The project proposes developing a Local Learning Management System (LLMS) tailored to the unique needs of African communities. This platform will be designed to meet the challenges facing African schools, focusing on offline accessibility and robust tracking of student progress. Additionally, after proper testing, we aim to explore partnerships with organizations such as World Possible and Enlight Africa to potentially integrate the LLMS into their existing educational devices and infrastructure.
The LLMS will not come with preloaded content. Instead, teachers will have the flexibility to upload and manage their own educational materials, ensuring that the content is relevant and aligned with the specific curriculum and needs of their students. This approach will empower educators to tailor the system to their local context and provide them with tools to curate and deliver their lessons effectively.
- Accessibility: Ensure that students and educators can access educational management software and resources even in areas with limited or no internet connectivity.
- Customization: Provide tools that allow teachers to upload and manage their own content, ensuring that the material is relevant and tailored to the students’ needs.
- Scalability: Create a system that can be easily adopted and expanded to other regions within Africa and possibly other LAN-based systems like Rachel Plus.
- Tracking and Assessment: Implement features that allow for comprehensive monitoring of student performance and progress over time.
- Offline Capabilities: Enable the system to function fully offline, allowing teachers and students to access and interact with content without needing the internet. Content and progress is synced between the different devices on a local network.
- Custom content upload: Teachers will have full control over the content in the system, uploading their own materials, quizzes, assignments, and resources. This ensures that all content is relevant and aligned with local educational standards.
- Student progress tracking: Provide detailed analytics on student performance, enabling teachers to monitor progress, identify learning trends, and make data-driven decisions to support student growth.
- Quiz and Assessment tools: Easy-to-use tools for creating and administering quizzes, tests, and assignments, with automatic grading and feedback to streamline the assessment process.
- Trend analysis
- Possible integration with existing devices: Work towards integrating the LLMS with devices provided by World Possible and Enlight Africa, expanding the reach and impact of the system.
- Phase 1: Assessing the needs of the target communities -> E3 and Arusha primary and secondary schools. This could involve interviewing teachers on their presumed efficacy of the system for their schools.
- Phase 2: Design and development -> based on the feedback received in phase 1, we design and develop features that are most beneficial for these schools.
- Phase 3: Pilot testing at E3Empower and possibly other schools: Implement the system at E3Empower and a few other schools to gather feedback and make necessary adjustments.
- Phase 4: Deployment
- Phase 5: Continuous Improvement
- Enhanced educational management software and resource access: students in remote and underserved areas will have improved access to quality education.
- Improved student performance: With robust tracking, students will benefit from more targeted and effective instruction.
- Empowered educators: Teachers will have the tools they need to create, manage, and deliver educational content in a way that best supports their students’ learning.
- Lack of access to devices: A significant challenge could be the limited availability of devices for students and teachers, which may hinder the effective implementation of the LLMS. To mitigate this, the initial focus will be on schools with existing computer labs.
- Resistance to change by local institutions.
Microkernel architecture with a SQLite database.
SQLite: The LLMS will use SQLite as its database. SQLite is a lightweight, file-based database system that is easy to set up and maintain, making it ideal for local deployments, especially in environments with limited resources.
Local Area Network (LAN): The system will be designed to operate over a Local Area Network, ensuring full functionality in environments with limited or no internet connectivity. This setup is particularly advantageous for schools with existing computer labs, allowing them to deploy the LLMS effectively and reliably. -> Can use a flash drive delivery method.