As part of the SAJAG’s Home-Based Initiative, our students of the Learning Centre were given the link to Chimple Learning APP (link given below). The Chimple App is created by the SUTARA organization for early grades to build foundational skills of English, Maths, and Hindi.
Out of 25 students of the Learning Centre, 22 students have an android phone and hence were eligible to download the APP. It was going to be a challenging task considering the digital literacy of the parents and the amount of time the phone will be available for the students. We found out that 44% of our students had access to their phones throughout the day as their mother and father had independent phones. The remaining 56% of students have only one phone at home and hence available to them only in the evening after their father returns from work. To download the App and make it accessible for students were our objective.
The process for the Chimple App Installation involves: -
1)
Downloading the App from Playstore from the given
link.
2)
Creating the profile of the student.
3)
Connecting the App with the Teacher using an OTP.
(This process helps the teacher to track the students’ usage of the App)
The above process on 22 phones took a week to
complete. 2 part-time teachers were involved in handholding. The first part of
downloading the App was an easy step for parents and 40% of the parents
downloaded them immediately after the link was sent via WhatsApp. The students
created the profile and started using them too. However, the next process of
connecting the Students App with Teacher’s App using OTP (One Time Password) was
complicated for the parents to follow from the Audio and Video Whatsapp message.
50% of the parents needed step-by-step guidance via phone call/video call. 32%
of the parents required home-visit and actual hand-holding to help them connect
with the App. And 18% of the parents are yet to connect as they went to their
native place or sent their child for safety during the lockdown. It took around
7 days to complete the process. The delay in 32% of the parents was because in
between they had to face problems such as they did not have balance, their
father being a driver was away till late or even days. The availability of
father being mostly very late, becomes difficult to get in touch with them. Or
if they have siblings at home, the screen sharing between them is again a
complicated process that will need further dialogue.
Now the App is connected with 82% of our students, the
next step is to retain the App and provide with them Assignments and activities.
This again became a complicated process as they had created multiple profiles.
Hence tracking them is becoming a difficult task. With the RAM less in most
phones, downloading a new App means affecting the overall functioning of the
phone. Though Chimple App does not require much space and works even without
the internet, it will take time to make them aware of the fact that downloading
other games and video apps will affect the overall functioning of the phone and
thus the functioning of the App. These
factors will be addressed in the coming days and thus slowly, the family will
also learn to balance these technological aspects.
Currently, the students are using the App with
enthusiasm. It’s fun for students to get to play on the phone and also learn at
the same time. Parents are also happy
that children are learning with the phone. We see the students doing the basic
letter and number practice. A more detailed assessment of student usage of App
will be continued. It will help us give an insight as to which mode of digital
learning is best suitable for children of early grades and how best to make the
App suitable for learning.
Sajitha
Co-Founder
SAJAG
App Link:- http://bit.ly/chimplegoogleplayF
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