Classroom learning solutions company, Edukite, has partnered with Northern Cape Department of Education to provide 13,000 licences to its innovative learning app to matriculants in the province. The initiative is in conjunction with the handover of 13,000 Android tablets to matriculants by the Northern Cape Department of Education, which is set to take place on 27 February.
Speaking on the initiative, Vineet Ladia, Founder and Director of Edukite South Africa, explains that the Edukite Learning App is designed to be the ultimate learning tool for South African school learners, covering different subjects across grades.
“Edukite is the only company in South Africa to offer a comprehensive basket of subjects for grades four to 12, and to also provide practical ideas and content training for teachers,” adds Ladia. “The app aims to make learning more accessible, fun and simple to understand for this generation of learners in the digital age, which we believe will translate into better overall results – as proven by our initiatives in the Free State province.”
Initiated in 2006, Edukite has achieved great success over the years, reaching 1,100+ schools since its inception, providing teachers and learners with a tailor-made syllabus aligned to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS). Having previously operated in eight of the nine provinces through donor-funded projects, Edukite’s solution has seen notable success in the Free State, with the province recording the best-performing matriculants in 2022 and boasting an 88.5% pass rate.
Edukite’s partnership with the Northern Cape Department of Education began in 2016 when teachers were given the Edukite curriculum software on a laptop as a teaching tool in their classrooms. This next phase will see the rollout of the Edukite Learning App on tablet devices to the learners themselves, who will now be able to access the innovative learning material both in the classroom and at home – with no internet needed.
The app is a complete digital solution which aids learners in better understanding concepts and practising them. It consists of the entire Grade 12 curriculum of six CAPS subjects in digital format and provides learners with 2D and 3D animations to help visualise difficult concepts and assimilate them better; interactive simulations where learners can apply and investigate concepts; and virtual experiments that aim to engage the learners and enhance the learning experience. Furthermore, the app comprises completely solved exam papers of the NSC exams, where learners can view different methods of solving and common mistakes committed by learners. No other company has invested resources over the last 15 years to develop such high-quality curriculum content for South Africa.
Visual guidance has proven effective in improving a person’s memory. This is evidenced by an information recall study conducted by Bay Atlantic University in Washington DC, which suggests that study participants remembered only 10-20% of information delivered compared to almost 60% when the information was presented visually.
Instructional animations have a significant advantage over static pictures in improving learning outcomes, according to a meta-analysis of several research papers conducted by the nwu-Essen, Research Group and Graduate School on Science Education in Germany. The study further revealed that highly realistic and representational videos have an even greater effect in terms of broad learning outcomes than static pictures.
“With internet connectivity not available to all learners, many having data constraints, and often living in rural communities, the curriculum is stored offline on the devices, allowing learners to access the content at any time, or in any place,” explains Ladia. “This also provides a solution to the load shedding crisis where learning is not negatively impacted by slow or intermittent internet access.”
While the app is most often offered with a three or five-year usage licence, as a special partnership with the Northern Cape Department of Education, the learners presented with the tablets will be offered perpetual licences to the app that can be used for life, without the need to pay recurring licence fees.
“By providing learners with the technological tools to be the best that they can be, we look forward to seeing the matriculant pass rate and the number of quality passes in the province increase over the coming years, and believe that this is a significant milestone in achieving an accessible and technology-driven education system for all South African youth.” concludes Ladia.
