KenyaLearn AI

The specific problem our solution addresses is the lack of personalized and interactive learning experiences in the Kenyan education system. The current situation is challenged by crowded classrooms, limited resources, and the uniform system of teaching which does not meet the requirements of students of different inherent abilities. Our AI-Powered Learning Platform aims to bridge this gap by providing tailored educational support, enhancing student engagement, and improving learning outcome. In addition, the issue of dropouts and absenteeism is extremely widespread, generally, in developing countries where schooling injustices are more rampant. By leveraging this technology, we have the capability to change not only the 12 million kids in Kenya and many more globally through the customization and the eventual broadening of our technology. By focusing on the individual learning journey, we aim to foster a more inclusive and effective educational environment.

Our proposition is an AI-Powered Learning Platform that evolves the Kenyan education system through supply of specific, interactive, and involving learning experiences. Using the cutting-edge AI technology such as Large Language Models (LLMs) and text-to-speech, it customizes to each student’s learning level and pace, and as a result, comprehension and retention are improved. Here’s how it works:

1. Digitization of Materials: Textbooks and educational content are digitized to form a comprehensive knowledge base.
2. AI-Powered Customization: LLMs are trained on this content to generate tailored lesson plans, explanations, examples, and quizzes.
3. Interactive Interface: A user-friendly interface allows students to interact with the AI via text, speech, and visuals.
4. Audio Narrations: Text-to-speech technology provides audio explanations, aiding auditory learners.
5. Visual Aids: Imagery and videos are incorporated to clarify complex concepts.
6. Adaptive Learning: AI algorithms analyze performance data to personalize the learning experience further.
7. Feedback Loop: Continuous improvement is ensured through feedback from students and teachers.

This AI-Powered Learning Platform is not just a technological tool but a dynamic educational partner that grows and evolves with the students’ needs.

The aim of our solution, the AI-Powered Learning Platform, is to serve primary and secondary school students countrywide. The students who are in under-resourced schools will be the priority in this case. Scholars face lots of issues like an increased student to teacher ratio, which make matters worse, shortage of specialized counselors and in most cases unskilled class teachers. As a result, they are unable to receive the individual attention and tailored educational support they need to thrive.

The AI-Powered Learning Platform will directly impact their lives by:

1. Providing Personalized Education: Adapting to each student’s learning style and pace, ensuring no one is left behind.
2. Enhancing Engagement:  From the early learning stages through job training and retraining, the teaching and learning process needs to be made engaging and no longer like a chore. Hence, extremely interactive and captivating content must be ensured.
3. Improving Access: Making quality education accessible to all, regardless of location or socioeconomic status.
4. Supporting Teachers: Assisting educators with supplemental teaching tools, reducing their workload and enhancing their teaching methods.
5. Fostering Independence: Encouraging students to take charge of their learning journey, promoting self-study and critical thinking skills.

To that end, our solution tackles the needs of this issue and creates a more level educational territory for every learner to achieve their goals and actualize their potentials.

Our team is well-positioned to deliver the AI-Powered Learning Platform solution because we have deep roots within the Kenyan communities that will be benefiting from this education innovation. On her part as the team lead, Diana Mongina has the experience of working as a technical mentor at Moringa School, Kenya and works closely with students and educators alike. She is adept in Project Management and Data Science. Her leadership is guided by this firsthand knowledge of the community's needs. Nikita is an AI Engineer who also doubles up as a Technical Mentor in the data science space. Having worked extensively with learners, he has similar grassroots-level insights. On the hand, Mwangi Wambugu, having been educated in Murang'a and Nairobi, further strengthens our team's ties to the socio-cultural contexts we are designing for. Lastly, Paul Kamau's upbringing and schooling in rural-urban areas that include Nakuru, Murang'a, and Nairobi counties allows him to authentically represent the experiences of students in underserved communities. 

From the outset, the design of our AI-Powered Learning Platform has been meaningfully shaped by the input, ideas and agendas of the very communities it will serve. Our strategy puts local schools, teachers and students at the forefront by doing surveys, having focus groups, interviews, and field studies. These approaches prove phenomenal sources of feedback exposing deficiencies, determining feature priorities, and maintaining cultural relevance for our solution. This being a centered approach allows us to jointly develop a solution that is a true reflection of the communities’ points of view and needs unlike forcing an external solution.  The diversity of our team is complemented with the array of connections it has within the educational environment of Kenya. Furthermore, our community-based approach allows us to come up with an AI-Powered Learning Platform that will be genuinely empowering and effective for the target population.

