with different stakeholders. We are looking for such scale up and distribution strategies.

We would like to leverage on Vodaphone's global reach and infrastructure to distribute our learning materials across Africa. We also hope to leverage on their experience and expertise to innovate and improve the products and services while also providing value to the customers.

Most refugees communities are based in areas with minimal network coverages. Internet connectivity is therefore a limited option for such people. Thanks to Tutor Voices, refugee children will now have access to online voice lessons without the need for internet connectivity or smartphones. These lessons will also be delivered in their native languages, making it useful especially to the semi-illiterate. Tutor Voices will therefore increase access to learning among refugees through a simple voice call system, thereby lessening the digital divide.

Tutor Voices is an e-learning platform targeting marginalized learners in rural parts of Africa. With this technology, learners are able to access voice lessons through simple phone calls without the need for internet connectivity, smartphones or computers. Tutor Voices therefore promotes digital inclusion among the underserved communities.

Our mission is to help keep at least 100,000 girls in schools and reduce the dropout rate by more than 30%. In the rural parts of the developing world, most girls stay out of school due to various factors such as period poverty and shame, lack of school fees, teenage pregnancies, cultural practices among many others. We hope to make it easier for them to continue learning regardless of their situation. We believe that if girls will continue learning regardless of their circumstances, their chances of dropping out of school will be lower compared to those who miss out majority of lessons and find it difficult to catch up with the syllabi coverage once they get back to school.

Tutor Voices is an e-learning platform targeting marginalized learners in rural parts of Africa. With this technology, learners are able to access voice lessons through simple phone calls without the need for internet connectivity, smartphones or computers. The platform leverages on AI and machine learning to deliver personalized content. It provides for interaction through phone dials or speech response by users thereby enabling them to self test and track their learning progress. Tutor Voices therefore promotes digital inclusion among the underserved communities.

Tutor Voices is an e-learning platform targeting marginalized learners in rural parts of Africa. With this technology, learners are able to access voice lessons through simple phone calls without the need for internet connectivity, smartphones or computers. We hope to leverage on digital currency such as M-Pesa payments to enable user subscription and provide e-learning credit in the future. Tutor Voices therefore promotes digital inclusion among the underserved communities.