Mavis Computel

Our vision statement is Everyone learning and everywhere a classroom

Our mission is to enhance educational accessibility and quality for underserved communities in the language of their immediate environment through simple innovative learning technologies. We empower learners in out-of-school settings, IDP camps, and low-cost educational institutions by providing tools that support both learners and learning facilitators, making effective education possible anywhere. 

Our core values are: 

1. Inclusivity: Ensuring that education is accessible to all, regardless of their circumstances or abilities. 
2. Innovation: Continuously improving and creating tools that enhance learning experiences
3. Empowerment: Providing learning facilitators and educators in general with the tools that enable them overcome educational barriers 
4. Sustainability: Creating durable and long-lasting educational solutions that benefit communities even after interventions have finished. 

Chiemezie Ucheaga is the Chief Technology Officer for Mavis Computel. He is the lead programmer and developer of the Mavis Talking Books and he oversees the development of multiple Talking Books in different languages. He is also the lead trainer of the Learning Facilitators for the different interventions and he forms part of the Technical Working Group (with other stakeholders in the education sector) for oversight of these projects. He is also the lead developer of the support systems to help the Learning Facilitators better use the Mavis Talking Books in their classrooms and is currently spearheading the development of a template system to help visually impaired learners learn with the Mavis Talking Books. 

Considering the fact that the Team Lead and most of the full staff supporting this product are based in the headquarters of Nigeria - Abuja, it is easy to coordinate amongst ourselves and provide the necessary support needed to make this LEAP project work. 

We have  members of our team that have a lot of experience in Education Pedagogy, Human Psychology and research. As part of the ongoing work that we've done with some of our partners, including the International Rescue Committee - a lot of the work that we have done center around continuous research on making the product better fitted for the community and research on the nature of support that the Learning Facilitators need to make their work easier. 

Following the success of the initial feasibility and desirability study done, we moved on to do an implementation research focused on checking the improved learning outcomes and we were able to prove that using the Mavis Talking Books with out of school children in Borno state produces much better results in their education programs than those without the Mavis Talking Books in their programs. During this period, we also conducted research on sharing ratios of the Mavis Talking Books. 

We are currently in an effectiveness research with them on the Talking Books, as well as working on some products that support the efficiency of the use of the Mavis Talking Books in their classrooms . 

Participating actively in this research work with the International Rescue Committee has helped us understand the value of research and as well helped us develop the structure we need to participate in research programs that will further help learning outcomes for the learners as well as the learning facilitators. 

Finally, doing this research has opened our minds up to the fact that there's still a lot of work to be done and different use case scenarios to be tested, different theories of change to be thought through. As a result of this, we are eager to work on and support the LEAP project in every capacity that we can. 

Improving Foundational Literacy and Numeracy for out-of-school Children using the Mavis Talking Books in the Learners' Local language.

• The farther away from the city centers, the worse the level of education.
• There are not enough teachers for the children in school meaning that we can't even begin to talk about the lack of teachers or educators when it comes to children that are out of school 
• The available teachers don't have the required subject content expertise to give the required learning to the children. 
• The farther away from the city center, the more the language usually used to teach - English isn't the language commonly spoken or understood - creating a need for quality teachers who also understand that local language. 
• If the solution is merely to train the required teachers, the trained teachers see that they have more value to offer and leave those areas in search of greener pastures, leaving the learners in the same position as they were before. 
• Though technology is the way to go in terms of bridging this gap, conventional technology often has problems of implementation due to the following reasons 
  • Lack of electricity to power the phones and computers 
  • Lack of internet to access learning content 
  • Lack of customization of learning content into their local languages 
  • Multi-use of these devices, often leading to theft of the devices because the Learning Facilitators or community officers would rather use them for themselves than for the children. 

Our Solution The Mavis Talking Books aims to solve these problems by providing quality education in a fun, and engaging way in the Language the Learners understand. 

The Mavis Talking Book consists of: 

• The Mavis Book - a normal book printed with micro dots under the pictures or lines of text. 
• The Mavis Pen - A digital pen with an infrared camera that takes snapshots of the microdots and says out what it is programmed to say when the learners tap on those pictures or text. 

