Home-based learning using tablets in Lalitpur

February 2021 | Lalitpur

OLE Nepal has launched a 15-month program for home-based learning using shared technology for children without access to technology at six public schools in Lalitpur. This innovative program was launched in partnership with Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC), the KDDI Foundation, and CityNet Yokohama (Japan). The Home-based learning through technology program was launched in Harisiddhi Secondary School, Yashodhara Boudha Secondary School, Bal Vinod Secondary School, Jalapa Secondary School, Prabhat Secondary School, and Shramik Shanti Secondary School.

Starting March 2021, grade 4-8 students in these six schools will be provided with custom workbooks, and tablets containing digital learning activities that they can check out on a rotational basis. As schools are opening up at a safe capacity, this program enables students to continue learning at home using workbooks and digital lessons E-Paath on tablets that the teachers will assign students to take home. Additionally, the tablets are also loaded with dictionaries in English and Nepali languages, educational videos produced by the Centre for Education and Human Resource Development (CEHRD), and educational games for science and math subjects that were developed by OLE Nepal’s developers in collaboration with students and faculty at MIT Game Lab.  

This program has received full endorsement from the mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City (LMC), Mr. Chiribabu Maharjan, at the program launch event on February 19, 2021, that was attended by representatives from all six schools, OLE Nepal, and the LMC education section. Mr. Maharjan has assured full support from the LMC in all aspects of the program, as he personally handed over the new tablets and workbooks to the schools. 

In preparation for this program, our content and training teams prepared detailed study plans for science, math, Nepali, and English subjects to design and produce workbooks that are aligned with the national curriculum for Grades 4-8. These high-quality workbooks have weekly study plans with activities that create learning opportunities for students in their home and neighborhood and encourages them to explore beyond their textbooks. The workbook activities also guide the students to refer to complementing digital lessons and find out the meanings of words on the tablets. For the tablet deployment, our technical team prepared, loaded, and tested 200 tablets with digital contents for students to learn at their own pace at home.

OLE Nepal’s training team conducted orientation sessions for teachers of all six schools to conduct orientation on how to use the workbooks, digital contents featured in the tablets, and basic troubleshooting techniques. Our team also worked with the teachers and management at each school to help them develop their plan of action for scheduling and tablet management for safe use by students at home. Our team will continue to support the schools for the tablet program in the coming months.

Prior to the launch of the program, our team also carried out a baseline survey at the six schools and additional six control schools. The data collected from this survey will be compared against the next evaluation survey towards the end of the project to assess the impact of the program.