CholPori

CholPori is a digital learning platform with original learning materials designed to help primary school students of the Bangladesh national curriculum. The materials are developed according to the multiple-intelligence theory and the World Bank Social Emotional Learning (SEL) framework, to support underprivileged students who lack access to quality materials and support their self learning. These also have the flexibility to be used both in classroom and at home.  

At the moment we serve class 4 and 5 students of the national curriculum. Along with this we are creating content that is not grade specific on topics like health, history and activism. This includes interactive, illustrated books as well as multimedia lessons and quizzes. 

Bangladesh has almost universal enrolment at the primary level but less than half of the students are reading and counting at grade level. The impact of Covid on learning has not been fully measured, as schools reopened in early 2022 after 1.5 years of closure (though had been opened for a while in 2021, couldn’t continue). But there has been a big drop-out rate as children have not returned to school. 

There is a lack of levelled Bangla learning resources to supplement school education. While the National Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB) provides textbooks of different subjects to the primary schools free of cost, the existing curriculum lacks SEL and fundamental to nurture 21st century soft skills*. There is a lack of edutainment and levelled reading materials, which are important in cultivating a love of learning and that’s where CholPori materials stand as a great support for teachers and students.   

*The new curriculum has been approved just a few days ago which addressed SEL and 21st century soft skills, but it will take time to come to action.

Our products help underserved children through: 

Learning Aids  

We have mapped the national curriculum to identify its holes and are creating materials that fill them. We supplement each lesson with additional learning objectives to develop critical thinking, curiosity and awareness of the local context and the world at large. 

We are amplifying the curriculum, creating opportunities for students to self study and explore further which students might not be able to in general because of large classroom size (teacher-student ratio) or difficulty of student’s to attend school regularly. CholPori is working here to bridge this gap and support self-learning. 

We ensure that the materials are age-appropriate and use visuals, animation, and audio to ensure that children with different learning styles can use them. 

SEL content 

CholPori materials are embedded with social-emotional learning which helps students to develop self awareness, self regulation, social awareness, positive communication, determination and responsible decision making skills in life. Through these, students learn to acquire and apply interpersonal knowledge, skills and attitudes to develop healthy identities, manage emotions and achieve personal and collective goals. Overall, these facilitate sound mental health of students which is not widely been practiced at present in the school system. 

We have developed a set of characters (students and educators in the virtual world of CholPori) who model good behavior and go through challenges and learning curves. These characters each represent a different learning and personality type. 

We serve the community of the national primary school system. In the early stages we conducted market research with guardians, educators, admin and students to understand their pain points and needs. 

Our team of educators have multiple years of experience working in the system which help us to understand the context and analyse the result of need assessment. We work with children to create content (we have several young voice artists and child editors). We regularly visit schools, arrange different sessions with parents, teachers and students to ensure alignment and improve wherever needed.  

Prior to starting CholPori we worked with underserved schools through HerStory Foundation, a non-for-profit organisation focused on creating content to promote gender equality and female empowerment. During a one-year fellowship program CholPori HerStory (The Incredible Read-Aloud Fellowship) we also did many interviews with students to learn about the challenges they face in and out of school. Insights of these interviews have intrigued us to design a solution like CholPori.

Inputs

Math, English and extra-curricular multimedia lessons, quizzes and leveled reading materials in Bangla and English

Activities

Students independently and/or in class use the materials to deepen their understanding of the textbook material, practice new skills and read. Students watch CholPori TV animation to learn the material through storytelling and examples. 

Guardians monitor progress and use the materials to assist with homework. Educators work with interactive materials as opposed to printed materials. 

Outputs 

Students gain a deeper understanding of the textbook material and are able to practice on their own and gain star points. Guardians and educators are able to identify problem areas. Students are able to recognise good learning habits and learn from the stories of the characters in the CholPori land. 

Outcomes 

Students perform better in class and are self-motivated to learn outside of the classroom. Children improve their reading habits and grow reading comprehension which can be tracked and rewarded. Children began to self-regulate emotions and approach inter-personal struggles with growth mindset and compassion. 

Improved classroom management as educators are able to deliver age-appropriate and entertaining content. Educator materials are in the work at present, to help teachers plan and stage their classwork. School performance rates increase. 

Impact

On the student level: 

• Improved literacy and numeracy rates in primary school nationwide. 

• Less female drop-outs at the primary level.

 On the system level:

• Improved primary school teacher training.

• An improved national curriculum which prepares students for the unpredictable future. When the current primary school students graduate the job market will be radically different, the best we can do is give them the life skills to be adaptable, curious, critical thinkers and lifelong learners.

We are currently working with LET-IN researchers in Turkey to establish our Research & Innovation strategy. Since we just launched the site in march, we do not have much data from our users. 

We know what we are doing and the impact it can have, and we have gathered some initial data through a market research study with focus groups to determine inputs and activities.

By November 2022, we are aiming to complete our first pilot study in 2 schools in Dhaka with control groups, to test the assumption that CholPori content improves academic performance and class engagement.

We worked with a team of the NYU Wagner Capstone Project to develop a set of measurement tools for impact and usability (to determine outputs and outcomes) 

We hold regular watchparties (sessions to watch the animated lessons and share feedback) with students to determine the effect of our animation and its impact on learning and retention.

We are currently enrolled in the Stanford Seed Spark business development course to refine our strategy and market position. 

Given all this we are in level 2 transitioning into level 3. We are aware of the importance of research and each team (tech, education, animation, storytelling) is developing its own research roadmaps and tools.

We have a team of four researchers who have designed multiple research projects to track and measure our impact. The main indicators that are being assessed in the projects are student achievement scores, student engagement, student motivation and teacher perception of CholPori. Evidence such as formative and summative assessments, surveys, interviews and focus group discussions are used to measure our outcomes. 

Digital learning materials for primary school that nurture the whole child and their love for learning. 

Research questions: 

1. Does full-immersion language learning work for digital materials?

2. How do we measure SEL development? 

3. How do we measure learning retention? 

4. How do we measure class engagement?

Potential deliverables:

• Social-emotional impact tools (on the website and in-person)

• Impact research roadmap

Successful outcome: 

We would like to improve our social-emotional well-being impact tools to measure the effect of the content of confidence, motivation and compassion, among other SEL domains. This will help us in making the claim that this approach works to nurture the whole child. In the long-term we will also be in the position to propose to develop materials for the national textbook board.