Volkswagen’s three-year pilot programme will benefit 1 000 grade 10, 11 and 12 learners in Nelson Mandela Bay.
The programme was developed in partnership with Optimi Workplace and Jendamark’s Odin Education.
Expanding our commitment to supporting strong education that empowers the youth, early this year we launched the Volkswagen Online Maths initiative. This pilot project, developed in partnership with Tuta-Me (an online learning platform by Optimi Workplace) and Odin Education (an ed-tech solution developed by Jendamark), offers online tutoring and support in mathematics to 1 000 learners in Nelson Mandela Bay at no cost to the learners.
Focusing its efforts on grades 10, 11 and 12 learners at 18 local schools, the three-year pilot project is aimed at bridging the knowledge gap in mathematics and ultimately increasing the number of learners who achieve a university pass in maths at matric level, and expanding the impact of Volkswagen Group South Africa’s (VWSA)
educational initiatives in the Eastern Cape.
Of the 1 000 learners, 200 are accessing the platform through the Omang device, a secure e-learning tablet supplied by Odin Education, while the other 800 use their own mobile devices to access the offering.
The Covid-19 pandemic exaggerated inequalities within education and highlighted teacher challenges particularly in subjects such as mathematics and science, as well as the role of artificial intelligence (AI) and technology in addressing these gaps. It further required us to consider alternatives such as online tutoring to the traditional form of educating learners.
“Empowering the youth through access to strong, consistent education is a critical priority for VWSA,” said Nonkqubela Maliza, director for corporate and government affairs at VWSA. “This pilot project is an ambitious expansion of our investment in education and the communities in which we operate, the communities where our employees live. We hope this project will go a long way towards helping the learners to achieve good mathematics results which will give them the opportunity to pursue their studies at tertiary institutions.”
The Omang Device
Dedicated educational device
No social media or other distractions.
Pre-connected with data
Wi-Fi-enabled plus 2GB pre-loaded monthly data.
Switch on and play
No setup required. Fully pre-configured per learner.
Personalised content
Pre-configured and pre-loaded according to registered subjects.
Live classroom streaming
Built-in remote classroom streaming facility.
All lessons recorded and available post lesson.
Limitless online resources
Access to the world’s best educational websites, e-learning apps, etc.
Data-driven personalisation
System learns user interests to personalise more content.
Fun features
Surveys, quizzes and rewards feature to incentivise learning.
Communication
Teacher-led chat forums, user pop-up notifications and full-screen positive social messaging feature.
Remote support
‘Private Banker’ level support for every learner.
Fully configurable remotely
Mobi-Tuta statistics
2 260 hours
Total time spent on the Omang device powered by Odin Education
210
Total active Newell High School users on the Odin Education Ecosystem
133 hours
Total time spent on the Mobi-Tuta platform
114
Total active Mobi-Tuta platform users using Omang devices
54%
Total engagement score for Newell High School
Tuta-Me by Optimi Workplace is a dynamic and accessible offering that assists high school learners to reach their potential through dedicated online and face-to-face tutoring options through Mobi-Tuta. The learners connect with qualified tutors in virtual classrooms once a week for two hours to receive maths support.
- Access to the Optimi Learning Portal (OLP) with thousands of educational videos, lesson materials, study guides, books, etc.
- Access to education specialists
- Facilitator’s guides
- Weekly live online tutoring session by qualified maths teachers and a 24 hour Ask-a-Tutor service
- Assessment and quizzes
Odin Education’s mission is to provide every learner in South Africa with their own dedicated, 5G-connected education tablet, not only giving access to curriculum aligned content, augmenting elected subjects, but also providing each learner personalised access to the latest e-learning platforms on hundreds of subjects, from
robotics to languages.
“As a company, we have applied our core tech capabilities to the most critical area of need in our country,” said Ajit Gopalakrishnan, Jendamark’s head of Odin Education. “So the opportunity to work with likeminded corporate partners to extend our reach, and support the learning and teaching of STEM subjects, is an exciting one.”
The initiative is monitored to measure learners’ engagement, not only on the Mobi-Tuta platform, but with the entire Omang device ecosystem. Using data analytics and AI, the device-management system identifies, tracks and measures what content learners are engaging with, their aptitude and interests, and then delivers related content and web platforms to the learner, thus altering the pedagogy of teaching and enabling a learner-centric approach.
We acknowledge that technology alone is not the silver bullet to solving education and subsequent social challenges. Our implementing partners have added to the ecosystem a full-time digital liaison officer at each school (developing training skills and creating employment) to support both teacher and learner engagement in
the ecosystem.
COMPANY CONTACT DETAILS
VW Community Trust | 041 994 4399 | www.vwcommunitytrust.co.za
Source: The Trialogue Business In Society Handbook 2022 (25th edition)
