Pilot deployments
Our learning content continues to evolve based on encouraging feedback from small scale pilot deployments in the US and in India. The strong need for early literacy content could not be clearer. Thanks to our dedicated partners and volunteers, and most importantly the participating children who are our inspiration.
English Learners in the US
Our flagship learning app, GLEN Learn, was piloted at the Isla Vista Youth Project (IVYP) Children’s Center in Goleta, California from November 2019 to March 2020. IVYP serves a large fraction of families with English Learners (ELs), and has decades of experience providing a diverse array of educational and social programs for children regardless of their families’ financial status. Read more about our IVYP pilot’s kickoff here.
Our IVYP pilot was very helpful in validating and further improving GLEN Learn app’s content design, learner experience and rewards structure, and the learner metrics web dashboard for teachers and administrators.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, we paused our pilot deployment at IVYP. In response to the pandemic, we decided to accelerate our efforts to publicly release our mobile apps on the app stores so that children everywhere can access our learning resources for free. Thanks to our experience with the IVYP deployment and prior pilots, we are ready. Read more about what we learned from our IVYP pilot here.
Early Pilot Deployments in California
An early version of GLEN World’s learning content was piloted at the Isla Vista Youth Project in Goleta, California, and Canalino Elementary School in Carpinteria, California, both of which serve a large fraction of ELs. The feedback from the kids and the teachers was encouraging, in that the kids were very engaged with the content, and the teachers appreciated the learning outcomes. The teachers also asked for more insights into the children’s progress and problem areas via a dashboard on the app. Overall, these small-scale pilots were very helpful in validating our content design approach and proved the strong need for such content among ELs.
Pilot Deployments in India
Our GLEN Learn app, with it first set of 10 lessons, received an excellent response in a pilot deployment in India — in Haldi, a village in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh. This pilot ran for two months in 2018, with the content reaching around 70 children in the village. Most children in the group were 4 to 12 years old, had limited exposure to English via their schools and came from families with limited financial means. The kids seemed to be hooked to the content, and even brought their friends as the pilot continued! They showed up regularly, patiently waiting for their turn on the limited number of tablets. The self-learning model with unskilled facilitators was also proven to work, with minimal training to the volunteers for handling the devices, registering the kids and helping them get started with the app. A big thank you to our partners and local volunteers!
Partnership with EkStep
GLEN World is partnering with EkStep to bring its English learning content to children in India. Ekstep is building a digital platform, and an associated ecosystem of content creators, learning facilitators, and organizations for scaling education. GLEN World’s content is deployed in India through EkStep’s Genie app and its network of partner organizations. Our first deployment is with i-Saksham in Bihar (video of GLEN World in action provided by i-Saksham).