The learners can be seated in groups of 3 and a number of groups are overseen by a Learning Facilitator.  

The Learning Facilitator introduces them to the lesson(s) they are to do and the Learners learn by themselves. 

The Learning Facilitator visits the groups asking them questions to ensure that they are learning. 

The Mavis Pens have no screens making it easy to charge with very simple solar devices. 

All the content is programmed into the Mavis Pen making it independent of the internet. 

The content of the Talking Books is produced in the language of the immediate environment of the learners.  

The Learning Facilitators also receive copies of the Mavis Talking Books so that they can improve themselves. However as the learners learn to use the Mavis Talking Books, they can continue in the absence of a Learning Facilitator until a new one is brought in and they aren't dependent on the level of subject content expertise of the Learning Facilitator. 

1. Feasibility and Desirability Studies: We worked with the International Rescue Committee for 4 months testing this with children in out-of-school areas in Borno State. The end of the feasibility and desirability studies was very successful - leading us to move to the next stage of research with them. 
2. Implementation Research: Following the Feasibility studies, we conducted an implementation research study with them (the results are available but not yet in the public domain. We can make them available to you on request). The results were positive and showed that the Mavis Talking Books improved the learning outcomes of the learners. 
3. Effectiveness Research: We are currently conducting effectiveness research looking at the opportunities for scale and sustainability. The result of this will be ready by July - August 2024.

1. The Feasibility and desirability studies showed us that the learners were very enthusiastic about the use of the Mavis Talking Books. The Learning Facilitators also found it easier using the Mavis Talking Books to help the learners learn.
2. The research showed us the value of training the Learning Facilitators (not in content as much as in classroom management and having a protocol to follow for conducting lessons to ensure improved learning outcomes) 
3. There are optimal sharing ratios for the learners to the Mavis Talking Books. Having it beyond those numbers could sometimes lead to rowdy classrooms giving the learning facilitators more work to do. 
4. Creating solutions around on-the-go help for the learning facilitators depending on the work that they're doing with the Mavis Talking Books is key to their success using it. 
5. Different use case scenarios need to be tested because as much as the learners enjoy using the Mavis Talking Books, societal issues such as farming season often take precedence over structured time learnings for the learners. 

Most of the evidences that we've generated from our solutions that are documented are from programs that were part of already existing education solutions being carried out by our partners. As a result, we were limited to the scope of what they wanted us to do with regards to the project. 

We therefore see the need to test out on our own terms, the different use case scenarios and come up with results that can serve as templates for organizations desiring to go into education technology projects in underserved communities.

1) What use case scenario (e.g. Non-formal learning centers, home use) produces the best results in the learners? 

2) What is the effect of using a trained learning facilitator versus a respected member of the community as a learning facilitator? How much of a difference does it make? 

3) What is the correlation between a control-based test (which often poses ethical challenges because the learners who should be part of the program are left out because they are part of the control) and alternative measures like Baseline tests and progress tracking? 

1. Formative research will help to reinforce the feasibility of our solution in out-of-school settings, conflict settings, and other settings that usually find it hard to have the infusion of education technology. 
2. Impact evaluations will help us demonstrate the overall impact of the Mavis Talking Books in improving learning outcomes for the learners, the impact on the confidence level of the learning facilitators as well as their subject content expertise, and the effect on the community receiving the transformative effect of education.

We will use these outputs to write white papers, do demonstrations to other local and international organizations to aid in their work with education technology adoption in underserved communities in Nigeria as well as provide documentation for other research organizations desiring to use this as part of their overall information base. 

• More adoption of the Mavis Talking Books in Nigeria especially for out-of-school children 
• Better embracing of technology in education solutions in Nigeria 
• Opening the eyes of other technology solution providers to the need to customize their solutions for use for children in underserved communities in Nigeria 
• Improved learning outcomes in Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in Nigeria 
• Solving the out-of-school problem in Nigeria