While we have selected the Concept stage for our AI-Powered Learning Platform solution currently, we are very close to developing a working prototype. We have already done thorough research and secured active resources to convert our concept into reality.

Specifically, we have:

1. Thoroughly researched the challenges in the Kenyan education system and identified the need for personalized, technology-driven learning solutions.
2. Conceptualized the core features, architecture, and implementation plan for the AI-Powered Learning Platform
3.  Digitized a significant portion of educational materials and curricula to build the knowledge base.
4. Developing partnerships with active local communities, educators as well as students to make sure the solution is customized and backed by their realities.

With these critical components in place, we hope to have a working prototype of the AI-Powered Learning Platform ready within the next month or so. When the prototype is ready, we intend to conduct local pilot tests in a few schools to accumulate user feedback, recognize areas for improvement, and tune the model till it can be upscaled to cater to a wider range of Kenyan communities. As such, while we have not yet reached the Prototype stage, we are incredibly close and have already laid a strong foundation through our research and groundwork. It is our commitment to make this transition swiftly. We are dedicated to agile and community-inclusive development process, which will do its utmost to satisfy the needs of our target population.

We are applying to the Solve since we believe the program can provide invaluable support in overcoming the unique challenges that we face in developing and scaling our AI-Powered Learning Platform solution for the Kenyan education system. One of the key barriers we anticipate is the need for government involvement and approvals, as education in Kenya is standardized and primarily funded by the government. Integrating our AI product into schools will most probably involve dealing with legal constraints, ensuring compliance with national education standards, and seeking approval from education authorities. Other complications, such as the validity of copyrights and authorization, may arise due to the process of digitizing educational material for the knowledge base to feed our system. Solve may apply its network to source legal guidance for these uncertainties and forge a relationship with publishers for licensing.  Also, due to it being a non-profit venture, we will confront financial shortages regarding the acquisition of means and tools required for the construction, implementation, and the long-term survival of our initiative.  Besides the listed obstacles, we are thrilled to be part of a community of enthusiastic problem solvers at Solve. We are confident that the cross-fertilization of ideas, networks of collaboration, and shared teachings within the Solve ecosystem is going to greatly facilitate our capacity to deliver a truly innovative and sustainable solution for the Kenyan education system.

Our solution leverages AI to help in traditional learning with the inclusion of people with learning disability by introducing audio-visual assistance(KVUE. (2023, October 24)). This will help eliminate stigma within marginalized communities which will facilitate proper education. The learning landscape would change as it would open up more opportunities for the marginalized communities where every student can have access to education at their own level and pace.

The average school day in Kenya is 8+ hours a day, with our solution learning can be condensed for learners and help free up time for more life skill programs and extra-curricular activities (Krinjak, J. (2023, October 17)). Also, immersing students in the ever changing world of technologies would help nurture the next great minds that will help push mankind forward in our match towards a better, equitable and stable world.

References

Krinjak, J. (2023, October 17). South Austin Private School using adaptive AI to optimize learning. FOX 7 Austin. https://www.fox7austin.com/new... 

KVUE. (2023, October 24). “We don’t have teachers” | This Austin Private School Lets AI Teach Core Subjects. YouTube. Link

The AI-Based Learning platform has been specially designed to help with the solving of most of the challenges the education system of Kenya is currently facing. Among several other objectives it aims at improving learners competence and literacy level.

Activities:

1. Digitize educational materials and curricula to create a comprehensive knowledge base.
2. Train AI models on the digitized content to generate personalized lesson plans, explanations, and assessments.
3. Develop a user-friendly interface for students to interact with the AI Teaching Assistant.
4. Integrate interactive elements, multimedia aids, and adaptive learning algorithms.

Immediate Outputs:

1. Increased access to quality educational resources.
2. Personalized learning experiences tailored to individual students' needs and paces.
3. Enhanced engagement through interactive and multimedia-rich content.
4. Continuous assessment and feedback to track student progress.

Intermediate Outcomes:

1. Improved comprehension and retention of academic concepts.
2. Reduced burden on teachers.
3. Bridging the gap in access to quality education for underserved communities.

