OUR SOLUTION
AN END-TO-END SOLUTION
At the heart of what we do is a conviction that everyone should have access to the basic resources they need to achieve a quality education. And further, we believe that good results in Mathematics, Physics & Chemistry can open doors to further education, the digital economy, and the new world of work.
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Siyavula’s technology solution integrates open online textbooks, adaptive practice software and research into cognitive science and motivation. Our world-class open content and adaptive practice software can be used even on low-end internet-connected mobile devices. We store learners' portfolios of work, help them to share their evidence of mastery, and we connect students with post-school opportunities.
Through strategic partnerships with local Education Ministries, pan-African mobile network operators, and youth-focused funders, we seek to support 10 million African students to set and reach their mathematics and science learning goals with us annually.
OPEN TEXTBOOKS
Producing affordable textbooks that are accessible to learners is a cost-effective way of helping to improve learning outcomes. We have authored a core set of curriculum-aligned textbooks, which were released as OERs (Open Educational Resources) in multiple formats, using an open copyright licence. This enables governments and other stakeholders to freely and legally print our books, eBook platforms to distribute them freely, and learners to access them online.
The current Siyavula catalogue includes 17 openly-licensed STEM textbooks aligned with the South African and Nigerian curricula. South Africa’s Department of Basic Education (DBE) has endorsed, adopted and printed almost 10 million copies of these open titles, and learners can access the books directly on our website.
PRACTICE-FOR-MASTERY
Research shows that, in addition to having access to pedagogically-sound content or instruction in class, deliberate practice is essential to learning. This, coupled with the earnest desire to improve outcomes in Mathematics and Physical Sciences, led us to design software that optimises a learner's practice session by drawing on a bank of generative question items, employing a machine learning algorithm for selection and sequencing, and incorporating the latest research into cognitive science and motivation.
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We enable learners to adopt a practice-for-mastery approach to their learning. To facilitate the most effective learning, practising for mastery needs to be:
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Goal-directed, and coupled with feedback
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Set at an appropriate level of difficulty
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Sequenced appropriately
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Of sufficient quantity
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We designed Siyavula Practice to work on all internet-connected mobile devices, and the website is zero-rated on MTN, Vodacom and Telkom in South Africa. This gives learners with limited support, and often inadequate classroom instruction, access to a world-class platform where they can practise and master the content they need to excel in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry, in their own time, and at their own pace.
POST-SCHOOL OPPORTUNITIES
One crucial factor in achieving impact when working with large cohorts of learners is their motivation to engage meaningfully with our platform. We have found that learners from disadvantaged backgrounds generally have a low expectation that achievements in Mathematics and Physical Sciences will positively impact their prospects. To address this, and improve learner motivation, we needed to establish concrete links between learners’ use of our platform and post-school opportunities.
To establish this important connection, we created a My Future section on our website which lists partner organisations that provide tangible links to post-school options, including:
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Career guidance
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Further study tied to internships and/or employment
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Bursaries and scholarships
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Job opportunities
Our learners are now able to generate competency certificates and reports that are used as part of the application process for some of our My Future partners. In this way, the grit and perseverance required to excel on our platform can have a direct and profound impact on a learner’s future.