Long-term Impact:

1. Increased literacy levels across Kenya.
2. Enhanced learners' competence and preparedness for higher education and future careers.
3. Complementing the existing education system by addressing the lack of enough teachers and resources.

Our solution's impact is supported by various evidence and research:

1. Personalized learning approaches have been shown to improve academic performance and increase student engagement (Source: Lowell et al., 2020).
2. AI-powered adaptive learning systems can enhance learning outcomes and provide more effective feedback (Source: Alam, 2023).
3. Interactive multimedia aids, such as animations and simulations, can improve conceptual understanding (Source: Lestari et al., 2022).
4. Self-paced and self-directed learning promotes critical thinking and problem-solving skills (Source: Charokar & Dulloo, 2022).

References

Alam, A. (2023). Harnessing the Power of AI to Create Intelligent Tutoring Systems for Enhanced Classroom Experience and Improved Learning Outcomes. In Intelligent Communication Technologies and Virtual Mobile Networks (pp. 571-591). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore.

Charokar, K., & Dulloo, P. (2022). Self-directed Learning Theory to Practice: A Footstep towards the Path of being a Life-long Learne. Journal of Advances in Medical Education & Professionalism, 10(3), 135.

Lestari, I., Hadi, W., Yuksafa, R., Yarmi, G., Safitri, D., Suntari, Y., ... & Iskandar, R. (2022). Enhancement of Students' Learning Outcomes through Interactive Multimedia. Int. J. Interact. Mob. Technol., 16(7), 82-98.

Lowell, V., Alamri, H., Watson, W., & Watson, S. L. (2020). Using personalized learning as an instructional approach to motivate learners in online higher education: Learner self-determination and intrinsic motivation. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 52(3), 322-352.

Universal access to education, through the customizable AI learning platform will cater to each individuals needs. This will will increase numeracy and literacy in the local communities thus improving their quality of life.

The AI learning platform will offer quality education across the board. The curriculum will be set according to government guidelines on education.

The AI learning platform seeks to address gender equality by providing learning opportunities to everyone regardless of sex or gender identity. The platform will help propel equal gender representation in the schools and eventually in the work force.

The core technology is AI powered models trained on government approved curriculum and other alternative learning curriculums. These technologies enable customizable learning solutions. Additionally, the solution leverages cloud computing infrastructure to ensure scalability and accessibility from anywhere with an internet connection.

We are working on the solution as a team of four.

1. Diana Mongina: dianahmongina2@gmail.com; +254725101365
2. Nikita Njoroge: nikita.njoroge@gmail.com; +254728658646
3. Mwangi Wambugu: mwangiwambugu@gmail.com; +254710199659
4. Paul Kamau: paulngangakamau@gmail.com; +254704759219

The team, even in its composition, diverse, equitable and inclusive. We have adopted gender diversity with women represented in some critical leadership positions. Our team lead, Diana Mongina, being a lady, gives an outstanding perspective and insight as a female leader in the tech industry which is an advantage to our research work.

Furthermore, the educational backgrounds of the team members are as well diversified. Computer science, data science, social sciences as well as petroleum engineering are well reprsented. Furthermore, each member of the team comes from a different part of Kenya and hence, has different cultural backgrounds. The cultural wealth allows for formulation of solutions that reflect the larger population.

Kenya has been experiencing a shortage in teachers. The number of public primary school teachers is 50:1 which is above the recommended 25:1.We seek to partner with the Kenyan government and private schools and NGOs to give AI led learning as an alternative to one of the fastest growing populations. We seek to offer an alternative to traditional teaching where education is accessible to everyone from all walks of life and ages. The standardized way of learning will give a level playing field to communities and people experiencing education exclusion. This alternative will be more affordable and could reach a larger population. We offer a self-paced alternative that will adapt to the learners learning ability which is something overlooked in traditional education. From government and other stakeholders' partnerships we would roll out this solution to schools, the general population and communities in not well to do areas we would like to offer the internet and tablets/computers that would make the dream of so many uneducated people a reality.

We would seek funding and/or subsidies from government, donors and grants from the private partnerships to help in the rolling out of this program. We would also offer the application on a pay-as-you learn basis which will also cater to the general population.